FourWheelForum  

Go Back   FourWheelForum > Motorcycles & Streetbikes! > Aprilia Mille RSVR - 1st Generation

Reply
Thread Tools
  #1  
Unread 06-27-2008, 05:49 PM
Smithers's Avatar
Smithers Smithers is offline
Admin
 
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: San Luis Obispo, CA
Posts: 3,238
Send a message via AIM to Smithers Send a message via Skype™ to Smithers
Default Aprilia Mille RSVR Carbon Fiber Parts

I received another late birthday present for myself today and it's surely impressive. I've never seen the rear carbon fiber section for the Mille... not even a picture. And now after a painful wait for my stimulus check I now have one ready to install on my own Aprilia. This is a pretty amazing set of carbon fiber skin.









I hope to have time enough to install it tomorrow and take it out for a spin with the local guys this weekend.

Big thanks to Art B for hooking this up for me!
Reply With Quote
  #2  
Unread 07-03-2008, 11:31 PM
Smithers's Avatar
Smithers Smithers is offline
Admin
 
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: San Luis Obispo, CA
Posts: 3,238
Send a message via AIM to Smithers Send a message via Skype™ to Smithers
Default

I actually like the rear section with the bright color and the carbon lid on it.



But I would be an idiot not to try and see what it looks like with the full CF on the rear. I'll have to get around to doing that this week. Here we are out at Parkfield for lunch last week. I love that bright color... it makes people pay attention to you more than black or whatever. But the CF rear section does have a lot of white on it so it might not look too stealth I hope.

Reply With Quote
  #3  
Unread 12-01-2008, 10:14 AM
Smithers's Avatar
Smithers Smithers is offline
Admin
 
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: San Luis Obispo, CA
Posts: 3,238
Send a message via AIM to Smithers Send a message via Skype™ to Smithers
Default

So I have been just kicking back riding the bike with the fluorescent rear section on it ever since. I really just don't want to have the carbon fiber on my bike looking like a blinged out wanna-be ride. Plus I don't think I would be able to replace the carbon fiber if something were to happen to it. My bike is getting to be too nice to ride hard almost... but I still gave it a good beating the past weekend without a doubt.

So I was cruising around fleabay and I was watching a tail light assembly that I thought I should buy in preparation for my 2stroke project bike. It's one of the few parts I need to make sure I have when I'm ready to work on it. I found a good deal on an auction and at the last minute I decided to see what else the seller had for sale. Bad move - the guy had a sweeet set of carbon fiber side panels made by Aprilia. Oh man how could I resist? I'm not made of money by any means so it's a good thing I was doing all the work I had waiting for me. The panels definitely cut into my snowboarding budget though. But I had a 10% Ebay coupon and fuel has come down so sharply that I just decided to bid on em.

And here they are:




I really needed the rear light assembly as well so the seller was kind enough to throw them in for me for the minumum bid as no one had bid on them:


** Thank you c-phoenix !! **
Reply With Quote
  #4  
Unread 12-01-2008, 10:48 PM
Smithers's Avatar
Smithers Smithers is offline
Admin
 
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: San Luis Obispo, CA
Posts: 3,238
Send a message via AIM to Smithers Send a message via Skype™ to Smithers
Default

Ahh I just couldn't help installing them tonight and getting a couple shots of em on. I will adjust the front bracket so the panel hugs the fuel tank just a little bit tighter at another time.

My new Craftsman T-Handle Allan Wrenches... LOVE THESE THINGS.




I'm sure glad I'm not slow! This bike is too damn fast looking now. =\
Reply With Quote
  #5  
Unread 02-03-2009, 10:54 PM
Smithers's Avatar
Smithers Smithers is offline
Admin
 
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: San Luis Obispo, CA
Posts: 3,238
Send a message via AIM to Smithers Send a message via Skype™ to Smithers
Default

So I've basically been sitting on this carbon fiber rear cowl for my bike for a few months. I wasn't about to dismantle my bike just to see what it would look like but now that I have taken it apart for the brown connector wiring fix I got a chance to put it on. WOW that carbon fiber is super rigid and strong. My plastic tail easily gives when I stretch it around the rear section but the carbon fiber didn't want to give an inch at all. And I used to think that putting on the stock Aprilia rear cowl was difficult! I was sweating when I was installing the carbon fiber. I had to remove the trunk lock just to have any hope of squeezing on the carbon tail. It was hard as a rock and I felt like it was going to snap when I was trying to get it on!



The holes that all the bolts went through weren't quite as large as the stock plastic cowl. The bolts have shoulders on them which allows you to tighten down the bolts to the max without damaging the cowl attachment locations. Maybe this was also done to be more forgiving on the cowl because of the vibration or even manufacturing tolerances. Either way I used the Dremel to enlarge the mounting holes to make things fit much better and naturally.
Reply With Quote
  #6  
Unread 02-03-2009, 10:57 PM
Smithers's Avatar
Smithers Smithers is offline
Admin
 
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: San Luis Obispo, CA
Posts: 3,238
Send a message via AIM to Smithers Send a message via Skype™ to Smithers
Default

The pink stripes on the rear look like they are orange in the pictures. They are rather reflective in the light and the colors match up in person to the nakid eye. Now that my bike is mostly black I'm thinking of puttin on my black tail light surround instead of the grey. A little photoshop and here's what that would look like.



Yeap black looks better and more uniform.
Reply With Quote
  #7  
Unread 04-10-2009, 07:57 AM
Smithers's Avatar
Smithers Smithers is offline
Admin
 
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: San Luis Obispo, CA
Posts: 3,238
Send a message via AIM to Smithers Send a message via Skype™ to Smithers
Default

Here's another pic of my bike from last weekend. I realized I only have a couple bad pictures of it with the carbon fiber tail section on. It works for now. I can report that the CF parts have made me go faster. At first I was kinda thinking I should slow down a bit and take it easy since my bike is getting harder and harder to replace with all these parts I'm adding on - but than all that gets thrown out the window when you get on it! haha Damn these bikes are too fast.

Reply With Quote
  #8  
Unread 05-28-2009, 03:56 PM
Smithers's Avatar
Smithers Smithers is offline
Admin
 
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: San Luis Obispo, CA
Posts: 3,238
Send a message via AIM to Smithers Send a message via Skype™ to Smithers
Default

Well I got lucky and scored some carbon fiber side fairings from a gentleman on one of the forums. He was kind enough to package them up and ship them out for my early xmas present to myself. The price was too good to pass up. I wasn't out to make a carbon fiber bike but the prices have been falling on this material. I don't know if more people are making more of it or just that no one is buying what has already been made? Oh well better for guys like me. The person I bought mine from said that he bought them because they were cheaper than the factory plastic would have been. Yeah those Aprilia brand part are a ton of money.

The only thing I'm not looking forward to is cutting some holes in them to fit them over the sliders on each side! It will just take me an hour to double check the locations and slowly dremel them out.



I think that the structural body of them is composed of Kevlar and then wrapped in carbon fiber. Whatever it is the panels are SUPER lightweight. I was surprised once again by how light this stuff is. I just will be needing to buy new zues type fasteners to secure them. I will be throwing around some ideas in my head for some paint as well. I'll put them on plain just to try them on but I am thinking that I want to put some striping on it to match the rear section somehow.



Cool stuff.
Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump


All times are GMT -8. The time now is 06:51 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.7.4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.