2015 Aprilia Caponord Rally First Impressions
The 2015 Aprilia Caponord Rally sails through as the Noale firm’s flagship touring and adventure bike. The Rally is high-tech where the absolute highlight is the ADD (Aprilia Dynamic Damping), which makes any ride, fast or slow, comfortable and safe. Traction control, sophisticated ABS brakes and smoother ride-by-wire throttle response are other highlights which make the Caponord Rally a treat to ride.
This new Rally version gets a pair of 33-liter hard panniers, a taller windscreen, engine and upper fairing protection and additional LED lights at the front as standard. Back in 2001, the ETV 1000 Caponord was launched with Aprilia’s in-house patented spoked wheels. This patent has, in 2015, received a new life with the Rally model. The main feature which makes the wheels special are their lightness – Aprilia claims they are the lightest in its class. The rims can take narrower proper off-road tires, but the standard rubber are Metzeler Tourance road tires. Tire sizes are 120/70-19 front and 170/60-17 rear, but a 110 front and 150 rear can also be fitted.
The Caponord Rally handles (pretty much) just as good as the more road-biased and slightly lighter Caponord 1200. From the saddle, however, I barely notice the extra weight. The adjustable windscreen reaches a little higher towards the sky, but it delivered buffeting to my helmet, so, for me, the Rally is more practical than the standard Caponord, but possibly not more comfortable.
The Rally also features the 125-hp V-Twin engine which I really like. It sounds a blast at any revs, and the Rally with its tweaks behaves in a smoother, more predictable way than ever before. I recommend the Touring mode for a perfect mix of rideability and power, which is very predictable. The Caponord Rally works just as well at 3,000 rpm as in higher rpm, which makes for a great engine for both touring and sport. I believe the Rally hasn’t lost any sporting prowess over the standard Caponord 1200.
Therefore I can recommend the Rally over the standard Caponord as a better value for the money because of its extra practicalities while retaining its smooth and fast handling capabilities. The Rally is friendly, fast, smooth, safe and comfortable. What else do you want?
More by Tor Sagen
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Poor Aprilia. They try so hard to compete. But with their abysmal dealer network in the US, and their dodgy reliability reputation, they are fighting an uphill battle. This bike is trying to be a Multistrada / GS , but falls short on both counts. Nowhere near the power of the Multi, and nowhere near the rugged versatility of the GS. And what is it with all Aprilia's bikes having such garish graphics? How about just a nice attractive paintjob? Reminds me of cars in the 80's that had huge letters down the side proclaiming "TURBO", or "DOHC".
I was going to read the story. Anytime a noisy video starts up, I leave the sight. It's distracting. And it wakes up my boss, you dumb sonsofbitches!