Aprilia

Aprilia is an Italian motorcycle manufacturer founded immediately after World War II in Noale, Italy, by Alberto Beggio. The company started as a manufacturer of bicycles and moved on to manufacture scooters and small-capacity motorcycles. In more recent times Aprilia has produced large sportbikes such as the 1,000 cc V-twin RSV Mille and the V4 RSV4.

Aprilia has supported a strong motorsport competition program beginning with motocross racing and then a world championship-winning road racing program. The company was acquired by Piaggio in 2004.

History

Aprilia was founded after the Second World War by Cavaliere Alberto Beggio as a bicycle production factory at Noale, Italy, in the province of Venice. Alberto’s son, Ivano Beggio, took over the helm of the company in 1968 and constructed a 50 cc "motorcycle". The first production Aprilia mopeds were named Colibrì, Daniela and Packi. Aprilia later produced a motocross bike in 1970 called the Scarabeo. Produced until the end of the 1970s, the Scarabeo came in 50 and 125 cc versions.

In 1977 Ivan Alborghetti from Milan, Italy won the Italian 125 and 250 cc motocross championships on Aprilias. In 1978 Alborghetti closed the season with two third places in individual races and sixth place in the World Championship. In the 1980s Aprilia added enduro, trials and road bikes of between 50 and 600 cc. In 1981 Aprilia introduced the TL320 trials machine. In 1983 Aprilia launched the St 125 road bike. In 1984 Aprilia launched an improved model called STX, and an enduro, called the ET 50.

In 1985, Aprilia started outsourcing engines for some models to the Austrian company Rotax. In 1985 Aprilia launched a 125 STX and 350 STX. In 1986 Aprilia launched the AF1; a small sports model, and the Tuareg; a large tanked bike for African rallies like the Dakar Rally. Aprilia factory rider Philippe Berlatier contended for the trials world championship reaching fifth place, and Loris Reggiani rode an Aprilia GP 250 with Rotax engine to sixth place in the road racing World Championship. Two seasons later, on August 30, 1987, at San Marino Grand Prix in Misano Loris Reggiani's AF1 won the first World Speed Championship.

In 1990 Aprilia launched the Pegaso 600, a road bike derived from off-road mechanics. Later, in 1992 Aprilia rider Alessandro Gramigni won the World 125 Road Racing Championship title. Also in 1992, Tommy Ahvala won the World Trials Championship on an Aprilia Climber. Since then, Aprilia has 124 times won 125 and 250 cc class Grand Prix, 15 Road Racing World Championship titles, and 16 European speed titles. Many world champions started on Aprilia such as Biaggi, Capirossi, Gramigni, Locatelli, Sakata and Rossi.

Also in the 1990s, Aprilia entered the scooter market starting in 1990 with Italy’s first all-plastic scooter, the Amico. In 1992, Aprilia introduced the Amico LK and the two stroke Pegaso 125, both with catalytic converters. In 1993 Aprilia launched a large diameter wheel scooter reusing the name Scarabeo with a four-stroke, four-valve engine. Later Aprilia launched more scooters such as the Leonardo, the SR and the Gulliver.

In 1995, Aprilia commissioned Philippe Starck to design the Motò which was shown in New York’s Modern Art Museum. Also in 1995 Aprilia launched the two stroke RS 125 and RS 250 sports bikes. In 1998 Aprilia launched the RSV Mille, a 1000cc V-Twin Superbike, and the Falco, a 1000cc V-Twin sport tourer with emphasis on sport. Both bikes used a variation of a Rotax 1000cc engine.

In 1999 Aprilia entered World Superbike Championship racing with its RSV Mille, and during 2000, Aprilia acquired Moto-Guzzi and Laverda, both historic heritage Italian marques. In 2000 Aprilia launched the 50 cc DiTech (Direct Injection Technology) two stroke engine for scooters which provides high mileage and low emissions, and also the RST Futura, a sport tourer, and the ETV 1000 Caponord; an adventure touring motorcycle. Both of these latter two motorcycles used a variation of the Rotax 1000 cc V-Twin.

