Aprillia Mille - Reliability

Anybody know what the reliability of early(ish) prilly Milles is like,
and how much spares for them generally are?

I'm guessing 'not very good' and 'kin expensive' but they're just on
the edge of my budget and I do rather fancy one.

Much cheers!

 

you should go along to rsvr.net.

I had one a few years ago (99 RSVR) - loved it and it never broke - but
and this is a big but - there are horror stories of things breaking and
Aprilia being very slow and expensive - warranty was a particular joke
apparently.

are you feeling lucky ?

 

By all accounts the motor and main components are pretty bulletproof.

My early one was fine in this respect, but heavily let down with duff
switchgear and dodgy connectors in the wiring loom - specifically the fuel
pump connector. Once these are debugged, it's fine, though.

The battery is a bit marginal as well, which can make winter starting fun,
especially if you have an alarm. Sorted with an Optimate.

The only other issue I can think of is the clutch, the standard Brembo setup
isn't great, which makes finding neutral a bit of a bind. There are
upgraded parts available from rsvr.net which help separate the clutch plates
a bit better

 

Actually, the power train and the electrics are very, very good indeed.
Spares supply: ah, that's a different matter. It's not the best and the
prices for some components are *horrendous*. Not so long ago, an RSV
front brake lever was £90 or so. The exact same lever, in Ducati
packaging, was a quarter of the price.

If you buy a damaged one, forget any idea of replacingcomponents -
these are bikes where it makes sense to use plastic welders, panel
beaters etc to sort out dings and scrapes.

But generally, they're sound used buys.

 

Au contraire, good, and OK.

JL
(second hand experience though so take with a grain of salt)

 

Interesting, cheers folks.

 

Interesting, cheers folks.

 

The top end can go after heavy abuse. Mine is an ex racer and it dropped a
valve just after I got it - sorted by the bloke who sold it to me
fortunately. But apart from that and a few little niggles which can be
directly attributed to race abuse or not fitting non race bits back
properly (the indicator relay fell off for instance it's been fine. I
doubt if you could break the engine with normal road/trackday type use,
although I have heard that excessive wheelies can do damage, due to the
dry sump and the way the oil feed is arranged.

An Optimate is essential IMO. It's not easy to get insurance on these
without an alarm. With the Optimate it starts first press every time, even
in winter after months of disuse (I have a winter hack too). Fuel
injection is great! Before I got the Optimate it could get a bit marginal.

Only when it's cold I find. It's a bit tricky to find neutral at the
lights 100 yards from my house or if I stop at the garage 200 yards away
for petrol, but fine after that.

Do not underestimate these things' appetite for (very expensive) tyres and
petrol! And check the cost of insurance. I'm not sure I'd consider one if
it were "on the edge" of my budget. It's not cheap to run, although I
don't suppose it's any worse than any other big sportsbike in this respect.

And you can't get spares in August, because Italy goes on holiday But
otherwise it doesn't seem to be much of a problem and I've not noticed
anything being outrageously expensive, but I've not needed many spares yet.

And even though it's got 3 headlights, they're still crap

Regards, Ian

 

Mr. Fantastic said...

Spares aren't cheap compared to Japanese bikes and to give you an idea
of Aprilia's customer service I witnessed the following conversation
today in a bike shop.

Shop manager is on the phone to Aprilia's own Parts Warehouse up north.

Shop "I need an ignition switch and seat lock for a Habana 125"

Aprilia "Yes we hold them here, they are normal stock items"

S "Great, Can you stick them on my order please?"

A "Yes, no problem. They'll be with you in about a week or two"

S "But you said they're in stock"

A "They are, but you'll have to wait a week or two"

S "Why? Everyone else delivers parts next day"

A (In irritated voice) "Because that's just the way it is, now do you
want anything else or what?"

Aprilia have a reputation for being the worst of all manufacturers when
it comes to supplying spares.

 

simonk said...

There's an unofficial recall on the clutch, hadn't you heard? A mate of
mine locally is having his sorted FOC on his RSV-R by the supplying
dealer.

 

said...

An aftermarket one made by the same people was half of the Ducati price.

 

I know there is on the new one, yes. I'm going to try and wangle it on the
next service. I've got the lever adjusted all the way out to get enough
"purchase" to let me change gear smoothly.

 

<doubtful look> Worse than getting Cagiva parts out of MV Agusta ?
That'd be a feat !

JL

 

Akshually, MV are very good at getting parts out. The problem here is
the importer (3X) doesn't keep a bloody thing in stock. The Swiss,
Dutch, Australian (& probably many other) importers by contrast keep
decent stock levels. So if you need something in a hurry, a long(ish)
distance phone call will normally get it within a couple of days.

--
Krusty.

http://www.muddystuff.co.uk
http://www.muddystuff.us
Off-road classifieds

'02 MV Senna '03 Tiger (FOYRNB) '96 Tiger '79 Fantic 250

 

You may be right, three cross certainly get a bad rap from the UK owners
I've chatted to.

However

The Aussie part of this isn't exactly true (although in fairness it may
not be the importer's fault)

http://www.raptorchapter.co.uk/index.php?sid=ffc1cef4e3e1eebab2981ba65442622e

This is from 2003, and I had exactly the same experience while waiting
for parts from Feeney's in mid 2005 - had a warranty claim repair on oil
leak - took 2 months to get hold of a gasket I could have got from any
Suzuki shop within max 2 days. Apparently the importers refuse to pay
for any Suzuki parts used for warranty repairs - it has to be stuff they
get from MV.

Similarly

http://groups.google.com.au/group/a...author:conehead&rnum=3&hl=en#366cd373c7477254
or
http://tinyurl.com/p9ljm

One of the guys in Tassie waited several months for parts for a coolant
leak fix (the Conehead in the above thread) and despite my optimism in
the above thread, they kept the bike 3 weeks unrepaired due to absence
of parts before I went and got it back off them until the parts came in.

And Jules waited 8 months for a genuine front guard

http://groups.google.com.au/group/a...a+author:burnie&rnum=3&hl=en#3498edb54d79915f
http://tinyurl.com/hulk8

And before you ask why the hell I bought it then, the answer is I fell
in love with the bike, the X Rap is great

http://tinyurl.com/hg25o

Only if you're calling someone who makes aftermarket parts for them

JL

 

Strange - I know a few Antipodeans with MVs & they don't seem to have
any problems. Perhaps they just don't like Cagiva owners ;-)

--
Krusty.

http://www.muddystuff.co.uk
http://www.muddystuff.us
Off-road classifieds

'02 MV Senna '03 Tiger (FOYRNB) '96 Tiger '79 Fantic 250

 

That may in fact be true ! I've not heard much complaints from MV
owners either, but then the only MV owners I know seem to spend a lot
more time polishing than riding...

JL