Aprilia has become one of the world's major motorcycle manufacturers in recent years. In 1973 Ivano Beggio took control of the family bicycle firm and moved it into the motorcycle business. Aprilia has traditionally held a policy of manufacturing nearly none of it's components in-house. Also, unusual is that over a quarter of a Aprilia's workforce of 500 is intimately involved in racing, or R & D. Aprilia bikes often use Suzuki motors, such as the RS250 which uses a motor from the Suzuki RGV250.
