At the press introduction of the new Aprilia RSV4 launch they had not one, not two but FIVE of the engines on the new bikes implode with massive connecting rod failures. The press launch was halted and the bikes where taken away. Sheesh, that has to be embarrassing.

Some of the reports here: http://www.motorcyclenews.com/MCN/News/newsresults/New-bikes/2009/October/oc2809-aprilia-rsv4-r-launch-cut-short/

Wow, embarrassing yes, but that is utterly unimpressive.

Embarrassing yeah, but it'll go away quickly. For 5 to go off, it sounds like there was a bum piece, and not an engineering issue. It'll get sorted.

If it had gone to the customers like that, then it would have been embarrasing.

This was just a simple mistake with a relatively simple fix.

No biggie.

Assuming it is fixed, yeah.

Brand new, from the ground up machines break? Really?

No worries, they'll get it sorted and I'd kill (not literally SPEED) to get one.

I'd still buy one. I have to say I think I want an RSV4 as my next bike (insurance permitting)

Wow, seriously. These guys are rolling out a brand new bike to the press, the people that will be reviewing the bike and printing articles about it. Most of the time those bikes are gone over with a fine point comb and meticulously gone over. They are the best of the best machines.

5 of the motors blow up, big time kablammos, not little melt downs mind you. And you say no biggie?


Ok, something tells me that if the same had happened at a Harley rollout you would not be singing the same song.

rr60man - 02 December 2009 02:41 PM

Wow, seriously. These guys are rolling out a brand new bike to the press, the people that will be reviewing the bike and printing articles about it. Most of the time those bikes are gone over with a fine point comb and meticulously gone over. They are the best of the best machines.

5 of the motors blow up, big time kablammos, not little melt downs mind you. And you say no biggie?

I grant you that the bikes should have been mechanically sorted, so in that respect, it was embarrassing.

I still say no biggie though because I trust Aprilia tested the bike thoroughly before its unveiling and if there were an engineering problem with the engine, there'd be a substantial amount of blow ups.

Now, I admittedly have an Italian bias, so I tend to treat the Italian manufacturer's with kid gloves.

It is not unusual at all for pre-production bikes to be ridden by the media and those bikes having some sort of issue that becomes apparent and is fixed beofre bikes start going to the dealers.

The only thing that makes this seem worse is that it is a motor going boom instead of poor throttle response.

Again, no real biggie.

The fact that it was several that it happenned to is actually less of a concern than if it was just a singular bike having an issue. Several points toward an easy fix... it is the intermittent issues that can cause real problems for manufacturers.

Chaos - 02 December 2009 09:54 AM

For 5 to go off, it sounds like there was a bum piece, and not an engineering issue. It'll get sorted.

Seriously, for 5 to blow up, it does seem to be an engineering issue and not just a bum piece. Quite the opposite deduction from yours, but I'd still say that it is no biggie since Aprillia will surely diagnose and fix the problem, although it sure is an embarrassment big time, but nothing it won't get over. God, I sound like Winters.