Cagiva Canyon 500
Cagiva Canyon 500
.MCN Review
There are no end of single cylinder commuter/trailie bikes around if you havethe urge, so the Cagiva Canyon loses out for a couple of good reasons in thathard-fought battle for novice biker cash; first off, it's not the most reliable,even by Italian standards. Secondly, it just doesn't have the oomph to match itscity slicker looks. What's more, the Rotax engine is outdated and down on power.The Cagiva Canyon is nice and soft for novice riders, but once you gain someconfidence and riding skills, you'll soon wish the Cagiva had more precision,more panache, than it can offer. Non adjustable front forks and a squishy rearmonoshock make the Canyon something akin to a mobile bouncy castle on a countrylane.Here's an odd thing, with the Canyon, Cagiva started out with a 600cc single,then downsized to a 500. Not exactly progress some might say, although to befair the old 600 Rotax lump makes about the same poke as the later 500cc unit.But both feel very vibey and are unpleasant above 65mph.The Cagiva Canyon is just not very well made basically, with the chances ofelectrical gremlins, bits coming loose or engines spluttering to a halt allrealistic scenarios. Starter motors are known to fail on them. Buying one usedis a real gamble, purely on Cagiva spares availablity if nothing else.Insurance, running costs & value 2 out of 5Yes, Cagiva Canyons do go cheap secondhand. But there's a whole stack of reasonswhy and they're mostly bad news. The Canyon's used buy competition in the shapeof the Aprilia Pegaso 600/650, CCM R30, Suzuki Freewind 650, BMW F650 etc, allmake the Cagiva look like a poor second choice. Which it is. Find a CagivaCanyon 500 for sale.
Actually, the Cagiva Canyon 500 looks really good. The nose fairing has aninsect-like aggression about its bug-eyed stare, whilst the wide saddle, handycarrier and 20 litre fuel capacity help make it a viable commuter machine. Onpaper it's got all it needs - in reality, few riders fell for its quirky charms.