The Aprilia Superbike, which beginning in 2009, will bring the Noale based company back to four-stroke racing, has been unveiled for the first time during the Piaggio Group Convention in Milan.

After the success in the 2007 World Championships with Aprilia riders and bikes dominating the 125 and 250 classes (winning all four titles, a repeat of the 2006 performance), the Veneto company gave a preview of the eagerly awaited RSV 4 “Race Machine”.

It was an extraordinary preview to a privileged audience of more than 1,200 dealers attending the International Piaggio Group Convention.

(Picture: © Marcello, more pictures on picasa)

Four cylinders, 1000 cc, power of well over 200 HP in the race version, the new bike due to make its road debut by the end of 2008 will mark Aprilia's return to the World Superbike Championship in the 2009 season.

The Aprilia RSV 4 is driven by the most revolutionary and powerful engine ever built by Aprilia.  A four-cylinder one litre 65° V engine - a layout making it unique among all the world's production engines - in which the most sophisticated engine engineering is combined with top quality materials and the most advanced electronic control technology.

The Aprilia engine in fact uses integral ride-by-wire technology, opening up new frontiers in managing such a powerful engine, with almost infinite possibilities for controlling power output and traction.

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