Aprilia RSV 1000 Mille R

When we came to a route change and swapped bikes, I was forced to give up the Mille to John. I took back the reigns of our Honda while Pandya-san played with Yamaha's finest. And, shock of all shockers, with his favorite canyon in sight, Burnsie decided he too can win a World Superbike title on the Mille-R.

So up we go, me chasing the hell out of John, both of us being ungracious guests to the Aprilia man whose sanity gets the better of him (okay, and it's his first time in our backyard sand box). As the two of us sped off, leaving him behind, I didn't think we were pushing that hard. Then I realized that, yes, we're moving right along, and the Yamaha's rear Pirelli Supercorsa isn't all that warm yet. It's just spun off the second tight corner in a row, and John's still ahead of me. A few corners later, the tire's warmer, but so is John, and when we reach the summit he's still ahead.

When we pulled to a stop, as I dismounted and removed my helmet, John sat still atop the Aprilia, then slowly turned his head towards me. He said something about "just when you think you've been riding the best bikes on earth you ride something even better." But I wasn't paying attention, really. I just wanted to know how he was able to get 30 horsepower more from the bike than I'd been able to extract only 30 minutes prior.

What it is, you see, is what all the factory Superbike and, we recently learned, the Formula Xtreme guys always talk about. It's not just the amount of power, they say, it's the type of power. Wonder why there's all the fuss over four-strokes as a platform for GP racing? Same deal. It's the type of power the bikes make, and this Aprilia, it seems, makes the very usable type and it little matters where the tach needle points. And it doesn't hurt that the bike's chassis is such a brilliant performer, either.

For those of you who have suffered through years of stock suspension, we will pray for you because, really, you have no idea how good this Öhlins stuff feels. If you are a sick individual whose pornography is made up of stanchions, seals and stacked shims, here's your swinger's club. In the twisties, the stuff works to keep the Mille superbly balanced on or off the brakes, mid-corner or on the throttle exiting a bend. Nothing short of a giant cedar strewn across the road upsets the chassis. Even on the freeway, where a sportbike rarely shines, I could see myself doing some serious miles on this thing. I thought to myself on more than one occasion, why don't touring rigs use Öhlins? Surely old folks appreciate a smooth ride, too.

The only thing keeping me from an Iron Butt trophy (really, it's the only thing) is the seating position. Though the seat is very nicely shaped and padded, the reach to the bars is a long one even with my long arms and not-so-petite 6'2" frame. In the twisties and on the race track, where this Aprilia is designed to live, the position makes sense. It puts emphasis on front tire feedback and gets you into a nice little sporting tuck. It also gets my wrists sore after a 40-mile commute down the 405 freeway, lane-splitting below 20 miles per hour most of the way. There's no stress on the gams though, as the pegs are placed in a reasonable position, and the foot controls feature trick little eccentric adjusters to tailor the bike to your particular tastes. Even the clutch lever, brake lever and Öhlins steering damper feature little knobs for you to twist to suit.

The beautiful thing about this latest Mille-R, however, is that there's so little fiddling that needs to be done to the bike. In fact, aside from a minor suspension tweak we made after just the first few miles of twisties (the previous magazine tester had the shock's compression and rebound damping backed all the way out), we haven't touched a thing. In fact, we don't plan on touching a thing, except for the exhaust, of course. Ol' Pandya is sending off a pipe and chip to wake things up a bit, power and neighbors, both.

No sir, in the meantime, we'll continue to ride the snot out of this Mille until we get it on track for a little thing we're doing pretty soon called the Open Twins Shootout wherein the fabulous Mille-R will see some stiff competition in the form of a Ducati 998 and an RC51. Until then, however, we're practicing for the next round of the World Superbike Championship - and the Iron Butt Rally - and I think with the Mille-R beneath us we've got a legitimate shot at both.