Discussion
I am considering buying a Falco but can't find anyone who has actually owned or ridden one! Going to test ride in the next week or so but wondered if there is anything particular to look for.
Seems a great bike on paper, I'm not into balls out sports bikes but a nice 1000 twin without the needs to destroy my back or wrists!! Nice!!!
Seems a great bike on paper, I'm not into balls out sports bikes but a nice 1000 twin without the needs to destroy my back or wrists!! Nice!!!
I’ve not ridden a Falco (so can’t give specific opinions) but I do own a Honda FireStorm and have tried my brothers Millie R and Factory before he “pranged them and I have also done a few miles on a Ducati a ST4S All are good, solid, fun bikes and the engine in the Aprilias was and absolute peach!
If you are not into “balls out” sports bikes then slightly “softer” V twins is definitely the way to go. In road situations they are just as quick as even the quickest of Supersports unless the Supersports rider is willing to totally take their brain out. The V twin is much more relaxing to ride quickly and, for me anyway, offers the most usable power/torque for real road situations. The only things to watch for is that they all seem to get through petrol a little quicker than the equivalent 4 cylinder bike and that they are a little harder on chains/rear tyres. I’m sure these will all be true for the Falco.
>> Edited by black-k1 on Monday 8th May 15:14
If you are not into “balls out” sports bikes then slightly “softer” V twins is definitely the way to go. In road situations they are just as quick as even the quickest of Supersports unless the Supersports rider is willing to totally take their brain out. The V twin is much more relaxing to ride quickly and, for me anyway, offers the most usable power/torque for real road situations. The only things to watch for is that they all seem to get through petrol a little quicker than the equivalent 4 cylinder bike and that they are a little harder on chains/rear tyres. I’m sure these will all be true for the Falco.
>> Edited by black-k1 on Monday 8th May 15:14
Agree, my first bike was SV650, which I really liked. Sold that for a KTM950, also a twin, which was a bit of beast... Rode that round the world and have just got rid, well it feel apart if the truth be known! Now left with my old R100 GS and FZR 400. The FZR is actually a nice bike, rev the nuts off it, pretty quick for a 400 but just a bit too small for me.
Now feeling the need to head back to twinsville, so in the offing are the Falco and maybe the SV1000. Seems like a great engine but not quite as sweat handling as the 650. But there are some big bargains to be had!
Now feeling the need to head back to twinsville, so in the offing are the Falco and maybe the SV1000. Seems like a great engine but not quite as sweat handling as the 650. But there are some big bargains to be had!
You'd be requiring me to comment since I ran one for 3.5years and covered 23k miles on one.
Cracking bike when everything was working, don't even think of commuting on one.
To be honest walk away and don't bother! I'm being serious. Unless you want to deal with niggly little problems with stuff breaking/failing all the time. I supposidly had a three year warranty on mine which frankly wasn't worth the paper it was printed on.
Cracking bike when everything was working, don't even think of commuting on one.
To be honest walk away and don't bother! I'm being serious. Unless you want to deal with niggly little problems with stuff breaking/failing all the time. I supposidly had a three year warranty on mine which frankly wasn't worth the paper it was printed on.
Twit said:
Ouch... Thats not good news!!!!
Buggar!
Yer also, another problem I had was shifting the Falco on through the trade when I wanted a new bike.. no one wanted to touch it, I got a very bad trade in amount but in the end just wanted rid of mine so accepted it.
If you want a big twin I'd suggest something Japanese.. I had a SV650S for 6months before mistakenly trading it for the falco. Surely you can't go wrong with a SV1000S??
sjtscott said:
Ouch... Thats not good news!!!!
Buggar!
Yer also, another problem I had was shifting the Falco on through the trade when I wanted a new bike.. no one wanted to touch it, I got a very bad trade in amount but in the end just wanted rid of mine so accepted it.
If you want a big twin I'd suggest something Japanese.. I had a SV650S for 6 months before mistakenly trading it for the falco. Surely you can't go wrong with a SV1000S??
Unlucky, must have been a Friday bike!
Personally I have not ridden a Falco, but own a Tuono and had a Mille before. I commute on mine every day in rush hour through central London, I also do some serious touring milages in France etc. To date (touch wood) I have not had a single problem in 5 years of Aprilia ownership. One mod to consider if you do buy one is fitting a smaller front sprocket, pick up is quicker and lower gear work is smoother.
The loan bike from my dealership is a SV1000s, nice bike but not as good as the Aprilia IMHO. The one comment I would agree with is that the Falco has never been a good seller and therefore trade in values are not going to be good, if you do buy one new or 2nd hand haggle for a rock bottom price to offset depreciation. Mind you most bikes depareciate like hell anyway, unless you buy a HOG or something outrageously rare and expensive.
I'll go look and try and be objective! I do like the SV1000 but the one issue with my SV650 was trying to keep on top of it in winter... Didnt like that at all.
Agree the Falco seems to depreciate really quite quickly but as has been said, buy low and hopefully you don't get burnt to badly. I do pretty high milage. The KTM was only 18 months old but went with near 40K on the clock, obviously the trip did for that. I only had my SV for 7 months but put 15K on that, so I guess once you stick mileage on any bike the value just drops!
Just going to go and ride a few bikes and see what take my fancy, also considering a Blackbird and I may go try a Busa to see what goes, but would rather have a twin...
Agree the Falco seems to depreciate really quite quickly but as has been said, buy low and hopefully you don't get burnt to badly. I do pretty high milage. The KTM was only 18 months old but went with near 40K on the clock, obviously the trip did for that. I only had my SV for 7 months but put 15K on that, so I guess once you stick mileage on any bike the value just drops!
Just going to go and ride a few bikes and see what take my fancy, also considering a Blackbird and I may go try a Busa to see what goes, but would rather have a twin...
Twit said:
I'll go look and try and be objective! I do like the SV1000 but the one issue with my SV650 was trying to keep on top of it in winter... Didnt like that at all.
Agree the Falco seems to depreciate really quite quickly but as has been said, buy low and hopefully you don't get burnt to badly. I do pretty high milage. The KTM was only 18 months old but went with near 40K on the clock, obviously the trip did for that. I only had my SV for 7 months but put 15K on that, so I guess once you stick mileage on any bike the value just drops!
Just going to go and ride a few bikes and see what take my fancy, also considering a Blackbird and I may go try a Busa to see what goes, but would rather have a twin...
Thats one thing the falco was good at.. not rotting in winter.. I went through 3 on mine and it was no where as badly affected as some of the jap bikes I've had. Also living in a flat and being used everyday I don't exactly clean my bike regularly.
I agree with changing the front sprocket.. since I used mine in london daily too I dropped a tooth off the front and it makes a huge difference. Fuel ecconomy was not good 90miles til the fuel light was on.
Clutch slave cylinder seals are a known weak point. Since Aprilia don't/didn't have spare seals it required a whole new unit I had 3 of the things on my bike.. the third was failing as I took it for trading in. Easy to tell the as the clutch fluid level started to drop from max. Basically if you see one without max level on the clutch be concerned because it shouldn't ever loose fluid!
>> Edited by sjtscott on Tuesday 9th May 10:39
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