What else?
It IS a great sport tourer and rocks as such. The engine has all sorts of torque, yet very smooth. I really did love the exhaust note and having cruise control! Getting home, the Tenere was a bit of a heavy lead sled after the Aprilia.
At the same time, the Capo is certainly NOT an adventure bike and I can't see it as one even in the new version that has a baseplate and bigger front wheel. Too many bells and whistles, too much expensive plastic to drop, too much exposed.And while I really did like the engine, it not meant to be one which would let you idle comfortably off-road while picking through a rock garden while slipping the clutch.
Like other OEM sport tourer and ADV bike windshields, this one is all about looks, as it is too low and narrow. Even set high, it looks great, but for a sport tourer there is not much coverage above mid chest. The handlebars were swept back slightly too much. Not bad - kinda like the Tenere or the original FJR (pre-adjustable). Seat and seat/peg relation was perfect for a sport tourer, again not for an ADV bike.
The saddlebags were big enough for my needs alone but not big enough to hold a helmet. They'd be too small for the two of us on a vacation.
In addition to the electronic suspension, the ABS worked flawlessly - every bit as good as the Tenere and 1190.
Like on the KTM and BMW if you don't like the electronic suspension in full auto, you have a range of settings you can pick from. As with BMW, the Aprilia system alters damping and is not just changing spring pre-load like Yamaha does. The down-side was trying (poorly in my case) to remember the magic combinations of the various buttons you need to push in specific order for the different functions. The BMW and KTM are much easier to use, or at least would be till the Aprilia buttonology would be learned by an owner.
The traction control was great and may have saved me. I'd gone manual and set it down to let the rear tire slip a bit before I was riding on a road very much like this
(we would have been coming toward the camera):
I'd been following a little work truck and elected to pass him on an inside right curve like where the road can not be seen in this shot, so I a maximum view ahead of us. So I move left, gave a beep, then leaned right really hard as we came into the curve. The bike was leaned down on the edge of the tire's shoulder when it hit a ripple in the pavement hard enough to hammer and maybe bottom the suspension. WHAM
This was when the traction control started in to a big hobby horse in the power delivery going brap-brap-brap as my head came by the truck driver's door handle. In retrospect, I must've hit the bump hard enough while leaned over that the rear started to slide and the bike arrested the start of a bad situation before I even picked up on it. The bike was definitely going sideways as I backed off the throttle slightly and just rode it out to finish passing the truck. Of course, between the truck on my right and the wall on my left, there wasn't much else TO do at that point.
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I did prove to myself that I don't want to go back to a chain bike, which meant a lot as I keep toying with the idea of a KTM 1190. All in all, the Tenere is still my keeper, but I really did like and enjoy the 1200+ miles that I had with the Capo Nord.
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