Aprillia rsv1000 mille

My 5th gen is in hibernation till march and im getting my bike thrills from ebay. Ive been watching the 1st gen mille all winter and am surprised that you can get a piece of italian exotica for £2-3000 . Im really tempted to pull the trigger on one as i deserve a treat. Has anyone got any experience of these beauties ? How do they go, handle , whats the maintenance on them like, riding position, fuel economy, what about the plastic tank ? Your thoughts appreciated

 

Buy it! It's not as if it would devaluate any further should you decide to sell it.

 

I had a 2003 Tuono and a 2007 Tuono. Those are similar to the Mille but with more upright riding position.
Great fun bikes. Especially the first gen 2003 with it's lumpy torque.
The Rotax motor is fairly bulletproof. The handling was pretty sweet.
Lot of info, take a look at:

https://www.apriliaforum.com/

 

Fuel economy low 30's. they were thirsty.
Plastic tanks may have been coated by prior owners, I had no issues and we have ethanol.
A shop did maint for me, but I think is pretty straight forward.
A common thing seems to be the valve cover gaskets start to seep a bit of oil. So look at that.
Neutral is hard to find.
The back brakes are shite. If it works it is not great. If it does not work bleeding has it's own magic procedure.
The front brakes are good. The things went like hell! Thunder!

 

I have an '02 Mille, picked her up in '10. Used on the street initially, then my goto track bike for many years. Now back in street trim. Some random thoughts from my experience with her:

The V-twin grunt from 3k - 10k+ is intoxicating, absolutely love the feel/sound. I have the 2 - 2 Ti exhaust system with 2 M4 mufflers (the org. Akras got banged up during track use and are too expensive). The handling is great, but she likes being pushed hard (not always a good thing on the street) to feel it. She took a few low-sides in stride, no issues. The ergonomics are meant for sport riding, all day comfort isn't really there. I have switched to a R6 for track b/c the RSV began to feel 'too long/heavy' to me after passing 60yrs. Overall power is a bit higher than my '05 R6, but she's ~40lbs heavier, makes a difference. Still, she has more grunt than the 6th gen VFRs and weighs less too (but won't be nearly as comfortable).

The motor and drive train has been solid. I did have to replace the starter sprag clutch. Sprag clutch replacement is straightforward, but not for the beginner mechanic.

You must keep a strong battery in these girls and I did replace the starter relay per forum info. Check forum for other electrical hints/tips.

The rear brake requires bleeding per the forum procedure when she sits too long. The clutch also may require bleeding/fiddling under some circumstances, I haven't run into this but maybe once/twice. The so-called slipper clutch works, kind of. It did save my ass one track weekend when I forgot that I had recently switched to reverse shift pattern. Downshifted coming out of a turn instead of up ... whoops.

If you can't get 'no ethanol' fuel, and the plastic/nylon tank has not been coated, then this will be an issue. Checking the oil level is an interesting exercise, can make one nervous initially (takes time to get the level to show).

I am presently dealing with a running issue. The rpms remain high for just a moment when the throttle is dropped between shifts. This is frustrating, but I'm working on it, and she really has been a good bike overall. Every make/model has some idiosyncrasy, or more than one ...

Do read the info on the Aprilia forum, well worth the time prior to making a purchase decision. I've found that this applies to almost any vehicle purchase these days (should have read the Transit forum about the diesel eng. prior to purchase)...

For $ comparison, if I were going to sell mine I would ask ~$3000 USD (and let myself be talked down a bit, maybe), don't know what the equates too over your way.

ACE

 

Exactly the insights im after , thankyou for your replys. The main problem is my 5th gen is just so damn good I would really regret selling to make way for an Aprillia and cant really justify 2 bikes in the garage. Need to book a test ride . Will keep you posted on progress

 

what are you looking for from the Aprilla? It not a VFR replacement bike. If your needs have changed then its a pretty good bike - I'm tempted by a factory model.... lol