Aprilia Tuono

[hawk]

Who has a Tuono and what are your impressions of it. Reliability,etc.

I am thinking of down sizing all my toys and I'm looking for something that can pull double duty for me.

[McBiggity]

I have the better version of the Tuono. It's a Speed Triple.

But in all seriousness, I love the Tuono as well. Nothing like the grunt from a big twin. I say buy one, and buy one for me as well.

I know a few people on here have Tuono's, I'm sure Petey will be chiming in soon.

[amajew]

++++++10000000 for the Tuono. I've had mine since March and love it!!! I had a couple different I4's from a 600 and 1000 GSXR and a 600rr.... I have had no reliability issues in almost 7000 miles so far... it handles awesome on the street, I won't track it (got a track bike for that purpose). I rode it at Deals Gap, put 1300 miles + on it in 5 days and it performed great... I'd recommend a set of aftermarket pipes and the ECU map for starters... it really woke the bike up.... I got it for 10K from Motofit in Danbury CT... only good thing about motofit was the price of the bike.. other than that, they're useless and morons....

it doesn't have hard grunt in the low rpms.... the motor is made to rev but from about 5k up is where the fun begins... it pulls hard right up to the redline and what I love most about it is it's different than what eveyone else has... it's an amazing street bike

damn Biggity, the ST3 was my other choice and the 08 Blazing Orange model would've been in my mitts if the dealers didn't want to budge from MSRP....

[OreoGaborio]

I'm sure Petey will be chiming in soon.

Who, MOI???? Noooooo

I have a first gen. 2003

Slightly less power than the 2nd gen but more wind protection and, IMO, way better looking even w/ my ugly mug sittin on it :




Of all the bikes I've ridden (not a huge amount, but a respectable variety), the Tuono is like .... Frikkin love it.
Some minor electrical gremlins in the 1st gen, but nothing I couldn't solve myself and the Rotax powerplant is damn near bullet proof.

[vfr99999]

Who has a Tuono and what are your impressions of it. Reliability,etc.

I am thinking of down sizing all my toys and I'm looking for something that can pull double duty for me.

I have an 07 Tuono and I like this bike it has all the low down grunt you would ever want and pulls to redline as well as anything. This sport naked has it all power,handling and it is lighter than most naked bikes. The rotax motor has a lot of power and durability it even has a dry sump. It is the most sportbike like of all the nakeds. I have done a few 300 plus mile days on it with no comfort issues. Never had anything break. On the used market it is priced well below compareable bikes. This is the only naked class bike that is not a detuned softened up form of the donor sportbike. Example FZ1 vs R1,ZX9 vs z1000,Daytona vs Speed Triple, Etc.

[OreoGaborio]

Yeah, and all that, too.

[McBiggity]

,Daytona vs Speed Triple, Etc.

heehee, that's why my bike started as a daytona.

[catch2otwo]

i got an 07.5 which compared to an 07 has some minor motor changes. but overall, this bike is really fun to ride. feel is real nimble almost feels like a big dirt bike. power is awesome. compared to a conventional twin, it likes to be revved more then lugged. no problems with mine yet but i only got 2k on it since july. dont test ride it unless your ready to buy it

[Jank]

Tuonos are the best of both worlds.
Gen 1 here. Easy track prep.
Front fairing comes off with 4 screws and a connector! I got a fiberglass front from AirTech.
V-twins rule.

[patricia929]

I've got an '07 which is WAY better looking than Pete's

I really love this bike but unfortunately don't ride it nearly enough. Maybe next year .....

[DucDave]

Mark...where are you Mark???? THere are at least 2 other Tuono riders here that I know of and they are all passionate about their rides.

Having said that, why not consider something really sexy. Like a Multistrada???

[Not Sure]

I'm in agreement with Pete on one thing ....... He does have an ugly mug.

Just breaking your stones Pete for the newbie welcome you gave me last year.



I have an 07 Tuono and really like the bike. The handling is better than any bike I've owned (about 12 bikes total, most recently coming off of an ST4s and BMW RT1150) and riding it in the tighter twisties is a blast. I think I am going to buy a K1300S in March in order to start doing more distance riding, but I am going to keep the Tuono as the every day bike. I've been suprised with how comfortable it was this year though, as I thought the stock seat would be a drag. I did a couple of 300 mile days with no problem. Make sure you get a red & white one ........ they are the fastest.

[TuonoMark]

Mark...where are you Mark????

I'm here!!!!

I love my Tuono. I have the 07.5 and love everything about it. I had the 1050 speed triple before and they're not even in the same class. I loved the S3 but the Tuono is literally Aprilia's RSV World Superbike without the plastic.

Pete's Gen1 does have more wind protection, but the Gen2 is much better!

[butcher bergs]

Gen 1 FZ1 (2001-2005)

I've got 41,000 glorious miles on mine. Hands down, the best bike I've ever ridden.

Very friendly in many aspects of riding, trackdays included.

Also, there are some killer deals currenly posted at FZ1 OA on some really clean machines.

[Bellysoup]

I have an 08, and love it. It's hard to explain why it's different than the Jap bikes. I have had many bikes and have been riding many years, my list is as follows 90 Ninja 600, 97 ZX11, 01 CBR929, 04 R1, while I had my R1 my brother bought a 7.5 Tuono. We go on many long rides including a trip every year where we are on the bikes for 3-4 days straight. This was the perfect chance to use his Tuono for many test rides on good roads. We would ride for about 2 straight hours and I'd say lets switch my ass kills or my wrist is buggin me. Well I would get on his Tuono and find myself riding quicker through corners and being much more comfortable overall. You dont know your going as fast as you are because your much more upright. It's like taking any full blown sportbike and putting dirt bike handle bars on it. It is as someone said an Aprilia RSV with no body work and dirtbike bars.

