02/09/2021
APRILIA RSW-2 500
An incredible 2 cylinder 500CC 2-stroke bike. Aprilia raced this bike in the 500CC World Championship from 1994 till 2000, but they never got the results they wanted.
They started with a 2 cylinder 410CC in the 1994 season, and brought it up step by step, to finally end with a 2 cylinder 500CC engine in the 1999 season.
The idea was to use a Aprilia RSV 250 chassis with a faster 2 cylinder engine, to compete against the 500CC 4 cylinders in the Premier Class. The maximum weight for 2 cylinder bikes was 105KG and for 4 cylinder bikes it was 130KG. Aprilia thought that the engine would be fast enough in cooperation with the better steering chassis and the weight advantage. Sadly, with only 5 podiums, this was not the case.
The Aprilia RSW-2 500 had, at its best times, 140HP at 11,500RPM and a weight of only 110KG. The 4 cylinder 2-stroke bikes from the same time had 200HP and had a weight of 130KG. So, you can understand why the Aprilia RSW-2 500 wasn't fast enough to seriously compete against his 4 cylinder rivals.
