Well, I sold mine....

[Soujyu]

....and I will be taking delivery of this beautiful machine tomorrow (it's being delivered to my home):

2012-09-05 11.29.47.jpg 2012-09-05 11.26.41.jpg

I'm going to name her Perrine.

[Alex]

Gorgeous bike! I test rode that identical bike (in that color!) a few months back, it was quite a ride. The power delivery gets downright violent once at high revs, be careful out there!

[choneofakind]

That's what Motorcyclist wrote about it too. They said it had an insane top end.

[Yasko]

Looking forward to your ride report in the time to come.

[Lil_Green_Demon]

Congrats, man. That bike is damn near a dime piece.

[sharky nrk]

Yikes, the "thunder" bike is supposed to be a monster. Very sweet, although I would have gotten her faired sister. Post more pics.

[psych0hans]

That my friend, is a SWEET a$$ bike... Congratulations!!!

[koenigcitizen]

Nice bike!

[Soujyu]

Well, the bike is arriving in a few hours. I can't wait! (Yeah, I know about the wild top-end, I'm not going to tap that until I figure the bike out.)

Originally Posted by sharky nrk

Yikes, the "thunder" bike is supposed to be a monster. Very sweet, although I would have gotten her faired sister. Post more pics.

I actually went to the Aprilia dealer here in town and sat on an RSV4R just to see how it feels, and it just felt awkward for my height (I'm 6' 0"). The Tuono V4R has a very similar riding position to the 250R, which was why I felt so comfortable with it. I'll have some better pictures with a better camera once it arrives.

[Soujyu]

Okay, I've gotten a chance to ride it around the neighborhood, and boy, it's powerful. It doesn't take much to get it to 55mph (which is the fastest I took it).

I'm going to wait until the weather cools down a bit to ride it some more (later tonight).

[Soujyu]

Okay, I rode it all over Austin just now (for about a total of 40-50 miles of riding), and boy, it's fun with this bike. A disclaimer; I have all the traction control settings set to the strongest settings, and I'm using the R map (everything neutered 25%).

A few things I've discovered:

Basically, this bike doesn't seem to like being under 3000rpms, so the gear I have to be is dependent on that. That means I can't run at 30mph in sixth gear like the 250R. Basically, what I've done for the breakin period is to shift at 6000rpm, which gets me to about 80mph in 3rd gear, from my guess. I then just shift all the way up to 6th and cruise using the quick shifter, with plenty of power at tap. At 6th gear at 70mph, I easily have enough extra power to pass the sheer amount of 18 wheelers that riddle I-35.

The seat gets really hot if you are at idle (coolant temperatures), but cools down reasonably quickly after you get going. This is helpful when I'm riding during the winter. The seat is about as hard as the 250Rs seat, which means I would need to put on my gel pad on for longer trips.

This bike does not have the 250R's "cannot shift past neutral while at a stop" feature, which made it a bit of an adventure to get to neutral at times.

Near the end of the ride, I finally got the mirrors in a way that I liked.

If your coolant temperature exceeds a certain amount, you will not be able to start the bike without giving it a little bit of throttle. (Found that out at the gas station. Oh, you have to use 93 octane.)

This bike is definitely a hoot, but I would definitely not suggest this bike to a beginning rider. This bike has so much power on tap, even on the most neutered settings.

[Yasko]

Thanks for the report. What's the first mod?

[Soujyu]

Originally Posted by Yasko

Thanks for the report. What's the first mod?

First mod will probably be the levers; the clutch lever requires a bit of a stretch to pull. The brake lever is adjustable on this bike, but the closest setting may still be a tad too far out.

I was originally going to get the touring screen, but the wind turbulence with the stock screen was about the same as with the 250R, so I may postpone that.

After that, I'll need to wire in a direct-wired radar detector power plug, and put on an appropriate RAM mount for my radar detector.

I'm also going to need to put in some additional security on the bike, like a disc lock/immobilizer.

[Soujyu]

As an update, I just passed the first maintenance interval, and now I can open her up to 9000 rpm, and the only thing I can say is "BOOM"!

The torque/horsepower curve starts to explode past that point. It's like a jump happens around 6500rpm, and you're on another linear ramp that's above that. I need to get the mileage bike to around 1200 miles to open it past 9000 rpm, but that may not even be needed for typical riding.

I also took her on the new 85mph toll road (it's just to the east of where I live). I think I'll probably get the touring screen now that I've taken this bike faster than I ever took my Ninja.... and holy cow, it's got power to spare, which I like. Now that I've ridden it for a while, I can go ahead and adjust the suspension to my liking.

[NikkitaNinja]

Sounds and looks like a great bike. Good to hear you're having a nice time with it!