APRILIA CAPONORD 1200 (2013 - 2017) Review

The ADD suspensions are great in Auto (I was worried about them on purchase: 6 years on still no issue whatever). Ride mode on Sport or the bike feels a bit lazy. Some complain that it's snatchy in Sport and it's not untrue, but you learn to work with the clutch and it's fine. Rather that than laziness for me.

Outstanding. Best V-twin sound (for me), just as the Tuono has the best V4 sound (for me). Powerful, punchy, revvy, amazing soundtrack (I know, I know). 6 out of 5

Fuel gauge never worked, not even after being replaced.Battery dies if the bike is not ridden often enough. At least on my bike.

No idea, but it never shocked me.

ADD have been great. Didn't much like the very sporty profile of the OEM tyres, too fast turning in.The top-box and panniers are capacious enough, the seat is comfy. I love the supermotard-inspired seating position, slightly on the front without being extreme at all, makes the position more involving than on a GS or Versys 1000 for instance.

Would be great but for using oil, nuisance when touring having to pack a litre every time.

The fuel gauge stopped working, had to be replaced.

Great deal on this bike, comes with loads of tech and panniers, suspension is ace IMO. It senses whether you’re on your own, two up, with luggage etc. Simply brilliant for the price.

Loads of equipment as standard, came with hard panniers as well.

its a heavy bike so the brakes have to work hard but do the job. Comfort is top notch, i am able to ride until fuel is needed (around 180 - 200 mile mark).

The bike uses a noticeable amount of oil, but is smooth and free revving. Looking at dyno tests on line the engine develops about 107 BHP at the rear wheel. This seems like quite a drop from the 125BHP claimed for the engines output, but it is all usable.

The fuel gauge is a known problem, giving up reading through the float sticking in the slider tube. This has recently been solved with A replacement and revised part. Apart from that it appears well screwed together.

not had an annual service as yet but for a top premium bike the cost of purchase and running are very good.

Loads of standard equipment which you would pay £1000s for with any of the other top marques. I had the centre stand fitted as an extra for £138. cannot argue with that!

This where this bike shines like a beacon. Ride quality is sublime and is the best I've ever experienced and its not at the expense of superb handling either. Aprilia have got this spot on. In auto mode on the suspension you can forget about the need for fiddling with any adjustments just get on and ride and enjoy the almost surreal comfort of this suspension system. Fully loaded for European touring the bike is still agile and flickable. The result is all day comfort. On a recent trip to Turin we covered 400+ miles on 2 consecutive days with ease. I am in my 60s and I cannot think of any other bike I could have done that on, and my wife feels the same. The brakes are awesome too being Brembos I guess that's what we would all expect. There is a pleasing lack of excessive dive on the front too when braking hard and the ABS just adds more confidence to an already impressive set up. It all adds up to a superb all rounder of a motorcycle for comfort performance and safety

Lets talk sountrack 1st. This bike has to be the best sounding 2 cylinder bike around even with the std can. I am a fan of v twin engines anyway but this sound stirs your soul. Below 3000 revs the engine can be a bit lumpy/snatchy. Above that and up to the rev limiter its silky smooth for a twin. Very little vibration and a smooth broad addictive curve of power and torque-superb. It may not produce the BHP of the Duke or KTM but 125 horses is plenty for me thanks and the way it delivers it is brilliant. The engine has 3 levels of mapping Sport Touring and Rain. The Sport mode is a bit too fiery for normal use and Touring is the std for us. Rain mode comes in handy if the weather is bad or if you have to thread your way through city traffic The 6 speed gearbox is also slick and so easy to use

No issues The bike has performed faultlessly from day one and still looks like new no corrosion anywhere and it has never let us down, nuff said

Considering the spec and all the rider aids which all work so well this has to be the best value adventure style bike out there. I have no intention of going off road on a bike weighing 200+ kilos, for me that's insane so the 17" wheels are better for purpose. The bike came shod with Dunlop qualifiers and the rear was gone in 3000 miles. A change to Bridgestone T30s has halved the wear rate. In the first 600 miles the fuel consumption was also really heavy but at the 1st service Aprilia sent out a new complete suite of software inc new fuel mapping. Since then we are getting between 43-55 MPG fully loaded and not hanging about.