Most recently, in 2003, Aprilia launched the RSV Mille Tuono which was essentially an RSV Mille with motocross-style high handlebars and only a small headlight fairing. Most of the major motorcycle magazines picked it for the best bike of the year. In 2004 Aprilia was acquired by Piaggio & C. SpA, to form the world’s fourth largest motorcycle group with 1.5 billion Euro in sales, an annual production capacity of over 600,000 vehicles, and a presence in 50 countries.

With the acquisition by Piaggio, the new President of Aprilia is Roberto Colaninno (President of Piaggio & C.), and the Managing Director is Rocco Sabelli. The son of the founder, Ivano Beggio, was the Honorary President and died on 13 March 2018. On 15 August 2010, Aprilia became the most successful motorcycle racing brand in history, surpassing fellow Italian MV Agusta with a record 276th victory.

Grand Prix World Championship

Despite being a relatively small company by global motorcycling standards, Aprilia is very active in motorcycle sports. It contested many Road Racing formulae, including the now-defunct 125 cc, 250 cc and 500 cc Grand Prix classes of the FIM World Championship. From 2002 to 2004 they participated in the FIM MotoGP World Championship, and from 1999 to 2002 they participated in the FIM Superbike World Championship. Aprilia has returned to World Superbike since the 2009 season and in MotoGP since the 2012 season.

Aprilia also feature in the off-road racing world, with their 450 cc V-2 motocrosser producing respectable results (including race wins) in both off-road (Motocross) and on-road ( Supermoto) categories.

Aprilia made their international racing debut in the Motocross World Championship competing in the 125cc class from 1976 until 1981 with a best result being a fifth place in the 1979 season with rider Corrado Maddi. The firm then focused on the Grand Prix road racing world championships in 1985 and since then it has seen varying successes. Aprilia won their first world championship race at the 1991 Czechoslovak motorcycle Grand Prix with rider Alessandro Gramigni winning the 125cc race. In they won their first road racing world championship with Gramigni winning the 125cc class. They continued to be successful in the smaller displacement categories, winning numerous races and championships in the 125 cc and 250 cc Grand Prix classes.

However, their 500 cc Grand Prix bikes failed to attain the same success. They began campaigning in the 500cc class in 1994 with a 250 V twin motor enlarged to 380cc in hopes of using its lighter weight and nimble handling as an advantage against the heavier, V4 engine bikes used by the competition. The bike eventually displaced 430cc and had its best result with a third place by rider Doriano Romboni at the 1997 Dutch TT but, could never overcome power disadvantage during the starting line sprint and was withdrawn at the end of the season for further development. Their first MotoGP effort, dubbed the RS Cube, was technically advanced but difficult to ride and performed poorly in the championship. The Cube did, however, pioneer many advanced technologies including ride by wire throttle and pneumatic valve actuation systems. Aprilia left the MotoGP class at the end of and then left the lower classes when two-stroke engines were banned. Aprilia set the record for the most points earned by a manufacturer in a single season from the 125cc class with 410 points in . It was also the highest points earned by a constructor in Grand Prix motorcycle racing's history until when 420 points were won by the same bikes winning 16 out of 17 races.

The company is also notable for choosing somewhat atypical engine configurations. For example, they progressed with development of a V-2 500 cc Grand Prix bike when other teams were moving to V-4 configurations for what some believed was better and more usable power outputs. Aprilia continued this trend, taking advantage of lighter minimum weights with the introduction of their RS Cube MotoGP bike – featuring three cylinders in an inline triple layout, the bike had the fewest cylinders on the Grand Prix paddock.

Aprilia rejoined the MotoGP class in , taking advantage of the newly introduced ''Claiming Rule Team'' category that encouraged independent teams with lower budgets to use bikes from manufacturers not officially involved in MotoGP. Aprilia supplied RSV4 SBK-derived bikes under the ''ART'' (Aprilia Racing Technology) name to Aspar Team, Paul Bird Motorsport and Speed Master teams. In both the and seasons Aprilia's ART machinery stood out as the best CRT bikes.

