Ever since we first saw Aprilia’s new 450cc and 550cc V-Twins in European Supermoto competition, we’ve been dreaming of the day when we swing a leg over a street-legal sportbike using this powerplant. Our recent first ride of the SXV 450 and 550 only left us more excited about the potential of this incredible powerplant.
Why hasn’t Aprilia shown a sportbike with this engine yet? Well, one problem could be the racing-style maintenance schedule – the company recommends that the SXV/RXV motor (whether 450 or 550) receive a full rebuild (we assume this means pistons, rings, and possibly more) every 60 hours.
Now, 60 hours is a lot of run time for a dedicated race bike – many two-stroke 125s needed rebuilds twice that often, or more. But for a street rider, 60 hours isn’t that long. This means Aprilia will have to make the motor last longer before they release it in a street-legal machine.
How can they do this? There are many methods that could possibly be used, but the simplest and most likely is to reduce the rev limit. This might mean that the street versions make slightly less power than those found in the SXV/RXV (for which Aprilia claims 60hp for the 450 and 70hp for the 550).
We still feel that a lightweight sportbike using one of these engines (probably the 550cc version) has the potential to be one of the most exciting new models we’ve seen in a long time. We only hope that if they are forced to reduce the max revs, Aprilia can simultaneously redesign parts like the cams, intake tract, and exhaust system to move the entire powerband downward to a more usable and reliable range.
