Aprilia 125 Pegaso
Aprilia 125 Pegaso
. .ALL BIKES OF THIS ilk are misunderstood. People think they are made forwealthy learners to stutter around on, with the derestriction kit as a playthingto be sneaked on without telling anyone, but this isn't true. Bikes like thePegaso are just not designed for learners.
The Yamaha XT600 is a lot easier to ride than a Pegaso125; it has a lower seat height and enough power all the way through the revrange to be useful. Highly-tuned 125s, even clever ones like the Pegaso, do nothave get-you-out-of-trouble power on tap. The meek shall inherit the earth butuntil they do they'll have a crap time on a motorbike which needs aggressiveclutch slip.
The Aprilia behaved like an expert's mount and the XT seemed docile incomparison. Balance, turn-in and stability were superb on the Italian bike:point and go, against the Yam's wave in the general direction and lope aroundlike a big dog sniffing the air.
In all its upside-down glory, the front suspension was a bit sticky becausethe bike was new. There was actually enough stiction to hold the forks stableafter braking, but this wasn't disastrous because rebound damping was enough tostop the forks suddenly pinging back.
The rear suspension worked fine without being fiddled with and was loads lesssquidgy than most off-roadish back ends.
The overall feel was comfortable/taut, tipping slightly the way of taut. It'sa hard compromise for lighter bikes to make because the all-up weight can changeby such a large percentage depending on the fatness of the rider. Around townthe Aprilia's barely adjustable suspenders take the rough better than the smoothwhich is just as acceptable as the other way round.
Power arrives in the same form as every other powervalved-to-the-eyeballs125; chuggy-chug to 6000 revs then KPING, the frog turns into a swallow and theprincess gets left behind in a cloud of fug suffering from tinitis.
This version of the poky Aprilia engine has a pressure-operated powervalverather than the Futura's electronic one; it gives away a couple of horsepowerbut opens in a more relaxed fashion. That may be so but the powerband is still there to fire off the chemical mind triggers whichmake you go AHAHAHAHAHA-HAHAHAHAHEEEEEE and push thoughts of oblivion to theback of what's left of your brain.
The light clutch groans slightly as it slips home and then off you go,careering in a crazed fashion with BZZZZZZT noises coming from below yourtingling scrotum (if you haven't got a scrotum then the pleasure from thehigh-frequency vibration should be exquisite).
The engine did blow up though. A faulty electronic ignition chip caused theengine to overheat and eventually seize. Aprilia assures me this has neverhappened before and with a new chip the bike's running perfectly.
Parliament is stupid
The petrol tank, because it has to be metal because parliament is stupid(though may be less so after April), is a tatty affair which shows up badlyalongside the rest of the build quality which is good. Tank range is about80 miles from 10 liters and the reserve switch is the hardest to operate in theworld and took me five minutes to get it back to "on" after I'd switched toreserve. It is only like that because of parliament being stupid; the plastictank is a much better fit and lets the tap poke out of the right place.
Because this Pegaso came from France, the headlights are yellow, but theymight as well be neon disco writing for all you can see at night. They have hadbeam correctors fitted to flip the dip to the left.
The riding position is very comfortable; more so than almost any othersupermoto/dual-sport bike bar a BMW. The seat is wide and padded well enough foreasy two-hour spells; not that you'd use a 125 for such trips often. The littlescreen has some positive effect on windblast up to the 80mph or so the bike willmake (with occasional footwork between top and fifth).
The Pegaso's home is in town. Here comes some traffic, time to be thin.Point, go, stop, slip clutch, BZZZZT, go, stop (the brakes are OK), BZZZZTagainand you aren't where you wanted to be but you've beaten everthing you've justbeen racing. An ideal urban guerilla's weapon. Not an ideal beginner's bike. □
Source Bike Magazine