Piaggio has gifted Bollywood actor John Abraham an Aprilia RSV4 superbike. The RSV4 needs no introduction and has won 294 Grand Prix races at the Road Racing World Championship. Piaggio officially sells Aprilia bikes in India, bringing it via the CBU route and retailing it through two dealerships, one each in Pune and Delhi. This move of gifting John a motorcycle is purely for marketing reasons. Surprisingly John is the brand ambassador for Yamaha India but off late, he hasn’t been seen on a Yamaha bike. His contract with the Japanese motorcycle manufacturer is about to expire soon and the company is still contemplating a renewal.
John Abraham is an avid biker and thus companies want to tap into his popularity for promoting their products. His first bike was a Yamaha RD350 which he sold to buy a standard Bullet. Once he got into acting, he purchased the Kawasaki Ninja ZX-11 which was followed by the Suzuki Hayabusa and Ninja ZX-12. Post the success of Dhoom, he became the brand ambassador for Yamaha and got an R1 and V-Max. He gifted the V-Max to his director for the success of a movie and then bought a Suzuki GSX-1000RR.
The Aprilia RSV4 is the latest addition to his garage and John hopes to become the Jay Leno of motorcycles in India. At today’s event, John shared his experience of biking, stressing on the importance of safety gear. He also revealed his plans of starting a racing team, similar to what Mahindra Singh Dhoni has done. His Aprilia RSV4 is finished in matte black and gets the APRC (Aprilia Performance Ride Control) package. The APRC package consists of a lighter exhaust and a slew of systems including Aprilia Traction Control, Aprilia Wheelie Control, Aprilia Quick Shift, Aprilia Launch Control, etc. These systems are honed on the track.
The Aprilia RSV4 R APRC edition is powered by a 999.6cc, V4 engine which uses titanium and nymonic valves. The high compression motor belts out an impressive 184 HP of power at 12,500 RPM and 117 Nm of torque at 10,000 RPM. The weight is just 184 kgs and the on-road price of the performance machine touches Rs. 25 lakhs. The Factory version is even costlier at almost Rs. 30 lakhs. In India, Aprilia should launch a 200cc version, inspired from the RSV4 as they already have a 125cc version, the RS 125.