In , Aprilia partnered with Gresini Racing as a factory-supported independent team. The team competed as the Aprilia Racing Team Gresini with an all-new 1000cc V4-engined RS-GP.

In , Aprilia entered the series as an official factory team for the first time since 2004. Their previously supported Gresini Racing team returned to a fully-independent team using Ducati bikes. Aprilia's factory team is named Aprilia Racing.

Riders championships

Manufacturers championships

* 250 cc class
** 1995, 1998, 1999, 2002, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009
* 125 cc class
** 1996, 1997, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011

Results

MotoGP results

By rider

By season

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

Racing history

Superbike World Championship (SBK)

Aprilia entered the Superbike World Championship in 1999 using a homologation special version of their V-twin road bike RSV Mille. They were third in the riders' championship in 2000 with rider Troy Corser, and third in manufacturers' points and fourth in rider points both in 2001 with Corser and in 2002 with Noriyuki Haga. Aprilia retired from the series at the end of that season.

In February 2008, Aprilia debuted a V-4 superbike, the RSV4, for the 2009 Superbike World Championship.

Aprilia won its first Superbike world championship in 2010 with Max Biaggi, claiming both the riders and the manufacturers titles.

Riders' championships

Manufacturers' championships

* 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014

SuperMoto World Championship

Aprilia debuted in the FIM Supermoto World Championship in 2004 and since then it has won many titles in both S1 and S2 classes.

Riders' championships

Manufacturers' championship

* S2 class: 2006, 2007
* S1 class: 2008, 2011

Models

;Racing motorcycles:
* RS125R
* RSV 250
* RSW-2 500
* RS Cube
* RSV4 R
** Limited Edition 2019: RSV4 X
* RS-GP

Aprilia models are:

;Road
* AF1
* RSV Mille
* RSVR1000R
* RSV4 Factory
* RSV4 RR
* RSV4 R
* Tuono 125
* Tuono 1000R
* Tuono 660
* Tuono V4 R
* Dorsoduro 1200
* Dorsoduro 900
* Dorsoduro 750
* Shiver 900
* Shiver 750
* Mana 850 GT
* RS4 125
* RS4 50
* RS 50
* RS 125
* RS 250
* RS 660
* STX 125

;Dual-sport
* ETX 125
* ETX 350
* ETX 600
* ETV 1000
* Caponord 1200
* Pegaso 50
* Pegaso 125
* Pegaso 600
* Pegaso 650
* Tuareg 50 rally
* Tuareg 125 rally
* Tuareg 250 rally
* Tuareg 50
* Tuareg 125
* Tuareg 350
* Tuareg 600
* Tuareg 660

;Off-road
* SXV 4.5 – 5.5
* RXV 4.5 – 5.5
* MXV 4.5
* SX 50
* RX 50
* SX 125
* RX 125
* RX 250

;Scooters
* Amico
* Atlantic 125/200/250/300/400/500
* Leonardo 125/150/250/300
* Mojito 125
* SR
* SXR
* SR Max
* Storm
* Area 51
* SR Motard
* Scarabeo 50 2T
* Scarabeo 50 4T4V
* Scarabeo 100 4T
* Scarabeo 125 ie
* Scarabeo 200 ie
* Sportcity
* SR GT
* SRV 850

See also

*Gilera – maxi-scooters made by Piaggio
*Vespa – scooters made by Piaggio
*List of Italian companies

Notes

References

External links

*

{{125cc/Moto3 World Constructors' Champions

Motorcycle manufacturers of Italy
Scooter manufacturers
Moped manufacturers
Companies based in Veneto
Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1945
Italian companies established in 1945
Italian brands
Motorcycle trials
Piaggio Group
Engine manufacturers of Italy