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Apriliaisms

Blog Date - 11 May 2011

One of the lads at work has just bought an Shiver. It's a lovely thing, big meaty V-twin, more settings and gadgetry than you can shake a stick at and he tells me it rides lovely too. My only worry is where Aprila's head is at the practical design stage.


Whilst looking lustfully at his machine I noticed something out of the ordinary. The sump drain nut is on the wrong side. There is a reason for this, the exhaust runs where the sump plug would normally live. This is not a major problem, this is not a huge fault that would stop me from buying a bike, it's just weird. It will mean when changing the oil you may need a paddock stand or you'll have to hold the bike to get it to drain completely.

Another Apriliaism was seen on the Mille. The Mille is I'm told does not really require brakes, the engine braking alone is supposed to be awesome. So in their wisdom Aprilia located the rear brake master cyclinder next to the very hot exhaust pipe. This means the brake fluid boils and the rear brake never works. This does not matter as the engine braking and high quality front brakes are more than enough, but at MOT time the examiner does not take into account engine braking.

If you know of any more Apriliaisms, please let me know.

Reader's Comments

Latchy shiver owner said :-
Yes Ren all correct, and did you know the sump plug measures 20.5 mm af so needing a special tool from Piaggi........ probably costs more than the oil and filter, perhaps Ill have to sell it before the next service interval
01/01/2000 00:00:00 UTC
Ren - The Editor said :-
HAHAHAHA...HAHAHAHAHA...Ha..ha..hahaha....HAHAHAHAHAH...HAH!!!

That is just brilliant! A 20.5mm sump plug. I mean even the most evil of henchmen could not think of a more dastardly thing to do.

I think I'd remove it by fair means or fowl, then spend a joyous hour or two with a file, taking off that extra .5mm until I had a nice snug fit with a common or garden 21mm socket.

With such tactics as 21.5mm plugs it's no wonder we don't hear much from the Italian Army. They're all in the workshop still, looking for spanners that don't exist.
01/01/2000 00:00:00 UTC

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