You know, I don't know why, but whenever I ride and review an Italian motorcycle, I cannot stop myself from using food as an analogy to describe how I feel about that particular two-wheeled vehicle. After wiping the tomato sauce spilt on my shirt, I think I've come up with the clear and distinctive difference from the two Italian flavors of the Aprilia Mille R verses the Ducati 996S, its obvious market target.

Let's see… if the Aprilia is Manicotti, then the Ducati is Angel hair pasta. The Aprilia is Pasta e Fagioli whereas the Ducati is Consommé. The Aprilia is Lasagna and the Ducati… Oh well, the point I'm trying to make is the Aprilia is big and beefy whilst the Ducati is delicate and precise. Now I'm not announcing that the Mille is all brawn, it's just that it's a little more stout than the 996, and your behavior and input will need to reflect this. One thing's for sure though, with the good looking Mille R, it is both tasty and satisfying in the best possible way, molto riempiendosi*