Aprilia Shiver 900 first ride incoming

There has been a fair bit of debate on the subject, but Aprilia UK have now confirmed that they will be bringing the new Shiver 900 into the UK and it will cost a slightly odd sounding £8002 OTR due to an increase in road tax.

Why the debate? To be honest the outgoing Shiver 750 model was never the most popular of bikes and in the fiercely competitive premium middleweight class against the likes of the Triumph Street Triple, Yamaha MT-09, Kawasaki Z900 and Suzuki GSX-S750, being below par really isn’t good enough. So what have Aprilia done to improve the Shiver?

New for 2017 is a 896cc V-twin engine that is basically the old 750 with a longer stroke upping its capacity. It makes a healthy 93.9bhp with 66.4ftlb of torque, which can be restricted to make it A2-legal via a new fuel map. Added to this is an updated ride-by-wire system with three-stage traction control, the same colour dash as used on the firm’s RSV4 models and a new exhaust. The chassis gets revised Kayaba suspension, new three-spoke wheels, upgraded ABS and a few vents here and there in the bodywork to give the styling a bit of a refresh.

Not exactly huge changes, but Aprilia believe they all add up to something more significant. But will these tweaks be enough to move the Shiver from a nearly bike to a genuine contender? MCN is riding it tomorrow so keep an eye on our social medial feeds for our first impressions.