2018 Aprilia RS4 50 Euro 4 Upgrade Project

[Berkeley]

So after being nudged by toratora to start a project of this I thought why not!!

I brought this 2018 in June model for my 14 yr old daughter and I was majorly disappointed by the performance of it. I always remembered having a 50 and ragging the bollocks off of it and doing all sorts of stuff to it to make it goes faster . The euro4 emissions have a massive negative effect on the performance. Couldn't even get up the hills, keep up with traffic , plus everyone expects this bike to be fast and wants to race you.. so i decided to do something about it...
Saying that it was 20yrs ago I worked on bikes but did manage to strip my VFR400 down to replace 2nd Gear.

[Berkeley]

The first thing to sort out was the CDI unit , I was told by the dealer that they were not available for the 2018 model.. so i ignored that advice and spent a good 2 weeks looking online
I found one at 50 factory. I just looked now and its not available at the moment. This was 85.00 euros

stock CDI Unit


unrestricted CDI Unit


with the new cdi unit fitted.. still revs til around 7000 and a bit more. Going down a very big hill gets to 9000... so seems less restricted then before
....just need the power... lacking a lot there.. exhaust next top speed at the time 54 km/hr absolute tops

[Berkeley]

The next thing to look at was the exhaust. It had a lot of restrictions and pipes going back to the air box.. so that was all ripped out. this was really heavy so glad it went









After looking at all the various brands and models I was getting a lot of conflicting advise as to what fitted and what didnt. Finally speaking to Jolly moto in italy i had some reassurance that it would.
I purchased the carbon silencer version for 430.00 euros.

[Berkeley]

The next thing to tackle was the tail end . The end cap on the original didnt fit very well so it was time to take that all off!

At the garage they tried to fit the sequential indicators but only the front or the back would work so had to stick to the small ones

Before :


After, much better this was from Evotech at £103.00, I also fitted a custom number plate which was not exactly legal.. but looks even better.



I also covered up the green jolly moto logo on the exhaust that didnt go with the livery of the bike with these stickers at 12.00 euros. So far all good and they have stayed on fine.



So with all the bits on her she finally looks like this:



..and performance wise..... 12000 rpm 74 km flat out. 70 km on a straight. This is what a 50 should be like! Before was doing 50 straight 62 downhill and took forever to get there.
Maybe some sprockets need changing? Coz at 12k it seems like she could do with another gear. At About 7k then she hits the power and and shoots to 11k. A lot of difference in weight also with the new pipe being much lighter!

[Berkeley]

So to stop running out at the top end i changed the chain and sprockets

The online specs for a 2018 model says 11/53 however mine has an 11/59 ratio I brought a DID chain 420 132 link with an 13/53 sprocket set from AFAM. This I brought from all bikes for 103.00 euros.

Old:


new:

[Berkeley]

Next was the wheel decals, these were only 32 euros but made a huge impact on the look on the bike , good quality and well worth it!


decals

[Berkeley]

Next it was time to install the ball breaker, this was 19.00 euros from total stickers, As you can see it was meant to fit on a 1000cc, oh well it does the job

stickers

[Berkeley]

..... More upgrades..

Next was the radiator guard, I noticed that the little the bike had been used a few pit holes were forming on the radiator itself so brought a guard from Evotech for around £48.00



The bike needed a decent helmet lock so we purchased one from sato racing for around $60.00




An unnecessary thing to get was a carbon fibre lever guards from R & G Racing

This fitted absolutely fine but was expecting two of them!! for £125.00. It did come a bit damaged but it was only superficial so could buff the scratch out.

[Berkeley]

The next on the list were the Frame Sliders and Rear Spools These were both from R&G. The rear ones fitted fine and easy to install for £53.00



`
For the sides I had to get the RS4 125 version and had to make custom bolts and fittings this was 125.00 for the custom bolts and £55.00 for the bobbins. Unfortunately the fairing didn't like to go back on so round 2 is needed .. shame!

[Berkeley]

Next added the chain guard from R&G Racing for £31.00. I thought I would fuck up one of the threads as was drill and tapping my first time. I put masking tape on the frame. put the guard on. made 2 lines where the hole slots were , took it off then marked the centers, then drilled .....fitted perfectly!