2020 APRILIA RSV4 1100 FACTORY

Year after year, Aprilia keep wheeling virtually the same RSV4 out and astonishing us all with just how good it is. One year it will have a new colour scheme, another it’ll have a pair of wings, and another it will have a few more cubic centimetres of capacity, and so on and so forth. This year, the RSV4’s headline upgrade is electronic suspension. They’ve opted to kit the Factory out with Öhlins EC.2, the trickest electronic pogos from the Swedish firm, to match the R1M, the V4S and the Fireblade SP. You also get a bit more colour on the new model, but only a little bit more colour; it’s still very black.

The seating position on the RSV4 feels almost identical to how it’s always felt; brilliantly roomy while maintaining a sporty riding position, although it’s not a bike for a short-legged person. You feel as though you are sitting ‘in’ the Aprilia rather than ‘on’ it