Is this the end of the Aprilia Dorsoduro?

Aprilia says no Euro-5 Dorsoduro

For the last 13 years, fans of supermoto motorcycles had the Aprilia Dorsoduro — a very capable, large capacity motard — as one of their choices. It went head-to-head with Ducati’s Hypermotard motorcycles. And while it had a relatively small niche, it gathered quite a passionate following.

Unfortunately, the “Dorso” as owners would call it, may slowly be making its exit. One of Aprilia’s executives confirmed that the Italian firm has no plans whatsoever of updating this beloved supermoto.

_{2017 Dorsoduro 900}

During an interview with Italy’s Motociclismo, Aprilia’s marketing manager, Cristian Barelli, talked about their plans on expanding on the new 660 platform. Besides the RS and Tuono, Aprilia is also developing a possible 660cc adventure bike.

“At the beginning of the project, we asked ourselves which to debut first. Whether the RS, Tuono or Tuareg. We [then] decided to start with the RS [because] Aprilia’s DNA is rooted in the sports segment and is part of our history, therefore it seemed right to start from there,” said Barelli.

How about the Dorsoduro? Barelli says they have no plans on updating the Dorso.

“At this time we have no plans to upgrade them to Euro-5 [compliance]. We are focused on this new, more modern platform. The 660 engine has a layout that can be exploited in several ways. It is very compact, which allows you to build around different types of frames for various applications.”

First revealed in 2007’s EICMA, the Aprilia Dorsoduro was based on the Shiver 750 road bike. It was launched as the SMV 750 Dorsoduro. In 2010, Aprilia introduced the Dorsoduro 1200, which is powered by a 1,200cc engine that was said to be modeled after Ducati’s 1198 Desmodromic engine. The Dorsoduro 1200 is one of the most powerful motorcycles when it was first introduced, producing a whopping 132 Ps of power and 114 Nm of torque.

After 2017, Aprilia offered the Dorsoduro 900, based on a stroked up version of the Shiver 750 parallel twin engine. It's the model many Dorso fans are familiar with today, being briefly offered in the Philippines some years back.