Top test Aprilia SMV 750 Dorsoduro

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Top test Aprilia SMV 750 Dorsoduro

Supermoto or not?

It’s easy to make a judgment: a raised fender, grim off-road headlight mask, long, stilted suspension travel and fat road tires ?? Aprilia’s new SMV 750 Dorsoduro has to be a supermoto. Or maybe not?

Supermoto ?? This is a magical term for a young or young-at-heart generation of bikers. As a motorcycle category, it is often associated with orange tones and three letters that stand for a trendy Austrian motorcycle brand. With high fenders and long suspension travel with an off-road touch, the outfit of a supermoto is reduced to the bare minimum. Lush disguise and other weighty bells and whistles are just annoying ballast. Radically trimmed for maneuverability, uncompromisingly sporty designed for hot road use, supermotos meet their pilots with rustic toughness instead of lulling them into comfort. Her not entirely peaceful appearance fits in with this, like a fist on the eye. Just think of the huge KTM 990 Super Duke with 120 hp. Even the less powerful 690 Supermoto knows how to put its robust single cylinder in the limelight? Goosebumps guaranteed.

The competitors have long since latched onto the successful concept, most recently Ducati with the Hypermotard 1100 S and BMW with the HP2 Megamoto. Now the eagerly awaited Aprilia is moving S.MV 750 Dorsoduro after. With excitement because it not only looks outrageously good, but also comes up as a two-cylinder supermoto with an attractive, almost popular price, with which it competes with the single-cylinder KTM: 8,599 euros. In order to reduce production costs, Dorsoduro has taken over a lot from Shiver, the extremely attractive naked bike from the Aprilia factory in Veneto. For example the composite frame made of steel tubes and cast aluminum elements, albeit with slight geometrical changes, and the slim, compact 90-degree V-engine. It is a robust as well as cultivated, modern four-valve engine, whose dominant underseat exhaust system emits hoarse, rumbling, pithy tones, as if an untamed Ducati were rushing by. So not a bad parentage.

Top test Aprilia SMV 750 Dorsoduro

Supermoto or not?

Artist

Rebel or cultured? Instead of being radical and nervous, the Aprilia turns very neutrally into the curves. OK then!

However, the performance of the Dorsoduro does not quite match that of the Shiver. The Italians give 92 instead of 95 PS for the Supermoto, three PS less in favor of a fuller torque curve. The technicians only dealt with the engine management and the characteristics of the ride-by-wire, the electronic throttle valve adjustment. The hardware such as the camshafts or the compression remained untouched. Only a shorter final gear ratio with two more teeth (46 instead of 44) on the chainring was in the specification sheet to underline the sprint character of a supermoto. The dynamometer reveals: the V-Twin lifts 88 HP in the supermoto trim, only one HP less than the best previously measured Shiver with 89 HP. Enough theory, the road beckons. Taking a seat takes place at the usual level for this class, namely at a height of 880 millimeters. There it is pleasant to sit on the ultra-flat, only moderately padded bench. With its massive hand protectors, the discreetly cranked, wide handlebar lies loosely in the hands and, as is usual with supermotos, is not even mounted very close to the body. In combination with the slim, 13 liter tank, the handlebar position even leads to a moderately sporty, almost casually comfortable posture. Man and machine find each other quickly.

On Click …

Bilski

The SMV 750 Dorsoduro not only cuts a good figure when standing.

The twin roars at the push of a button. The idle speed is consistently low right from the start, clean throttle response included. Dense city traffic initially forces you to drive defensively. Not exactly a terrain that supermotos feel particularly comfortable on. But the Dorsoduro shows manners, doesn’t behave bitchily, doesn’t buck. It reacts to annoying stop-and-go with only slight load change reactions, pulls up effortlessly from 2000 rpm without hacking into the chain or asking for the clutch to be used. The driver zaps through their smooth six-speed gearbox on short shift paths? with one small drawback: your hydraulically operated clutch requires well-trained finger muscles. The hard throttle response that MOTORRAD always complained about on the Shiver cannot be felt on the Dorsoduro if you have made the right choice beforehand. Because three different mappings can be called up for the electronically controlled throttle valves at the touch of a button: Sport, Touring and Rain.

So far, the Dorsoduro has been part of the touring program. If the sport setting is selected, the V-Twin suddenly goes to work much more directly. He now even reacts to small movements of the throttle grip with hard work? as impetuous and nasty as some supermoto drivers like to demand in the wild. Although this programming is by no means necessary, it is also not as superfluous as the rain mode, which cuts off a good third of the power. Then the V2 feels as if it were hopping straight to the next workshop on the emergency program.

