Forum Research - The History of the Falco

Message

Aladinsaneuk · #16 Post by **Aladinsaneuk** » Fri Apr 03, 2009 8:57 pm

tbh paul, I changed mine for HEL braided - and the difference is there

The originals were fine, but the HEL ones were better, probably because each front caliper has its own line now but - worth it in my opinion

Aladinsaneuk · #17 Post by **Aladinsaneuk** » Fri Apr 03, 2009 9:00 pm

excellent find andy re the colour chart

and will probably help our american friends out

I am deducing from that chart that any falco with a solid colour is likely to be original - ie, dodgier than normal shock, semi synth oil only?

can any one with assorted colours confirm this?

Aladinsaneuk · #18 Post by **Aladinsaneuk** » Fri Apr 03, 2009 9:06 pm

posted a link to this on af1 along with an open invitation to add to the knowledge base

D-Rider · #19 Post by **D-Rider** » Fri Apr 03, 2009 11:40 pm

Aladinsaneuk wrote:excellent find andy re the colour chart

and will probably help our american friends out

I am deducing from that chart that any falco with a solid colour is likely to be original - ie, dodgier than normal shock, semi synth oil only?

can any one with assorted colours confirm this?

I've had this link for ages now and posted it up quite a few times previously. It is good - despite its own ambiguity over the year of the grey ones.

Not convinced about your suppositions about clutch and shock upgrades happening after the single colour variants went obsolete.
I don't know for sure but I think the changes happened before that time - I have the feeling that the airbox snorkel, clutch upgrade and rumoured shock improvement happened for 2000.5 or 2001.
As I mentioned in the other thread yesterday it may not be a simple picture and some (or all) of these changes could have been introduced as running changes to use up old stock of the original parts.
This would mean for one (or maybe more) model years, there could be some bikes with the newer parts and some with the older parts.

I do think it probable that the red and the black ones got the original bits, the black framed bikes got the newer bits but there is a degree of uncertainty over the blue, yellow and grey bikes.

Maybe someone will know .....

Nooj · #20 Post by **Nooj** » Sat Apr 04, 2009 5:32 pm

When the virtual museum was on the Aprilia site there was a prototype bike listed as an Aprilia Hurricane, with a different fairing and what may have been the Falco 'fighter cans, it was essentially a Falco. Twawled through Google images for ages but haven't been able to find any pictures of it.

D-Rider · #21 Post by **D-Rider** » Sat Apr 04, 2009 7:14 pm

Nooj wrote:When the virtual museum was on the Aprilia site there was a prototype bike listed as an Aprilia Hurricane, with a different fairing and what may have been the Falco 'fighter cans, it was essentially a Falco. Twawled through Google images for ages but haven't been able to find any pictures of it.

Yep I remember that.

Did look a bit weird though ...........

Although Aprilia has taken down their old website with the online museum, it can still be found using Internet Archive:

http://web.archive.org/web/200710130229 ... eo_eng.asp

To use Internet Archive to find other good stuff that has disappeared, here's the URL of its homepage:
http://www.archive.org/index.php

wavey · #22 Post by **wavey** » Sat Apr 04, 2009 7:31 pm

I came across this pic of a Hurricane last year, but cannot remember where. Is it the one you are looking for?

Dave

wavey · #23 Post by **wavey** » Sat Apr 04, 2009 7:32 pm

Oh, sorry, late again

D-Rider · #24 Post by **D-Rider** » Sat Apr 04, 2009 7:34 pm

wavey wrote:Oh, sorry, late again

But yours is a better quality picture - looks like the web archive doesn't retain the original resolution.

wavey · #25 Post by **wavey** » Sat Apr 04, 2009 7:45 pm

D-Rider wrote:
wavey wrote:Oh, sorry, late again
But yours is a better quality picture - looks like the web archive doesn't retain the original resolution.

It must be exactly the same cos if I enlarge it even a little bit, it looks like yours

Dave

Lttlcheeze · #26 Post by **Lttlcheeze** » Mon Apr 06, 2009 11:39 am

As for the colors AF1 has some of that info HERE

And one change thru the Falco years I havn't seen mentioned is the change in the air-box boot and air inlets. The early years were less restricted than the newer year bikes. I'm not sure when it changed but HERE are pics of the old vs. new. (post #1 shows the boots, and #10 shows the intakes)

Bill

HowardQ · #27 Post by **HowardQ** » Mon Apr 06, 2009 12:15 pm

Not sure what difference the different air tube sizes would make without checking, as the holes in the frame were always the same size and the air ducts in the fairing were always the same. You would obviously assume the the less restrictive ones should be better.
As for the changes related to the 2000.5 models, as I stated earlier, I supplied the frame number of my Black 2001 registered 2000 built Falco to my local dealer, he checked and confirmed it was a 2000.5 model with the changes that came with it.
In reality, Falcos were initially slow movers, so exact registration years will often be different from build years. Also in the early years Aprilia had some financial issues, so they would have used what stock they had until they ran out before replacing with new, hence there will never be a clear line.

D-Rider · #28 Post by **D-Rider** » Mon Apr 06, 2009 2:01 pm

Lttlcheeze wrote:As for the colors AF1 has some of that info HERE

And one change thru the Falco years I havn't seen mentioned is the change in the air-box boot and air inlets. The early years were less restricted than the newer year bikes. I'm not sure when it changed but HERE are pics of the old vs. new. (post #1 shows the boots, and #10 shows the intakes)

Bill

Cheers Bill,

The air box snorkel is already in the list but the links to the pictures are very useful - thanks.

Howard - I think the early ones are significantly less restrictive. The boots that duct the air through the frame have bigger holes in them too.

DavShill · #29 Post by **DavShill** » Tue Apr 21, 2009 2:53 pm

Is the tank different on the earlier models -just that the Bagster tank covers are listed as two versions

wavey · #30 Post by **wavey** » Tue Apr 21, 2009 2:59 pm

Yeah, early tanks were 21L, later ones were 19L according to the manual but I can only fit 18 in mine (05).
Don't know the change over date I'm afraid.

Dave