Why the RS125 Aprilia is in a class of its own
Moderaator: Moded
Why the RS125 Aprilia is in a class of its own
small WONDER
Steve Whalley explains why the RS125 Aprilia is in a class of its own
Looking for a race rep 125? Nothing comes close to the RS125 Aprilia. This is the superbike of its class, the scaled down equivalent of a Ducati 998 or Honda FireBlade, for teenagers on L-plates.
I bought mine in 1999, a three-year-old Extrema that was absolutely immaculate. I was 17 and it cost £1900. I sold it for £1200 two days after the pictures for this test were taken at the end of May.
I had taken the mileage from 7000 to 22,000 and graduated from L-plates to full unrestricted licence. I reckon I am a pretty good rider and I owe much to the Aprilia and the confidence it inspired.
I certainly never felt in any hurry to pass my test, get shot of it and move up to something bigger. I love sports bikes and this was my first step on that ladder. Too many riders make the mistake of then stepping straight up to a 600 or something before they have polished their skills.
The Extrema is not that different from the 2003 RS125R, now available in 14.6bhp or near 33bhp tune, which says much for a design going back ten years. Pass your test on a 125 Aprilia at 17, get it derestricted and spend the next couple of years cutting much bigger bikes down to size until your 33bhp apprenticeship has been served. Even in restricted form, the Aprilia is an impressive motorcycle. It handles brilliantly, the Brembo brakes are fantastic and the standard of equipment is just so much better than you will find on a TZR, RG or NSR.
Just look at that swinging arm. It’s a work of art. The instruments include a lap timer and the petrol tank is hinged to lift so you can get at the engine to change the spark plug without having to remove the fairing.
In unrestricted form, you get all that and more than double the horsepower. Want more? Well, there’s plenty of tuning goodies out there: big bore kits, high compression piston, performance reeds, after-market exhausts and so on.
My advice on that score is to keep it stock. I tried performance reeds and a Giannelli exhaust system and to be honest I thought the bike performed better without them. The Aprilia is a high maintenance motorcycle. It has quite an appetite for pistons and plugs, the carb has to be retuned every couple of months (well, it did on my bike) and the engine has to be serviced every 2000 miles or so to keep everything running sweet.
Increase the power from the single cylinder Rotax engine and you could well increase the problems. I found that it handled so well that it could beat just about anything up to a race rep 400 on twisty back roads anyway. How fast is it? Just over 100mph is claimed, but I swear I have seen 120mph on the speedo and would figure that to be about 110 in real money.
Handling and brakes instil confidence to really go for it on this machine. This is a bike that you can grow with. There is a corner near my home that I was taking at 50mph when I first got the Aprilia and at 95 by the time I sold it.
As a learner, you keep finding the Extrema has so much more to give. You discover that you can lean a little further and brake a little later. I liked the fact that it feels like a ‘proper’ bike, solid and well planted.
Some 125s seem highly unstable on poor surfaces. The Aprilia’s got a meaty 150/60 x 17 rear tyre, which gives real grip, and the stock suspension is pretty good. I made the set up on mine even better by going for Maxton internals in the front forks, tailor-made for my weight and riding style. Cost £790, but well worth it. The improvement was obvious and wear and tear on the standard forks meant I had faced having to pay nearly as much just to have them rechromed and rebuilt...
(End of sample)
Ten Years on Top
THE 2003 RS125R is a direct descendant of the Extrema, which went on UK sale in 1993. Although there have been numerous changes to the running gear and cosmetics over the last decade, the engine and frame remain basically the same.
A used Extrema offers the same superb handling, excellent braking and stunning performance as the current model and a big saving on the otr list price of £3599.
Power output of the learner legal RS125R is 14.6bhp while the full power version produces just under 32bhp.
How easy is the machine to derestrict? We have been warned by a technical spokesman for Aprilia that it would be highly irresponsible for us to reveal details.
That same spokesman - an Aprilia dealer - will not sell
an unrestricted model to a buyer, unless they can produce a full licence.
Obviously some learners are willing to take the risk of illegally running the 100mph-plus full power model on L-plates in the same way people used to pretend 350 Elsies were learner-legal 250s.
A big question mark hangs over the RS125R’s survival. Aprilia’s Suzuki-engined RS250 V-twin has been axed from the factory’s 2003 range and tough European pollution laws could well mean the disappearance of the Rotax-powered 125 next season.
