First Ride: 2002 Aprilia Tuono

Click to read: 2002 Aprilia Tuono owners reviews, 2002 Aprilia Tuono specs and to see the 2002 Aprilia Tuono image gallery.

Aprilia's Tuono is one of the more curious of machines to come from Italy. This is the Noale firm's belated entry in the big-bore naked roadster class, designed to take on bikes like the big Hornet and Fazer, as well as the daddy of them all, Ducati's Monster. But while naked bikes are traditionally cheaper and less lavishly equipped than their fully-faired siblings, Aprilia has gone the opposite way with the Tuono, which is crammed with delicious bits and costs £11,300 ready to roll.

Calling the Tuono a naked bike is strictly inaccurate, as it has a cut-down fairing that incorporates Aprilia's trademark triple-lens headlight. As you might also have noticed, the 998cc, 60-degree V-twin engine is pretty well covered up by the radiator and various carbon-fibre covers. But hey, let's not quibble. This bike has been built to kick sand in the Monster's face, so its engine is a standard 130bhp Mille lump, not detuned one iota. Aprilia found that some wind protection was essential to prevent the Tuono from getting twitchy near its 155mph top whack.

There's a good reason for the high price, too, apart from the fact that this is a limited-edition model of which just 200 will be made. Ducati's matt-black Monster Darks are that colour to save on paint costs, and are the cheapest of the range. The Tuono, on the other hand, is black because its bodywork is all made from expensive carbon-fibre and Kevlar. Even the seat is covered in rough-to-the-touch Kevlar fabric, forgawdsake.

And then there's the chassis, which is seriously tasty. The frame and swing-arm aren't actually cast from solid gold, which is a relatively heavy metal that would have been useless for the task. Instead they're aluminium jobs borrowed from the Mille sportsters, while the cycle parts are from the upmarket Mille R race rep. That means 43mm upside-down …hlins forks with titanium nitride coating, …hlins shock and adjustable steering damper, ultra-light forged five-spoke wheels, plus four-pot, four-piston Brembo front calipers.

Despite all this race-derived gear the Tuono feels totally different to the sportsters, thanks to its wide and slightly raised bars. At slow speed it's infinitely more comfortable, but it's hard to keep at slow speed for long because one tweak of the throttle has the Aprilia rearing up and heading for the horizon. Aprilia's only change to the powerplant is to improve low-rev throttle response slightly as part of an ongoing process of development. Can't say I noticed the difference, but the Tuono felt superbly well sorted and ballistically fast.

Chassis performance is outstanding by any standards, too. On a fast road or track you'd lose out slightly to a Mille R due to inferior aerodynamics. But on the tight mountain roads of Tuscany, where Aprilia launched the Tuono, the leverage from its wide bars made the 2kg lighter Tuono brilliantly agile for whipping round hairpins at improbable speeds. Even spring and damping rates are unchanged which, provided you're going fast enough, is just as they should be. And those Brembos are fiercely powerful, too.

If you fancy the Tuono's strange black-and-gold colour scheme and can afford the price, ring your nearest Aprilia dealer right now because only 25 are coming to this country, and you're probably too late already. Never mind, by next year there's likely to be a mass-produced model along similar lines, but with more colourful finish, less exotic cycle parts and a lower price. Now that should be really something.

Aprilia Tuono Specs

TYPE - STREETBIKE
PRODUCTION DATE - 2002
PRICE NEW - N/A
ENGINE CAPACITY - 998cc
POWER - 130bhp@9500rpm
TORQUE - 74lb.ft@7250rpm   
WEIGHT - 181kg
SEAT HEIGHT - N/A   
FUEL CAPACITY - N/A   
TOP SPEED - N/A
0-60     - n/a
TANK RANGE - N/A