Aprilia Shiver 900

9th November 2016

900cc | V-twin | Traction control | ABS  | Specs

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Aprilia launched the SL750 Shiver in 2007. The bike was considered an essential weapon in the company arsenal and urgently needed to fill a gap in the middleweight sector dominated by the Suzuki Bandit and the Honda SV650. Put simply, until the Shiver came along, Aprilia was disarmed.

So much for the propaganda.

Since then, this middleweight roadster has been upgraded many times and has consistently proved itself a competent and workaday package offering no great surprises or high spots, but no nasty shocks or low spots either.

So it's bland? No, we've ridden two Shivers and both were strong performers in the mid-range, good performers on the curves, reassuring performers when braking in the wet, and easy on the eye.

Styling has always been ... well, very Italian. But that's understandable enough given the background of the (parent) Piaggio engineers and designers, many of whom have been closely involved with Ferrari and other luxury Italian sports cars. And these bikes are, after all, built in Foale, near Venice.

This new 2017 Shiver is much the same "under the bonnet" as the 2016 model. It's a 90-degree, liquid-cooled, DOHC V-twin that delivers the power through a 6-speed gearbox. But it's no longer a 750. Instead, Aprilia has increased the stroke from 56.4mm to 67.4mm, but the massive 92mm bore remains the same. Do the maths, and you'll see that these dimensions equate to 896cc. Not a huge hike over the previous 749cc. But as Aprilia is claiming, there will undoubtedly be more mid-range and more linear grunt which is exactly where this motorcycle lives. In the centre ground.

The horsepower is rated by Aprilia as 95 @ 8,750rpm with 60lbs-ft of torque @ 4,500rpm (and you can disregard Aprilia's earlier claim that the 750 was good for 92hp. Around 75hp is more realistic).

Features include ride-by-wire throttle (Aprilia helped pioneer this feature on motorcycles); three riding modes (Sport, Touring and Rain); traction control, and switchable ABS.

An inverted 41mm Kayaba fork (adjustable for pre-load and rebound) offers 4.7-inches of travel and puts the required bounce up front. At the rear, an adjustable shock absorber/damper more or less matches the travel. The frame is still a steel and aluminium trellis, and still cunningly painted pillar box red (not Aprilia's colour name) so that everyone will know that the firm is closely following a trail that was blazed by ... well, Ducati.

Wheels are 120/70ZR17 front, and 180/55ZR17 rear. Brakes are 4-piston radial calipers with 320mm discs paired with a single-piston caliper and a 240mm disc.

A new TFT screen handles the instrumentation which is upgradeable with new multimedia content as and when it arrives. The seat height is a reasonable 31-inches (810mm). The colour is what you see.

Was you hoping for something a little more radical? Well bad luck. Aprilia has a very decent mid-ranger at a time when the bike market is still fragile. The firm is playing a cautious hand and offering a cost-effective upgrade on a reasonably safe platform. That said, the extra mid-range grunt might not be a lot in terms of raw numbers. But raw numbers and feel are very different factors. Better try the bike before making a judgement.

No pricing details yet.

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