Skip to content
FastestThings

Motorcycles

Aprilia RSV4 Factory

MCN lists 186 mph for the 2019–2020 RSV4 1100 Factory. Aprilia's technical PDF does not state a top speed.

Also known as RSV4 1100 Factory, RSV4 Factory
Post on X (opens in a new tab)

Top speed

Published as 186 mphPublished as 186 mphPublished as 186 mph

MCN specification table for the 2019–2020 RSV4 1100 Factory lists 186 mph. Aprilia's technical PDF does not state a top speed. The later RSV4 Factory, which publishes power and not a vmax, is not given this number.

VerifiedMotorcycle News (opens source in a new tab)

In context

  • 2.9× a cheetah's timed top speedSourced · Cheetah, 29 m/s. Sharp 1997, mean of three timed runs over 201.2 m
  • A football field in 1.1 sConstant · American football field, 100 yd (91.44 m)
  • London to New York in 18 h 36 minConstant · London to New York, 5,570 km great-circle

Worked out from the sourced figure above, which stays the ranked number.

This list

Why it's so fast

A motorcycle is fast because the air only has to get around a rider and a fairing, not a cabin. The engine still has to stay in its power band, and many of the big numbers are factory limiters.

  1. A small hole in the air

    Less frontal area means less drag for a given speed. The rider's tuck is part of the shape. A sitting-up test is a different motorcycle.

  2. Limiters are common

    A published top speed on a modern sport bike is often an electronic cap the makers agreed to, not the speed the engine would reach with the cap removed.

The capped one people mean is the Suzuki Hayabusa.

This is how the category works. A note written for this entry appears here once it is in the database.

Provenance

Every measurement

Claimed, measured and official figures side by side, each with its source. The ranked figure is marked.

  1. 299km/h186mph83.1m/s162knRanked figure

    MCN specification table for the 2019–2020 RSV4 1100 Factory lists 186 mph. Aprilia's technical PDF does not state a top speed. The later RSV4 Factory, which publishes power and not a vmax, is not given this number.

    Verified
    Motorcycle News (opens source in a new tab)

Reference

Specs

Model
2019–2020 RSV4 1100 Factory
Test
MCN specification table, 186 mph
Not this bike
Later RSV4 with no published vmax

Spot a wrong number?

Every report is read by a person, and corrections are dated on the page.