We chose the travel pack version which gets you the panniers and the ADD suspension. We added factory top box heated grips and a 12v bar mounted socket. I have added a Tutoru mechanical chain oiler [brilliantly simple and very effective]. Radiator covers from Evotec. Front fenda extenda from Pyramid. A larger Puig touring screen with air deflector and a siren horn which lets all other road users know you are about. The addition of these esp the screen has made what was a great motorcycle close to perfection for our needs. The original screen was not that effective particularly re helmet buffeting which I cant deal with on longer trips

Nothing less than excellent I ride the Rally with the 19 inch front wheel having never ridden on a 19 before I was cautious but no need this bikes suspension is special I have covered over 7000 miles in 3 months so I am not just a Sunday biker.

The 1200 motor is the companies original Mille 1000 bored out which was used in the Dosaduro 1200 with no noticeable problems. It has a vg range of power and free revving, unlike the V4 engines which have had valve dropping problems (back right usually). The Caponord engine is prob their most reliable.

Aprilia finish is vg, quality parts top brembo brakes and top suspension. No problems to moan over so far with over 7k on the clocks.

Bike comes fully loaded with 3 boxes at 14k but offers are out there. The standard Caponord is now £9999OTR, crazy CHEAP.

Caponord Rally comes pretty much fully loaded, cruise control 3 boxes active suspension as standard. Heated grips add £125. No Centre stand though that's an extra too.

AAS Aprilia Active suspension is superb, almost same, as what is on its more expensive rivals BMW and Ducati. Best brakes on offer on most bikes at present Brembo. Super comfort its a ride all day machine whether on ur own or 2up. Whether with luggage on or not. Bike is dam light and easy moved, not like a GS. Its a rascal when stripped of luggage on the twisties and that exhaust is dam noisy too. Big grin factor guaranteed.

125 bhp plenty for all that your going to use it for. Easy 135mph if you require it. Easy power delivery bike has full traction control but I switched it off. This bike is easy to ride fast. Also left AAS in full auto setting. Big V twin engine has sufficient power and engine braking to inspire confidence on twisties.

Build and reliability to date after 5k miles has been superb. No issues.

Rally to date has been super cheap to run. With its 1st service at 600 miles next service 6k miles on at 6600k miles. Rear tyre lasted to 5k front still got plenty left on it. 40 to 50 MPG amazing. No oil usage or any issues so far.

Aprilia have fully loaded it 3 x boxes all with very usable liners. Heated grips optional but dealers will throw in. Cruise control that works, stunning spokes larger wheels which IMO set the bike off superbly. Other standard equipment as previously stated included AAS ATC which are all usable and easily switched off if preferred. 3 power modes too, add to this package. The OE tyres Metz Next are superb, they are also standard on the BMW GS 1200 new models

When purchasing our first tourer we tried all the makes available, I really wanted a Multistrada but was very disappointed with the vibration and snatchy feel. My wife also found it very uncomfortable as a pillion. V-strom, triumph tiger 8 & 12, BMW Gs. A friend suggested the Caponord, which we had not heard of. Following a test we fell in love with it, perfect all rounder. Confident feel cornering, braking is just superb, although I am comparing them to the TL100s and a ZX9R!

Strong, pulls like and Ox and the exhaust note is intoxicating. So far after 7500m covered it hasn't missed a beat even in extreme temperatures as we just found out in Southern Portugal.

Should be a five really, but on the first service some of the seals needed replaced (warranty work and free of charge) but I had only covered 1000m.

Overall looks, although I guess it's a marmite bike! Dash display and gadgets are great, so easy to alter suspension settings with the touch of a button. Rain, tour and sport. The travel model comes with rear panniers which are a good size and waterproof, always a bonus. You can buy an Aprillia top box, but it's way to small. We fitted a Hepco and Beck, the journey model. Comes in gloss black and looks like it came with the bike. Tyres, Dunlop Qualifiers as standard which were great if you can afford to change them every 2500m, we have fitted Michelin Pilot Road 4s (GT), great in the wet and dry and seem to be lasting very well.

Brakes effective with great feel and control. ADD superb and works. Ride quality and position means you could run out of fuel before you want to stop. Numb bum and legs after about 3-4 hours so as good as any bike

Power and torque everywhere. Great sound with Arrow exhaust. Ride by wire throttle jerky in sport mode at lower speeds. Rain mode helps keeping to limits around town.

Too early but everything has a real quality feel to it. No dull metal just yet

Unknown yet. MPG lot better than some of the stories - in fact impressive. Got 50-52 mpg on a 250 mile run in Touring mode with some fast riding. JUst over 200 miles full tank to fuel light. Suggests another 50-70 left in reserve?

Came with Arrow exhaust so no knowledge of improvement over original but sounds great, crash bars look good and probably save expensive damage, Qualifier tyres work well. ADD best standard feature. Ride, power and handling seemed identical with a pillion possibly better as more stable