Come out fighting

The majority of us have a fair idea of what an Aprilia Falco is… something kind of half-faired, RSV Mille-powered and more all-round than all-out. The literally brilliant Aprilia Fighting Falco is rather more extreme and a good deal more memorable.

Ride it and you’ll be giggling all the way back to the tube of Autosol you’ll be using to keep it brightly polished.

The chromed-up kit Aprilia is offering for the normally placid sports-touring Falco turns it into a wheelie bike stunt riders would be proud of and gives it the kind of street attitude usually found in Ducati’s more brutal Monsters and Triumph’s Speed Triple.

But it comes at a price. On top of the £6999 of a standard SL1000 Falco, the kit is another £2054. But you do end up with something relatively unique.

Changes include high motocross-style handlebars, top clamp, nose fairing, disc brake scoop, mudguard and hugger, belly pan, numberplate holder, steering damper, end cans and chip and airbox metallic grille covers.

And if you get bored of being so flash you can always turn it back to standard for a bit more practicality. But who needs that?

This looks fantastic, hardcore even. The plastic panels on the nose cone are made from chromed plastic, and the bellypan, radiator shrouds, and brake scoops are made from polished aluminium. Narcissists beware, you won’t need any other mirror, this is a rolling riot of reflections.

The bike feels bare, where the standard bike encloses you, this one sits you out in the wind behind a small fairing. The motocross-style handlebars are wide and flat, tapered back slightly and sit you more upright than the normal drop bars of the Falco. The riding experience is as different as the riding position.

It may only be a Falco with bits taken off and others bolted on, but the twin exhausts and chip remapping boost power from a claimed 114bhp to 118bhp. It feels like loads, especially when you give it handful in first gear.

The front likes leaving the ground, it likes to do it in second and third, and into fourth and fifth too, if you’re that way inclined.

There’s no way you could describe the noise of the " off-road only " pipes as anything other than offensive, but it is so lovely at the same time.

Rev it all out to 10,750rpm if you want, there’s no real point as there’s loads of meat at 6000rpm and by 9500rpm you’re going quicker than you need. Get it to 10,500rpm and the shift light from the RSV Mille clocks starts blinking at you, and 250rpm later there’s the rev-limiter. 150mph is more than possible on this bike… it’s just hanging on to it that’s the difficulty.

The only real problem or niggle comes when you’re on a backroad trying to ride it faster than is good for your licence. Even with the damper on, the bike gets a waggle on and seems to sit down at the rear-end.

My first thought was it needed a lot more rear pre-load, but when I stopped and checked it proved to be wound up as far as it could go.

Aprilia UK must have had the same concern after test rides and done the relevant jacking up of the rear.

Get into a smooth rhythm on the bike and you can ride it as fast as a Monster, but it’s just so bloody quick, the bars can do nothing but waggle when you hit the gas on the way out of corners.

It’s not really meant to be ridden like a sports bike though. Ride it like a quick naked bike and you’ll always be satisfied by this Fighting version of the Falco.