A quick glance at the performance curve is enough to see that the two-cylinder has special qualities. The perfectly straight ascending line and the full torque curve even at low speeds consolidate the impression of a powerful, but nonetheless revving engine, as one would long for a highway robbery. The 750 peppers off practically from every speed range with a well-behaved throttle response. Whether in a bustling, small snake or in long, fast curve combinations? the twin always has enough power ready to pound towards the end of the curve with a powerful pull. Medium speeds are often enough to find the next higher gear to catch up with full acceleration. Wherever sporty ambition wants it, the engine continues to turn greedily up to 9500 rpm before it is gently put in its place by the limiter. However, such speed orgies are hardly necessary.

One would like to give in to the feeling that the Dorsoduro has more power than the Shiver in all situations, but the reality is rather sobering. Sometimes in favor of one, sometimes in favor of the other, differences in acceleration and pulling power evaporate down to a few tenths of a second. The shorter overall gear ratio of the Dorsoduro makes something else clear: the Autobahn is not their favorite discipline. She manages a good 200 km / h. That’s enough. But it also reaches its maximum speed in the last gear. As a result, it turns annoyingly high even at moderate speeds ?? at 130 km / h there are already 6000 rpm. Over longer distances, the desire for a last gear to reduce the engine speed gains the upper hand.

Troublemaker

Artist

Can the SMV 750 Dorsoduro really hold a candle to its competitors Ducati Hypermotard and KTM 690 SM?

Apart from that, the Dorsoduro doesn’t run as well in a straight line at top speed. Probably also because your driver wriggles like a flag in the wind and thus contributes to the slight unrest around the longitudinal axis of the chassis. Then it’s better to quickly head back to the country road, where the Aprilia Supermoto feels far more comfortable with its tight, homogeneous chassis design. Their long spring travel of 160 millimeters, in combination with the swing arm specially designed for the Dorsoduro, result in an independent chassis geometry compared to the Shiver. The Dorsoduro knows how to make clever use of the steeper steering head angle (66.1 instead of 65.1 degrees), its shorter caster (108 instead of 109 millimeters) and a longer wheelbase (1505 instead of 1449 millimeters). The upside-down fork with adjustable spring base and rebound damping reacts sensitively to even the smallest bumps in the ground, copes with rough distortions just as easily and holds the front wheel safely and precisely on the ground, even during hard braking maneuvers on uneven road surfaces. The spring strut, which can also be adjusted in terms of the spring base and rebound damping and is directly linked to the swing arm, easily keeps up in its function with the front section and easily stashes deep holes even in two-person operation.

However, anyone who expects the Dorsoduro to playfully whip around the corners in predatory supermoto fashion is seriously mistaken. Their aggressive appearance is paired with more conventional, good-natured driving behavior. It does not react in a radical, nervous or fidgety manner to steering impulses. Instead, it turns neutrally, turns precisely around the corner on a clean line, rushes through slow and fast corners in a stable manner, masters alternating corners with little effort and gives the driver the reassuring feeling of always moving in easily controllable, safe driving conditions . Speaking of safety: The Aprilia does without ABS, but not good brakes. The radially arranged four-piston pliers grip the 320 wave discs with ease, but without appearing excessively biting. 10.3 m / s² is an unbelievably good deceleration value that the Aprilia achieves with the standard Dunlop Sportmax Qualifier. A tire that doesn’t look good on every motorcycle, but works great on the Dorsoduro.

Criticism elsewhere is certainly appropriate. Although the Twin uses fuel, which is now sinfully expensive, and only consumes 4.8 liters per 100 kilometers, the reserve light that comes on early requires a refueling stop after less than 200 kilometers. Then four liters slosh easily in the 13-liter tank. Maybe it’s better to take a break, because the rather sparsely upholstered bench maltreats the very best after 150 kilometers. Viewed in this way, the Dorsoduro seems to correspond perfectly to the image of a tough, radical supermoto. Even if it is actually a completely normal motorcycle that conveys a lot of driving pleasure in a variety of ways.

Technical data Aprilia SMV 750 Dorsoduro

Bilski

Weird: The Aprilia SMV 750 Dorsoduro likes to play with the road.

engine
Water-cooled two-cylinder four-stroke 90-degree V-engine, two overhead, gear / chain-driven camshafts, four valves per cylinder, bucket tappets, injection, Ø 52 mm, regulated catalytic converter, 450 W alternator, hydraulically operated multi-plate oil bath clutch, six-speed gearbox, O-ring chain, secondary ratio 46:16.