It's not as fast as inline 4 liter bikes, as my R1 used to blow by my brothers 7.5 Tuono, also I have raced my friends 08 GSXR 750 on dead straight roads and he stays right with me and when the aerodynamics come into play at the higher speeds he starts to creep by. But in everyday use on normal roads or tracks it will stay with and corner just as good or better than anything on the road as long as you have a set of slip-ons and the map changed to #2 for open exhaust. < THIS IS A MUST to wake up the bike. It is choked up in stock form.

Reliability for me is not yet known since I have only 3k on it but my brothers has been fine with major things through 8k. Mine one day was stalling at idle and the dealer found a 2 cent vacuum hose to have split which they fixed while I waited and since then its been fine. There are a few issues that all of them have, 1- the rear brake never works well, there is an issue with air getting into the brembo system that requires continuous bleeding. Once done eventually it fades again. Brembo blames Aprilia, Aprilia blames Brembo. 2- Most of the gauge clusters develop fogging on the inside which makes it difficult to see all of your info, this happens intermittenly depending on the weather.

In the end though, its been my favorite bike, I can ride this all day long and be comfy. When I pull in to any gas station it draws a crowd and starts people talking bikes. My friend on the GSX gets pissed at my brother and I and says " WTF its like you two are celebrities or something, nobody even looks at my GSX when I'm with you two! " Oh well little buddy, its like Harley guys say..... "you just dont understand." Difference is this has a real V twin!

One more note, a lot of people say they are not always happy with thier Aprilia dealer (or any brand dealer for that matter) but I have been takin care of very well at Seacoast in NH. They dont give anything away for free but they know the bikes and for the first time in my life I feel comfortable with a dealer, I've NEVER felt that before and believe most dealers (any brand) suck and are hacks which I've proven time and time again. This is why I do most of my own work, but for covered problems or something over my head I won't hesitate to bring it there.

[catch2otwo]

+1 on having good dealer support. while most of the apes are trouble free, do remember its not your avg trouble free jap machine. before my T i had bought the new shiver which was just a bag of trouble, breaking down every other week. im sure it was just a friday built bike, but without the people at seacoast and their excellent service, i would rode it off a cliff. so when i came time to ditch it, i went with them again for the T. couldn't be happier with their service.

have you test rode a tuono yet?

[brady]

...why not consider something really sexy. Like a Multistrada???

[hawk]

I haven't had a chance to ride one yet and certainly will before I chose to buy it. I am getting ready to sell my harley and my Kawi and go back to one bike, but I want a bike that if I decide to go to Americade, I'll be comfortable, but at the same time when I am at the track instructing, I can go out with any group and have a bike that will allow me to get up and go.
I really appreciate all of you guys chiming in, what are some good Tuono forums I should be checking out?

By the way more pics please.

Now I am also trying to figure out who got pulled over with me out in Western, ma back in July, August. I was on the Mohawk trail with my buddy on his FZ1 and a bunch of guys came on us and me being me decided to give the Vrod a kick and have some fun, not 3 miles later me, my buddy and a guy on a Tuono got pulled over. Who's the culprit??

[OreoGaborio]

The biggest & most informative Aprilia forum is www.apriliaforum.com

Pretty great source of info, parts etc.

[Bellysoup]

I like this forum myself, lots of useful info and has a dealer with much Aprilia support http://www.apriliaforum.com/forums/index.php

[JudyGT]

we had a speed triple ,older style,very sweet,then the RSVR 2004 very cool but alot of bike for only city use and not much of it. traded that in for a 2005/6 (I forget) Tuono and have enjoyed it totally. Took it (2 up) to gatlinburg via the blue ridge parkway,no problems. Had a zx11 before and took that on long trips so I was gun shy with the Ape but it came through for us. Now that we race the SV she is a bit lonely but still will never leave my address.
I do like the new Speed 3's and would like to own one of those too!!!
Judy

[amajew]

The aprilia forum as mentioned is the single best place for any information for these bikes... the guys at AF1 are amazing as well. I email Ed periodically and he gets back to me in less than an hour usually all the time with useful feedback .... Once you ride the Tuono, you will have no other choice but to sign on the dotted line. Try to ride one with pipes and one stock to feel the difference. Another simple mod that is supposed to really wake the bike up and be more useful in slow speed situations is going from a 16T sprocket ot a 15T sprocket, but the front end gets much lighter as told to me by the guys at AF1

[wookie]

I have the better version of the Tuono. It's a Speed Triple. .

The speed triple, everone agrees it has a great engine, some don't agree on the ergos (personally, I love the ergonomics...5.5k in 17 days..).

[Bellysoup]

Let me think............................... ummmm NO

[Kid Thunder]

Been riding for 38 years & the Tuono is the best bike out there. I have an
"03" since new & put 40,000 miles on it. I went to Indy this year for the Moto GP on it. It will do anything you want. I'm 60 years old & the trip was great.
I did put a Sargent seat on it but the stock seat isn't half bad.
PC 111, Akro can, after market filter, forged OZ wheels, Ohlin shock, GP Suspension revalved fork, etc.
But the best accessory was the wheels!
Even with all the stock stuff it was really good & fun. The rest of the stuff made it GREAT!