Aprilia? What's that??

[sixtysix]

Here is a couple of pictures of bikes I took for a demo ride today:

Aprilia Falco


and when I got bored of that bike, I took this Triumph Sprint out for a joy ride!


I love dealers that let you Demo ride!!

[rockyr74]

Didn't Falco do "rock me amadeus"?

I think its funny that the high end guys will let you ride, but try and cop a ride on a new V-strom and fugetta bout it.

So, elaborate a little - how did you like these two fine euro machines?

[sixtysix]

Well the Falco was not what I expected at all, it did not seem to have the power or torque I expected from a twin. It seemed like it was going to stall out anything under 3500rpm. Bike may not have been broken in yet (about 300 miles on it) but it seemed more suited to the track than the street, but it is their entry level bike, so maybe I expected too much, it did come on hard after about 4000 rpm. Bike seemed to have a serious lag under this speed as well, you would hit the throttle and then after a bit it would take off. If you ran the bike hard and never needed to go under 3K rpm it would be great, light, narrow, etc., so again nice track bike but seemed a little out of place on the street. Also the seating position was a little radical for me, but got more comfortable as I rode it. Another guy rode both bikes as well and had a similar opinion.

The Sprint ST on the other hand was very good on the street, did not have the freight train power of my Bandit or the massive torque of my Triumph Trophy but it did have a very light flickable feel and a seatig position you could live with for more than 20 minutes. All in all a great street bike. I liked it a lot. I took it through some very tight twisties and felt comfortable right away. If I had 11K to spend on either of these I would chose the Sprint hands down

[sksxs1100]

my local Yamaha dealer has 2 used aprila 50cc bikes... they are full sized with a 50cc mottor...lol too funny to think about riding around town. He also let me take a 2002 royal star warrior out for a spin.. that was a torquey little ride... rode good and handled good... but not for 11 grand......lol

[Wayne]

I have had my eye on this Aprilia for a while.

Aprilia RST 1000 Futura



A bit pricey though, at about $13000 when the Yamy FJR 1300 is lots more bike for $1500 less.

[strom]

I rode Futura when they came out... bout a year ago... dunno. It was a test bike for dealers/magazines etc...

So, here it goes.
I like the looks
I like the dash
I didn't like the seat hight.. too high
Mirrors are useless...
wind protection average
etc...

I'd rather go for a VFR or a ZZR1200 (ZX1200). FJR aint too bad either.

LP