thumbs up. The man could really drive that thing,
and its dual rear tyres were almost smoking.
But back to the ride aboard the Aprilia. Frankly,
the seat was damn uncomfortable at first – narrow
and hard, and the forward tilted seat seemed to
find and aggravate the worst possible position
for my particularly troublesome back. I found the
answer was to move around a great deal more,
with a bit of positive weight-shifting, and suddenly
the bike revealed its true heart. With active riding
and control this beast is tremendously willing,
and the smooth delivery of power, without the
blistering acceleration of the bigger road-bikes,
is still enough to provoke a ‘whoops’ reaction to
the speedo very quickly. It can be induced onto
its back feet, but it takes some clutch work. That
said though, under a severe wristful it became
almost floaty in the front over some forest road
undulations. This bike is at its best when driven
with intent, and downshifting required hard, solid
input to the gloriously fangled gear shifter
There’s a lot to like in the Dorsoduro. The red
latticed frame is echoed in the red painted pot tops
of the 90-degree V-twin, and the colour scheme
echoes the livery of the Tuono and the RSV4. The
exhaust system is a work of art, and opens into
a large, wide, dimpled (to allow for tyre space)
stainless pan under the seat, terminating with
two exhaust ports at seat height, and bisected
by a pointed rear taillight. This has a biological,
almost sexual, look to it, but the table-like rear
seat wedge is weirdly large, and it takes a while
for the eye to adjust and accept. My sore butt
occasionally slid right back onto it for respite.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but
sometimes education helps you form a better
opinion of something than raw physical appeal
alone might. I’m not saying I didn’t like the look of
the Dorsoduro at first, but the tactile experience of
taking control of this beasty makes you look at the
bike with a different eye - a glad eye. It’s sort of hot.
Up front the bike sits on 41mm upside down gold
KIWI RIDER 57