Bore x stroke 92.0 x 56.4 mm
Cubic capacity 750 cm³
Compression ratio 10.9: 1
Rated output 67.0 kW (91 hp) at 8750 rpm
Max. Torque 82 Nm at 4500 rpm

landing gear
Steel tubular frame with screwed cast aluminum parts, up-side-down fork, Ø 43 mm, adjustable spring base and rebound damping, two-arm swing arm made of aluminum, spring strut, directly hinged, adjustable spring base and rebound damping, double disc brake at the front, Ø 320 mm, four-piston fixed calipers, disc brake rear, Ø 240 mm, single-piston floating caliper

Cast aluminum wheels 3.50 x 17; 6.00 x 17
Tires 120/70 ZR 17; 180/55 ZR 17

Dimensions + weights
Wheelbase 1505 mm, steering head angle 66.1 degrees, caster 108 mm, spring travel f / r 160/160 mm, permissible total weight 400 kg, tank capacity 13.0 liters.

Service intervals: every 10000 km
Oil and filter change: every 10,000 km
Engine oil: SAE 10 W 50
Telescopic fork oil: SAE 5 W
Idle speed 1400 ± 100 / min
Tire pressure solo (with pillion passenger)
front / rear 2.3 / 2.5 (2.5 / 2.8) bar Warranty two years
Colors Black, Red, Silver
Price (including additional costs) 8,599 euros

Noticed

more

+ It’s very easy to use: The steeply upward-facing side stand can be easily reached and folded out with your foot.

+ Easy to adjust: the clutch and brake levers can be adjusted four times in width.

+ The view in the rear-view mirrors is good, the light illuminates the road very well.

+ Delivery without passenger footpegs, but the filigree pegs are supplied with the new motorcycle and can be fitted by the dealer on request. This also includes the unhappily placed strap at the end of the bench.

+ The flat, stretched seat offers surprisingly good seating comfort for the front passenger. He can safely support himself on the comfortably positioned notches.

minus

– Screws loose and gone? a few hundred kilometers and the rear section would have fallen off. Victim of vibration?

– Rubber stoppers loosen. When the bench is pushed on and locked in place, the rubber stoppers that support the bench against the frame can tear off. This is what happened on the test machine.

– The seat lock placed above the rear wheel is unprotected from road dirt. Certainly only a matter of time before it ceases to function.

– Please do not fill up the tank, because the tank vent is positioned so unfortunate that after each refueling, plenty of fuel drips through the vent hose onto the floor, leaving puddles of fuel.

MOTORCYCLE – Commentary measurements

The linearly increasing performance curves in sport and touring mode are almost identical. In rain mode, both the power and the torque are significantly reduced. The slight dent in the torque curve at 3100 rpm in the sport and touring setting is not felt in practice. The gear ratio is perfect. The engine turns off completely in the last gear.

The Dorsoduro circles the pylon course in a stable and handy manner. At the turning point, the gentle response of the engine in touring mode brings time.

Only the tires set the limit when it comes to the fastest time. The Aprilia behaves extremely neutrally over the entire lean angle.

The Aprilia’s freedom from lean angles is immense. It moves easily over parting lines and has to be brought back on track. That costs time and speed.

The brake works very transparently and is easy to dose. The Dorsoduro always remains stable in its lane under full use, so you can approach the maximum deceleration very well. The average deceleration value of 10.3m / s² is an extremely good value, the brakes are great.

* Manufacturer information; 1MOTORRAD test course, values ​​of the brake test averaged from the three best driving tests; Reference: motorcycle from the respective category with the previous best values; 2 Power on the crankshaft. Measurements on Dynojet chassis dynamometer 150, corrected according to 95/1 / EG, maximum possible deviation ± 5%

Conclusion

Optically trimmed for Supermoto, the Dorsoduro cannot convincingly embody the role of the villain in everyday motorcycle life. That’s a good thing, because its V-twin cylinder shines with a wide usable speed range and shows smooth trains. To the delight of less experienced Supermoto enthusiasts, the Aprilia turns very neutrally around curves instead of being radical and nervous. It’s just a good motorcycle.

