The Naked Bike that feels like a Ducati without the price tag

Italian motorcycles can capture the imagination in a way that no other motorcycle can. Unfortunately, they are also usually fantastically expensive and live on in our imaginations because we can never afford them. Ducati in particular has banked on this ‘premium’ idea and created bikes that are all dripping with technology and features, and of course the prices have skyrocketed. There is an alternative.

The other Italian brand, often maligned or simply forgotten, offers us the opportunity to own a true Italian thoroughbred for the price of a Japanese hypernaked bike. Aprilia, on the other hand, is a small company and simply cannot provide the same kind of support as Ducati. But what the Tuono 1100 does offer is much more value for money.

The Aprilia Tuono 1100 feels like a Ducati without the price tag

MSRP: $16,399

Aprilia has always strived to price the Tuono 1100 competitively, but the current price tag is hard to believe. While it certainly isn’t cheap, we’re talking about a V4-powered monster here, and not your average Naked Bike. The Tuono is also simply well equipped and extremely beautiful. The most direct Italian competitor is also considerably more expensive.

Ducati

The Ducati Streetfighter V4 is more than $7,000 more expensive. It’s a little different in the sense that Ducati hasn’t changed the tune as much as Aprilia, and as a result it only has 4 hp less than the Panigale V4 or 25 hp more than the Tuono 1100. But if you want a Naked Bike with a superbike tune, all you have to do is rearrange the Tuono to give it the same spec as the RSV4, and suddenly you have a lot more to play with. However, those are all just numbers. With this amount of power, no one outside of the MotoGP riders will even be able to feel the difference. Both bikes are monsters, but with the Aprilia you get Streetfighter performance for Monster money.

Yamaha

Of all four major Japanese manufacturers, only Yamaha dares to fly so close to the sun. Looking at the spec sheet, the MT-10 SP may have less power, but that doesn’t tell the whole story, and it’s just as capable as the more exotic bikes thanks to its high-performance suspension. Triumph also offers the Speed ​​Triple 1200 RS. It has just as much power and while it is a lot more expensive, it still offers a lot of value for the right buyer.

Rivals

• Ducati Streetfighter V4

• Yamaha MT-10 SP

• Triumph Streettriple 1200 RS

The Tuono 1100 has a V4 engine with a Crossplane crank

Power: 180 hp

Aprilia

Although it is almost universally accepted that V4 engines offer the highest performance ceiling, they are not yet widely adopted across the industry. Honda threw away decades of development when the old VFR was discontinued, a move that still seems a bit strange to this day. Ducati was even willing to abandon the famous L-twin in the search for more speed and power with a V4 engine. As it stands, only Ducati and Aprilia offer true, powerful V4 motorcycles.

Strangely enough, Aprilia has more experience with this engine configuration. After years of using a twin developed by Rotax, Aprilia went all-in in 2009 with an in-house developed V4. The first iteration of this powertrain was accompanied by a wide range of problems, mainly electrical, but also mechanical. Over time, all those initial kinks have been ironed out, and since the engine capacity was increased to 1077cc, mechanical reliability has reportedly been good. In the last minor revision, the engine capacity went up to 1099 cc, mainly to meet Euro5+ emissions standards, but with this increased displacement the Tuono now has 180 hp.

Specifications

The Tuono 1100 aims to be your everyday superbike

Practical performance

Aprilia

While it’s easy to think that this engine is all about that beautiful V4, there’s a lot more to it than that. As with most Italian bicycles, a lot of attention has been paid to the development of the chassis. This clearly shares a platform with the RSV4, which should be competitive on track. The only difference here is that you get all the benefits of that great chassis without sacrificing comfort. While still relatively sporty compared to some naked bikes, the ergos are comfort-oriented and are not out of the question for all-day riding. The suspension is fully adjustable and although it is not from the more fashionable Swedish brand, Sachs supplies several manufacturers and certainly knows what they are doing.

Winglets are very fashionable, and whether you love them or hate them, they don’t look out of place on the Tuono. This has always been a nice bike, thanks in large part to the bikini fairing. It retains most of the flowing lines we’re used to seeing on superbikes and there’s no doubt it looks striking in Scorpion Yellow. Aprilia doesn’t leave you wanting when it comes to features either, and the APRC electronics suite is widely regarded as one of the best in the industry.

Aprilia

The IMU enables cornering ABS and hill-sensing traction control. You also get a TFT dashboard, driving modes and a quickshifter. Unfortunately, there are a few nice features behind a paywall, but nothing that’s explicitly necessary for a street bike like the Tuono. We saved the electronics for last, because although modern and fantastic, they can also prove to be the Achilles heel.

Mechanical reliability has been very good indeed in recent years, but when there are problems they almost always have something to do with electronics. Aprilia is a fairly small company compared to the big players in the industry, the dealer network is limited and the bikes they build will have the odd quirk. At this price, we believe the risk is well worth the potential reward.

Chassis, suspension and weight specifications