hi all

just wondering if anyone has owned a aprilia mille 1000, basically trying to find out living with one.

done the usual bike mag reviews but better to talk to owners

cheers                                                                                                                                                                              

My son has a Mille rsv1000 oil tanks are shit they split for no other reason but there paper thin. Petrol tank filler seal is prone to let water in and rear brake master cylinder has to be changed due ot over heating and causing rear brakes to give up. That on is a £300.00 fix so unless it has had rear sets fitted with the cylinder moved there is your 1st bill. I have been told the later ones were changed so the cylinder was not behind the fairing

Cheers jp

Thanks for the info.

the rsv mille I'm looking at is a 2002 model so hopefully sorted.                                                                                                                                                                             

My sons is an 04 there are a lot of changes between them if the rear brake cylinder is behind the fairing it may need sorting. You could give these guys a call there in Tamworth Aprillia performance 01827 285500
They should be able to give you more details and there are a very good service center

I had the misfortune to own a 20004 Falco SL1000 for five years from new and although it wasn't the worst bike I have had (that was a Triumph TSS!) it was bad and I gave it up on it in the end. This is the retuned Mille with allegedly more mid-range punch although I was never impressed with the tractability of the engine (2nd gear for 30 mph limits) or its overall performance. It was thirsty too. Claimed to be a sports tourer, the riding position was very sporty and a trifle cramped. I tried a MK1 RSV Mille once and that was even more cramped. The rear seat was reluctant to lock down properly and I lost it on the M1. £90 to replace but fortunately someone gave me one. The main issue was electrics - when I hit the horn button, it would blow a fuse; the rev counter kept resetting itself + or - 1500 rpm from the correct reading; the speedo sensor failed giving me up to 270 mph and then stopped working. The clutch slave cylinder started leaking so I replaced it with an aftermarket one and if you scratch the bodywork, the paint is a 3 part solvent based and very difficult to obtain as are a lot of new parts. The Aprilias with the Rotax V-twins are also quite tall which did not give me much confidence cornering. Aprilia dealers are often of poor quality and factory back-up is a joke. There were other issues which were peculiar to the Falco or a new bike and a run of bad luck where I thought it was trying to kill me.

In the end I traded it in for a Kawasaki ZX-9R which was better in every respect except, perhaps the exhaust note. I would suggest taking the praise for the RSV Mille in the press with a large pinch of salt and read between the lines to see what they don't say about it.

I see jpharley had posted while I was writing. Griff Wooley's Aprilia Performance Centre at Tamworth is very good and well worth dealing with if you do go ahead with the RSV Mille but as I said before, most of the mainstream Aprilia dealers are of a poor calibre. 

cheers for all the info

there`s a lot to think about