Ducati, Aprilia 450/550, Terblanche and Super/Hypermotard

[bevel450]

Just finished the Feb issue of Motorcyclist, in which Brian Catterson says..."Terblanche wants to revive his vaunted Supermono single in Supermotard form.....Until now...his bosses have been adamant that Ducati, like H-D builds twins not singles....[Ducati] having failed in it's bid to aquire Aprilia's 450/550 V twin project...."

Any of you guys know anything about this ? This Aprilia engine was mentioned at some length here at the old site, and is one terrific engine. Think 80 hp and 66lbs for the engine as a teaser.....

And the Supermono in any form ? Cool stuff. What do you know about it ?

[MikeM]

Originally Posted by bevel450

Just finished the Feb issue of Motorcyclist, in which Brian Catterson says..."Terblanche wants to revive his vaunted Supermono single in Supermotard form.....Until now...his bosses have been adamant that Ducati, like H-D builds twins not singles....[Ducati] having failed in it's bid to aquire Aprilia's 450/550 V twin project...."

They are still talking about modeling Harley-Davidson??? LOL. Not going very well, is it? What are "his bosses" going to say about twins in a few months when the 4-cylinder Desmosedici is introduced? They should be more concerned about the number of bikes they sell rather than the number of cylinders the bikes have.

Originally Posted by bevel450

Any of you guys know anything about this ? This Aprilia engine was mentioned at some length here at the old site, and is one terrific engine. Think 80 hp and 66lbs for the engine as a teaser.....

And the Supermono in any form ? Cool stuff. What do you know about it ?

I know I'll probably own one of the Aprilias before Ducati pulls their collective finger out... The Aprilia will be coming to a dealer near you very soon, and at a VERY favorable price. Probably not a powerful as a SuperMono might be, but far lighter. And it's a *real* dirt bike with a change of tires.

You will get plenty of info at:

http://www.apriliaforum.com/forums

They have a section of the forum dedicated specifically to that/those bikes (SXV/MXV/RXV). The initiator of the "Hello There" thread is the Product Manager for Aprilia's offroad line and is a (semi) regular contributor to that forum.

You're welcome. Really!

[zooom]

for me the 550 would be the trick unless the Hypermotard or the KTM 950 Supermoto step in more favorably....but that is just me and my opinion!

[tjfdesmo]

Originally Posted by bevel450

Just finished the Feb issue of Motorcyclist, in which Brian Catterson says..."Terblanche wants to revive his vaunted Supermono single in Supermotard form.....Until now...his bosses have been adamant that Ducati, like H-D builds twins not singles....[Ducati] having failed in it's bid to aquire Aprilia's 450/550 V twin project...."

Any of you guys know anything about this ? This Aprilia engine was mentioned at some length here at the old site, and is one terrific engine. Think 80 hp and 66lbs for the engine as a teaser.....

And the Supermono in any form ? Cool stuff. What do you know about it ?

I assumed that they were referring to Ducati's failed bid at buying Aprilia during their financial crisis, before Piaggio came along.

[Kent]

Curious here to know if the new Aprillia single is the reason Yamaha won't be bringing the new MT 03 stateside. Perhaps Yamaha consented to not compete with those firms that are purchasing their 660cc engines, at least not in the U.S., with a similarly styled machine of their own manufacture?

Regardless, the MT 03 is a very cool new bike...for Euro riders only. Sigh.