'15 Ape Tuono or '16 Ape Tuono Factory?

I recently purchased a '12 Tuono, and my buddy just purchased a 1290 KTM SuperDuke so I've had a chance to ride both these past few weeks.

Random thoughts:

- KTM is more refined than I expected it to be.
- KTM has better brakes
- KTM has much more midrange
- KTM is more accommodating for taller riders - you sit in rather than on and the rearsets offer lots of ground clearance but the leg bend is better.
- KTM has heated grips - not entirely sure thats from the Factory or not but it sure is a nice addition in the Spring/Fall especially.

- Aprilia sounds way better
- Aprilia destroys it in high speed stability and overall suspension compliance
- Aprilia top end dusts the KTM - once things hit 8500rpm+ on the Tuono the KTM is oddly unable to keep pace in outright acceleration.
- Aprilia has a Quickshifter which works really well and trumps the heated grips option hands down.
- Aprilia doesn't require exhaust removal and a special single sided rear stand for rubber swaps.

Overall I'd be really happy with either of the two bikes but in my area, the KTM is easily 15-20% more expensive o buy, even when comparing leftover '15's to each other.

 

Best street bike I've ever had............. until I bought a Tuono!

Bang for buck though, even after I spent $2400 upgrading the suspension and fueling, still a huge grin-producer and helluva bargain.

 

What year? Mileage?

 

I'd like to see the piping for the 4 into 1 exhaust (or whatever it may be) on a Tuono.

 

Looks kind of like this. I installed the full system on mine - rather challenging!

 

This thread is making me want to sell the hyper and s1000rr and consolidate into one bike with the tuono.

These things reliable? (Says the Ducati owner)

 

I made the mistake of signing up on the owners board - the AF1 site... All the top threads of course were "Anyone else have a blown motor under 2000 miles?", "How do you fix the bike-won't-start-when-its-hot issue?", "Why does my ECU not update?"....etc... yeah, needless to say not exactly the same as joining the CBR forums!

Having said all that, I was originally going to buy a '16 Factory and my buddy who owns the local dealership told me he wasn't even going to bring any in after the last few years of headaches but the new Piaggio Rep told him these new bikes were stress tested beyond belief and well beyond what he called Japanese standards AND, he guaranteed a no hassle full replacement policy on any new 1100 a customer bought for 24 months no questions asked if there was anything out of the norm with the bikes. That almost swayed me into opening the wallet to the tune of an extra $9K but the cheap bastard in me won out and I went for the old man owned, gently used, never above 8000rpm, full service history provided bike for sale locally instead. My logic is that the problems pop up really early on these so my bike already had 7000 miles on it so if anything major was gonna happen, it woulda manifested itself earlier.

 

Yes it has been an amazing bike so far.
Has an ohlins rear shock and the only thing left to do is the forks.
Damn thing is wheelie happy!

 

Because I just bought this . Met the buyer at the Gap on friday rode it for half the day there and went home. Great place to test ride it. LOL

 

2012 13K and still riding it.

Ask anyone who knows me, Eddie Kraft will vouch for me all my bikes are maintained to the T and are VERY well taken care of.

 

I'd need to have the bike in my garage before vouching for that sort of thing ..

 

If you lived closer I would let you take it for a spin ;-)

 

I get bored easily. 7 bikes in 2015. Also a buddy offered me a new 1190 adventure R with over $5K in aftermarket as an even trade. Couldn't turn it down.

 

My friend owns a 2012 and is on the 4th or 5th alternator.
That's the only thing holding me back from buying one.
I went the Yamaha triple way instead (FJ-09), did the suspension front and rear with top shelf Elka parts. Couldn't be happier. Of course, it's not as extreme or as sexy as the Tuono, but there's nothing sexy about being stranded on the side of the road with your Euro-trash bike... Been there, done that.

 

I have had no issues and love mine. I have 4 friends with them and the only issue is wiping the smile off ur face. LOL But seriously I haven't had any issues and if I need a part AF! is a click away and has any part you need shipped pretty much the same day. Just like any other bike there are some that have issues but nothing that has ever worried me.

 

If that was an issue on those year bikes, surely its not a problem now.

 

lol ever heard of a daytona 675? Took em years to get the electrical right.

 

popularity is catching up with the tinker'ers out there and so called squids for aprilia, i've had 3 with zero issues, there is also threads like why are my forks leaking after i do 12 oclocks and slam the front, or is the v4 good at burnouts, and also the ever popular is the v4 as fast as a busa

not sure who your buddy is and what dealership, but good dealers really dont have any headaches, because the brand isn't problematic. problem is there is only like 3 good dealers in the country and 2 of them are in texas and the other in md

i bought my bike in texas and had it shipped to pennsylvania

only time i ever heard of a headache was the sxv sealer engine issues, which got fixed and the v4 engine recall which was a complete swap of early units, no rebuild just a complete swap

 

I live in BC, Canada - my friend is the owner of the only Aprilia dealership in my area.

He told me that his shop has handled 6 engine swaps - with the shop selling on average 4-5 Tuono's per year of the V4 series for 3 years but where his biggest grief has been is back in '08ish with the SVX450/550's - the relationship got so bad if it wasn't for the immense scooter sales they were doing they would have dropped the import group for the Piaggio bikes long ago.

His new Aprilia sales Rep is based out of Portland, OR and apparently is doing a good job and ave him some pretty solid assurances which ended up with him bring in RSV's and Tuono's again after ordering none the past 2 years.

As a side note, there is two Tuono's available locally for sale and both are the new motor bikes - "XXXkn on chassis, XXX km on new motor"...

I LOVE mine, is has 8000 miles or so and I've only just got it and put on maybe 800 of those myself. I'm certainly no hater, but I am a realist.

Yamaha has had recalls with the engine requiring split cases on the R1 last year, Kawi isn't immune, Honda has oil burning CBR's... It's not just an Ape thing...