102 high-res images of the Aprilia Tuono V4R

Compared to the old v-twin Tuono, this new Aprilia Tuono V4R makes 41bhp more and weighs 10kg less. It’s also fitted with Aprilia Performance Ride Control which incorporates traction control, wheelie control, launch control and quick shift. That makes this the most powerful and most electronically sophisticated naked bike ever mass-produced. Oh, and this is the first time you’ve seen it in yellow.

That yellow seems to work too, drawing visual attention away from the holy crap headlights and onto the minimal bodywork and so-trashy-it-almost-works yellow embroidered seat. Actually, seeing the Tuono complete with rider does resolve some of its visual issues; it’s freakin’ tiny and there’s never much wrong with that.

In the Tuono, Aprilia’s 65° V4 has been detuned from 178bhp at 12,500rpm and 85lb/ft at 10,000rpm in the RSV4 to 167bhp at 11,500rpm and 82lb/ft at 9,500rpm.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6hyQrD0JRU

Other than that, this really is a case of no fairing and flat bars on an RSV4. Same huge aluminum beam chassis, same fully-adjutable Sachs 43mm USD fork, same fully-adjustable Sachs piggback shock. There is a difference in the wheels, which are a three rather than five-spoke design, a choice which apparently saves 2kg. To increase stability, the trail has been increased from 105mm on the RSV4 to 107.5 on the Tuono while the engine has been located in the lower of its two adjustments points.

It sounds almost like a challenge, but Aprilia lists the Tuono’s top speed as “over 168mph.”

The new Tuono is being launched to the European press as we speak. We’ll get a chance to ride it once it makes it to this side of the watery divide that protects us from acid-washed, embroidered, boot cut jeans.