My perspective on the 2002 Aprilia Mille R
Here's a few compeling reasons to consider the Mille R and a few not to.
To my absolute amazment this bike is one of the most refined sportbikes I have ever ridden on the track or the street.
It not only offers a comfortable street ride, this bike flys on the race track. However the bike is very top heavy and you sit high in the saddle.
Aprilia has spent some time and instead of creating all new designs and overhauls each year, they have refined this bike in to what you see today. Ok so the headlight is almost as ugly as the Hayabusa. And the bike is tall. Those are minor issues once you ride this thing.
If you are like me and you are constanly upgrading your bike, shock, motor parts, carbon fiber bits, brakes, ect. Consider this. For about 15,700 you can own this bike and a good chunk of the expense and the work is already done. Ya I know, you've read that the retail price is over 18 grand. All I can say is shop around or better yet buy a used one and save even more.
Once again, Aprilia stepped up and utilized the best in suspension components by installing Ohlins on the Mille R. Not that I had a lot of complaints with the standard Mille's Sachs shock and Showa forks, the Ohlins just offer such a supple ride. Awesome off corner grip, is what I really like. I mean if you own a liter bike, you want to get all that juice to the ground without a lot of suspension issues and Ohlins does that job perfectly. You also get an Ohlins Steering damper.
Aprilia once again decided to go outside and provide us with killer stopping power by offering Brembos front and back on both versons of the Mille. These bad boys do the job and I was shocked that the stock front master cylinder seems up to the task so far. What more can you say other than they offer one of the best brake setups in the world.
I 'm happy that Aprilia uses the spun aluminum version of these wheels. After using DyMag magnesium wheels and learning the delicacy of magnesium. I welcome an aluminum wheel for all around riding. Magnesium cracks to easily
And for those of you who love the carbon fiber look and weight savings, Aprilia also litters the bike with Carbon goodies.
And as far as aftermarket parts are concerned, Ed and Micah at the Aprilia forum have really put together a killer website, forum and they know and love Aprilias. Interestingly enough they have no connection to Aprilia itself and do this simply because they see the potential in this motorcycle. The motor is buillt by Rotax and this is one of, if not the smoothest V twin I have ever ridden. It acts like an inline four in that you can rev it to death and yet it pulls like a twin.
The slipper clutch is just another bonus in the deal if you buy one of these bikes. And it works and works well. High speed downshifts on corner entrance are very controlled and allow you to run that much deeper into the corners.
And I guess my main thrill with this bike is that it is so stable on the brakes and corner turn in. Every time I rode it this year I found new things to ike about it.
Lot's of trick parts. And give credit to Rotax for building such an awesome motor. To bad Aprilia's Moto GP effort isn't run buy the folks at Rotax. This motor is simply bullet proof.
Now the down side. First and foremost the resale value of these bikes whether you sell it as a whole unit or in parts is horrible. The oil tank can and does develop pinhole leaks at the seams and around the filler cap where Aprilia has chosen to braze weld the seams to the steel tank. Guaranteed to open your eyes when you are sliding sideways and find oil spewing all over your rear tire at high speed. Saw this on more than one Mille including my own. Very poor design. And their fix, at least on one Mille I worked on was a total joke. Useless and downright scary is a better word.
At the moment (2002) the dealer network is horrible at best. That's not to say that there are not good/great Aprilia dealers around the USA, it just seems that the bad out number the good. Always consider buying one of these bikes used. You can bet that if you buy one new that you are taking a 2 to 4 thousand dollar hit the minute you walk out the door. This has nothing to do with how good/great this motorcycle is, but it's no R1 or Gixxer in terms of resale and initial loss on your purchase.
And based on the retail price somewhere near18 grand you could build an killer Japanese bike and have some change left over to pay for your trackdays or tires!
This bike came to me through my relationship with Sportbike Track Time and like that relationship this bike was more talk than it couild deliver.
The big question is would I buy another Italian motorcycle and the answer is no. The Japanese bikes offer a far better value and bang for the buck. I took my one and only Italian adventure. Thank you. Never again.
Gotta thank those who hopped on and helped me on this project.
Geoff at GP Tech, Ed at AF1.COM, Chris Jensen at LeoVince, Mike Jaynes at My Chron
The awesome and brillant folks at Evoluzione and my wife Karoline who tolerates this addiction to speed and the constant need to challenge myself mechanically.