MOTORCYCLE measurements

Performance

Top speed * 200 km / h

acceleration
0 100 km / h 3.9 sec
0 ?? 140 km / h 7.1 sec

Draft
60 ?? 100 km / h 4.5 sec
100 ?? 140 km / h 5.0 sec
140 180 km / h 7.1 sec

Speedometer deviation
Effective (display 50/100) 48/95 km / h

Tachometer deviation
Display red area 10000 / min
Effective 10,000 rpm

consumption

Country road 4.8 l / 100 km
at 130 km / h 5.3 l / 100 km
Theor. Range of the country road 271 km
Fuel type super

Dimensions + weights

L / W / H2117 / 1080/1334 mm
Seat height 880 mm
Handlebar height 1115 mm
Turning circle 4882 mm
Weight with a full tank 211 kg
Payload 189 kg
Wheel load distribution v / h 47/53%

MOTORCYCLE Comment Scoring

engine
Better tuned than the SHiver. Ride-by-wire is the name of Aprilia’s electronic throttle valve adjustment. Their vote was changed for the Dorsoduro. The throttle response has noticeably improved in both touring and sport modes. The load change reactions are also no longer so rough. The V-engine with its wide usable speed range exudes real driving pleasure. The six-speed transmission can be shifted very smoothly and precisely. Only the clutch needs a lot of manual force.

landing gear
The SMV is easy to drive, but not nearly as playful as you would expect from a supermoto. The well-tuned and tightly tuned chassis with responsive spring elements impresses with its neutral cornering behavior and high steering precision. Even on bad surfaces, the Aprilia sprints easily. The Dunlop qualifiers hardly set any limits to the enormous freedom of lean angles, at least on country roads. Small downer: At top speed, the driving stability decreases a bit.

everyday life
Almost ready to tour, you think you’re sitting on the Dorsoduro. The comfortable handlebar and footrest position and the good knee grip lead to a relaxed posture. The pillion also sits amazingly comfortably. But the barely upholstered bench already tortures the very best after 150 kilometers driven. The range is also moderate? Supermoto. It also fits that the Italian waives any lashing options for luggage.

security
ABS nil. But the SMV still has good brakes, very good ones. These can be perfectly dosed and delay the 211 kilogram Dorsoduro as if it were dropping anchor. In doing so, they do not react so viciously that you have to be careful with them. Braking in an inclined position creates a slight righting moment.

costs
Inspection intervals of a generous 10,000 kilometers ?? the costs for the check are not incurred that often. The fuel consumption is also kept within reasonable limits.

Overall rating
The Dorsoduro drives great, looks exciting and doesn’t cost the world. You can hardly expect more from a motorcycle with almost 90 hp.

Setup country road

Fork:
Rebound 1.25 turns, preload 3rd division.
All revolutions counted from the closed position.

Shock absorb:
Rebound 2 turns, pre-tension 22 millimeters visible threads.
All rotations counted starting from the closed position

Small but nice

Aprilia

Two cylinders rotated by 180 degrees optimize the proportion of identical parts.

Aprilia’s 750 twin-cylinder, which is installed in the Shiver and now also in the Dorsoduro, is not the lowest-capacity twin that the plant in Veneto has in its range, but it is not an offshoot of an existing engine series. The short stroke (56.4 millimeter stroke to 92.0 millimeter bore) is considered a pilot project for a new generation of engines and the nucleus of further model variants. At a cylinder angle of 90 degrees, the two connecting rods run on a common crank pin. Because the first-order oscillating inertia strengths result in a rotating force with a constant value due to this arrangement, the counterweights of the crank webs are sufficient to avoid destructive vibrations. There is no need for an additional balancer shaft. The around 90 hp water-cooled two-cylinder turns almost 10,000 towers. This means that it is not a sophisticated sports engine, but it still has good strength. Its very slim, compact design is striking. The idea of ​​mounting the camshaft drives on the crankshaft stub opposite each other created the prerequisite for the cylinders to be able to move closely together. This also made it possible to use the same head for both cylinders. This is particularly delicate because, thanks to a two-stage reduction, the spur gears for driving the two camshafts have a small diameter. In addition, the technicians dispensed with triple support for the camshafts, which are only supported between the spur gear and the cam and between the two cams.

These technical solutions, which contribute significantly to the compact design of the 750 two-cylinder, will also give wings to the eagerly awaited 1200 V2, which can be seen at INTERMOT in Cologne in autumn.

Offers and price comparison for the Aprilia SMV 750 Dorsoduro

Used Aprilia SMV 750 Dorsoduro in Germany

The Aprilia SMV 750 Dorsoduro isn’t as bad as it does. Especially not with the price. On the used motorcycle exchange they are in good condition for little money: Used Aprilia SMV 750 Dorsoduro in Germany

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