APRILIA RSV4 SSTK1 PAGNOL – FASHION & MOTO LOVE COMBINE
Paulo Rosas moved from Mexico to the USA in 1989 with one goal – to become a rock star.
He headed to California and toured the typical LA club scene with multiple bands before getting into the recording side of things. He progressed, helping the band Orson cut tracks before they got signed.
Not too unusual for artists, by 2003 Rosas had transitioned from musician to fashion – rock fashion, to be exact. He helped create wardrobes for some major names in the 90’s music scene: Marilyn Manson, Korn, Chris Cornell, Billy Corgan of Smashing Pumpkins and Mariah Carey, to name a few.
From there Rosas transitioned into ore generalized fashion, and his love of motorcycles combined with his artistic passions. He then launched a “moto-influenced” lineup titled Pistol. His love for fashioned-influenced moto apparel grew, and he began designing lines for other companies, a highlight being the Alpinestars Nero line in 2007.
His entrepreneurism also grew, and his experience with companies like Alpinestars led to two other adventures that continue strong today: the design/branding/marketing firm Speed Machines Design, and his own motorcycle fashion line, Pagnol.
Amid all of this, Rosas had time to participate in some track days and sport riding around Cali’s Canyons, transitioning from a wide range of bikes.
A lover of the V configuration, Rosas was waiting for Honda to produce a “true V4 sportbike.” But that didn’t happen anytime soon. Meanwhile his affection ascended for the Aprilia RSV4, and when the new “Factory Works” bikes arrived in 2017 – four versions of RSV4s ready for the race track – Rosas wasted zero time purchasing one.
“I got the RSV4 FW SSTK1 Superstock 1 – the most basic one but still awesome and more than I can handle level as the SSTK2 and above have features that need mechanics to run them,” Rosas says. “The SSTK1 was great – why buy a stock street bike, take off $6k of street “stuff,” and add another $6k of track goodies? It made zero sense to me considering I only wanted a track bike!”
Though the RSV4 SSSTK1 arrived with every option needed for the track scene, including race-ready ECU, fairings, race clip-ons, Brembo racing levers, and rearsets, Rosas’ inner designer surfaced.
He decided to take an already factory special, and make it his own by designing new livery with his team at Speed Machines Design, which has completed work for MotoGP and Moto3 teams, Triumph UK, Roland Sands Design, Bike Exif and Walt Siegl, to name a few.
He also had one of the most iconic designers – Miguel Galluzzi, who designed the RSV4 and Tuono, to name a few legendary machines – sign the gas tank before it was clear coated, “making it the only designer-signed RSV4 in the world”.
Rosas completed the RSV4 SSTK1 build with an SC Project full-race exhaust system: “in case you wonder, the awesome clean and small carbon can is from my favorite exhausts brand, SC-Project.”
Ahead of his SSTK1 purchase, Rosas was about to buy something much different, but that quickly changed.
“I still had the R1M in my eye, but I tried it back-to-back with an Aprilia RSV4 RF at the same track,” Rosas says. “By far, the RSV4 felt compact and nimble, plus it had the torque and revs combo of a V4 and…the sound!”
The rest is, well, another part of the ongoing Rosas story. The only questions is “what’s next?”
Nice work Rosas – we love seeing our passionate RSV4 customers customize their bikes – especially the Factory Works machines. See you at the track soon!
Paulo would like to thank his sponsors:
Moto Club di Santa Monica (now an Aprilia racing certified dealer)
SC Project USA
copyright@ http://www.aprilia.com/us_EN/news