Reader Review: 2003 Aprilia RSV 1000 Mille | Reader review

Name: Damon Parsons From: Essex Riding for: 5 years

Price paid for the bike: £2300 in 2012 through a private sale

What type of riding do you do: Mainly A and good quality B roads with motorway/dual carriageway getting to and from where I want to start.

Tell us about the engine: Pulls like a train! There is a huge amount of torque. I’ve reduced the front sprocket by 1 tooth which gives it a bit more punch and makes it easier to ride around town.

What’s the chassis like? Stable, accurate & predictable. It’s a sports bike so the suspension is stiff, but handles the UK’s pot holed roads pretty well. Probably the biggest difference between the Mille and a modern sports bike is the amount of room the rider has. I’m 6ft, tall and live in SE England. I have to ride a long way to find good, traffic free roads, but I can do 300+ mile days on this bike and not regret it.

What’s it like to ride? No trouble at all. I’ve not had any electrical issues Italian bikes are famous for, but none of the connectors are waterproof so I suspect that could give problems if you rode it a lot in the wet.

Give us three good points: Rock solid stability; Engine performance; Ergonomics

And three bad ones: Because of it’s age getting European breakdown cover is becoming expensive; The standard exhaust is huge and heavy – you need to change it.

More info: www.aprilia.com

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