Axing of the machine could well boost prices of top notch used models, though the type of riders who snap up Extremas will make finding examples that have not been ridden into the ground extremely difficult.
from http://www.usedbikeguide.com
Steve Whalley explains why the RS125 Aprilia is in a class of its own
Looking for a race rep 125? Nothing comes close to the RS125 Aprilia. This is the superbike of its class, the scaled down equivalent of a Ducati 998 or Honda FireBlade, for teenagers on L-plates.
I bought mine in 1999, a three-year-old Extrema that was absolutely immaculate. I was 17 and it cost £1900. I sold it for £1200 two days after the pictures for this test were taken at the end of May.
I had taken the mileage from 7000 to 22,000 and graduated from L-plates to full unrestricted licence. I reckon I am a pretty good rider and I owe much to the Aprilia and the confidence it inspired.
I certainly never felt in any hurry to pass my test, get shot of it and move up to something bigger. I love sports bikes and this was my first step on that ladder. Too many riders make the mistake of then stepping straight up to a 600 or something before they have polished their skills.
The Extrema is not that different from the 2003 RS125R, now available in 14.6bhp or near 33bhp tune, which says much for a design going back ten years. Pass your test on a 125 Aprilia at 17, get it derestricted and spend the next couple of years cutting much bigger bikes down to size until your 33bhp apprenticeship has been served. Even in restricted form, the Aprilia is an impressive motorcycle. It handles brilliantly, the Brembo brakes are fantastic and the standard of equipment is just so much better than you will find on a TZR, RG or NSR.
Just look at that swinging arm. It’s a work of art. The instruments include a lap timer and the petrol tank is hinged to lift so you can get at the engine to change the spark plug without having to remove the fairing.
In unrestricted form, you get all that and more than double the horsepower. Want more? Well, there’s plenty of tuning goodies out there: big bore kits, high compression piston, performance reeds, after-market exhausts and so on.
My advice on that score is to keep it stock. I tried performance reeds and a Giannelli exhaust system and to be honest I thought the bike performed better without them. The Aprilia is a high maintenance motorcycle. It has quite an appetite for pistons and plugs, the carb has to be retuned every couple of months (well, it did on my bike) and the engine has to be serviced every 2000 miles or so to keep everything running sweet.
Increase the power from the single cylinder Rotax engine and you could well increase the problems. I found that it handled so well that it could beat just about anything up to a race rep 400 on twisty back roads anyway. How fast is it? Just over 100mph is claimed, but I swear I have seen 120mph on the speedo and would figure that to be about 110 in real money.
Handling and brakes instil confidence to really go for it on this machine. This is a bike that you can grow with. There is a corner near my home that I was taking at 50mph when I first got the Aprilia and at 95 by the time I sold it.
As a learner, you keep finding the Extrema has so much more to give. You discover that you can lean a little further and brake a little later. I liked the fact that it feels like a ‘proper’ bike, solid and well planted.
Some 125s seem highly unstable on poor surfaces. The Aprilia’s got a meaty 150/60 x 17 rear tyre, which gives real grip, and the stock suspension is pretty good. I made the set up on mine even better by going for Maxton internals in the front forks, tailor-made for my weight and riding style. Cost £790, but well worth it. The improvement was obvious and wear and tear on the standard forks meant I had faced having to pay nearly as much just to have them rechromed and rebuilt...
(End of sample)
Ten Years on Top
THE 2003 RS125R is a direct descendant of the Extrema, which went on UK sale in 1993. Although there have been numerous changes to the running gear and cosmetics over the last decade, the engine and frame remain basically the same.
A used Extrema offers the same superb handling, excellent braking and stunning performance as the current model and a big saving on the otr list price of £3599.
Power output of the learner legal RS125R is 14.6bhp while the full power version produces just under 32bhp.
How easy is the machine to derestrict? We have been warned by a technical spokesman for Aprilia that it would be highly irresponsible for us to reveal details.
That same spokesman - an Aprilia dealer - will not sell
an unrestricted model to a buyer, unless they can produce a full licence.
Obviously some learners are willing to take the risk of illegally running the 100mph-plus full power model on L-plates in the same way people used to pretend 350 Elsies were learner-legal 250s.
A big question mark hangs over the RS125R’s survival. Aprilia’s Suzuki-engined RS250 V-twin has been axed from the factory’s 2003 range and tough European pollution laws could well mean the disappearance of the Rotax-powered 125 next season.
Axing of the machine could well boost prices of top notch used models, though the type of riders who snap up Extremas will make finding examples that have not been ridden into the ground extremely difficult.
from http://www.usedbikeguide.com
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