Aprilia SR Max 300

Gilera Nexus 300

If Piaggio want to rebadge Gileras as Aprilias then that’s fine, it worked okay with the Aprilia Mana (previously the Gilera Ferro.) If they want to pretend it’s an all new bike, like we’re not going to notice, then I’m disappointed in them.

Yes, it’s too expensive and has a silly name, and personally I don’t like it, but it’s still nice to see a new Piaggio attract some praise.

Trouble is, it’s £3495 (at least) and the Main London dealer is in Croydon. I think my next closest dealer is in Oxford.  Not really any good then no matter how good the bike might be. And I gather this bike is set to appeal to the urban youth. How many of them will have three and a half grand burning a hole in their pockets?

No, this bike will be bought by or for the offspring of a few Surrey stockbroker types and then disappear into esoteric anonymity. It is not a game changer. I still reckon the Honda CBR125/CBR250/CBF600 collection is hugely more relevant.

This is a good thing. Despite some reservations about the design it has a ‘proper’ bike appearance and gives some of the choice that I often refer to as missing in the UK market. Similarly there is a new middleweight CBR600F again following these design patterns giving a sort of family effect and the kudos of being able to gravitate towards a larger version of what you ride, if you wish.

CBR600F________________________ CBR250R______________________

I wouldn’t mind doing my commute to work on one of these.

Clearly Honda have decided to pay attention to my previous blogs which bemoaned their lack of attention to the 250cc market in this country and are going to address it with this potentially fine motorcycle. I’m not going to try and review it, there is a comprehensive description on bikerholic.com. I will say these things about it:

1. Price is given as ~£3,999 only £100 pounds cheaper than the Kawasaki Ninja 250 yet the Ninja is a twin making 33.5bhp against the single cylinder CBR making 26bhp. This is not right.
2. What’s with that muffler? It’s gross!
3. What’s with the lame red, white and blue colour scheme? Why can’t we have red like the Americans?
4. Is this a new engine or the VTR 250′s engine?
5. Are we absolutely, absolutely sure it’s coming this time? I’m still not over the debacle with the Honda VTR 250.

I can see the mentality of Honda UK: we have a sportsbike culture in this country and this bike ticks those boxes unlike the VTR 250. Fine but this will still be used as a commuter in this country and the VTR was a proven bike.

I love the digital speedo though (see video.)

I had no idea the Met had MP3′s but some digging also showed these on Flickr:

So what’s going on? Apparently they belong to the ‘Metropolitan Police Safer Transport Command Roads Response Team’ who are the ones who sort out the mess when people crash their cars – they are not for chasing criminals. The top one is an MP3 400 LT so it can be ridden by Officers with car licenses. The lower ones appear to be 250ie’s so they would require riders with full motorcycle licenses.

This seems like quite a good idea to me as the first thing that happens when anybody crashes on the A40 or North Circular is that the traffic backs up about a mile and the emergency services struggle to get through. An MP3 would help solve this. The Honda Pan Europeans that the Met favour are useless for this kind of work, but I know there was a BMW F650 GS up Tottenham way and I would have more expected the police to go in the direction of such a bike. The MP3 would presumably have better storage but is it enough? Using MP3 400 LTs to get Officers without motorcycle licenses onto bikes seems good but expensive; putting motorcycle trained officers on 250′s seems a waste. And why an MP3 and not some other form of scooter.

I will keep an eye on developments with regard to these.

These following bikes are a little larger than we usually cover on this blog and a little more powerful as they are both twin cylinder. These are shrunken versions of larger bikes ( the Ninja 650R and ER6f) and retain their build quality while sporting smaller engines. The Ninja is destined for Canada and Japan while the E6 Is for Japan only. There appears to be a thousand dollar price difference between the Ninja 650 and the Ninja 400.

Now I wouldn’t particularly be interested in these as I think they’re not really so practical for my daily commute but I can see that they are ideal for people who have just past their test and people like me who would be tempted by a small yet clearly full on motorcycle. And why are they going to Japan and Canada only?

Bring out a ER6 250cc (ER-2?) and I’ll be more interested. Kawasaki are now trying to irritate me more than Honda. They haven’t succeeded yet.

Further Reading:

• Visordown
• Motorcycle.com
• B4Tea

Now I think this is a perfectly reasonable motorcycle of a style I would like to see more of in this country, yet it is marketed by people who live on the planet Mars. The pitch is nauseating to an absurd degree such that MCN correctly lampoons it as the worst bike ad ever. I remember the Gilera DNA being similarly marketed. The slogan was: ‘For those who yearn to ride a motorcycle..’ What the hell was that supposed to mean? If you want to ride a motorcycle, there are 50cc motorcycles out there – go ride one. The DNA should have been sold on it’s own many merits then the story might have been different.

This is a fine motorcycle, badly marketed. It is not an isolated case.

Video

This is what they came up with:

1. Vespa S
2. Yamaha Neo
3. Kymco Super 8
4. Piaggio NRG
5. Peugeot Speedfight 3

Anybody (male) convinced by this list??? Anyone??? The comments are sort of preachy and unedifying and don’t quite hit the problem on the head. I would argue that the problem is that this is a girl’s list when these sorts of peds tend to be ridden by male teenage yoofs. I think a boys list would have put the Piaggio NRG higher and the Vespa would not have been in the list at all. I’m all in favour of girls riding peds but I think this is an example of a prejudice that scooters are a ‘girls bike’ being played out, which is not reasonable or appropriate. 

The solution is obvious. Jason Bradbury needs to repeat the test instead of Suzi Perry, and Suzi’s list needs to be reclassified as a girls list whereupon it will gain some credibility. How about it Channel 5?

I now plan to use the blog to campaign for better lower capacity motorcycles and scooters in the UK. A 200, 250, 300 or 400cc motorcycle is not sad or second class it is a practical, important mode of transport which needs to be marketed properly and supported by dealers and manufacturers. The UK culture of big sportsbikes or nothing is mistaken. Other countries lead the way where economic or licensing circumstances produce a market for the sort of bikes I am talking about: examples are Brazil, India, Australia and Italy. Honda are a good example of a manufacturer who have a good range of lightweights which are only available in special markets, which I would like to see here. They can expect special venom from this blog.

Readers will in practice not see much change in content. There is a new focus, header and title. The popular Aprilia Mana secion remains and the Gilera DNA sections are pooled together on one page. I get about 300 hits a day on this blog and I hope future readers will be able to support my new direction. Let’s roll…