Middleweight class to be reborn? Italian goodness

[Mr. Dazzle]

Back when the 600 class was actually fought over 100bhp was about the benchmark wasn't it?

Late 90s, the 2010 we have us 114 crank, the 636 maybe 120

10-20% more now then.

I'd lay odds your average middle aged motorcyclist is 10-20% fatter now too though

[Yorick]

As a track bike then maybe, but as a road bike for any of us?

Fifty year old blokes with pot bellies on race reps looks so naff it's embarrassing.

Not as naff as a young kid who can't ride the fucker

[Couchy]

As a track bike then maybe, but as a road bike for any of us?

Fifty year old blokes with pot bellies on race reps looks so naff it's embarrassing.

I’m happy with my CB500X and Enfield on the road but this Aprilia looks good for a track toy, as I’m lighter and fitter than I was 10 years ago I’ll look awesome on it at 52

[weeksy]

As a track bike then maybe, but as a road bike for any of us?

Fifty year old blokes with pot bellies on race reps looks so naff it's embarrassing.

I’m happy with my CB500X and Enfield on the road but this Aprilia looks good for a track toy, as I’m lighter and fitter than I was 10 years ago I’ll look awesome on it at 52

From all the bikes you've had or owned, this HAS to be right up there as fantastic.

[Couchy]

As a track bike then maybe, but as a road bike for any of us?

Fifty year old blokes with pot bellies on race reps looks so naff it's embarrassing.

I’m happy with my CB500X and Enfield on the road but this Aprilia looks good for a track toy, as I’m lighter and fitter than I was 10 years ago I’ll look awesome on it at 52

From all the bikes you've had or owned, this HAS to be right up there as fantastic.

If it was any other make I’d have ordered one already

[Bigjawa]

I don't think it's aimed at the R6, it's 30 odd bhp down for starters. Money wise I reckon it'll be into 1000cc territory.

CBR650R territory then, another not exactly common bike, and which would you spend your money on Honda reliability or Aprillia, what exactly are Aprillia offering that Honda don't?

Weeksy didn't just hit the nail on the head with his Alfa post, he buried it into the wood.....

You don't see many CBR650s because they're just another version of the IL4 sports bike that has been around for decades, Honda make brilliant bikes that are very, for want of a better word, "Honda"

If you look at the CBR 650 webpage, they're talking about trying to make the exhaust exciting to hear, WTF? Is the bike so boring they have to try to make the pipe a selling point?

That Aprillia won't be a common bike, but it could well gain a cult following. It's like going for a gourmet meal when you could go to Maccy Ds.

[Couchy]

Tbh my cbr650r was a real easy bike to ride fast, Hondas always are which is no bad thing

[Mr. Dazzle]

Honda make bikes which are cheap to buy/good value, reliable, well made, easy to get spares for, easy to ride fast, easy to ride slow, start on the button....

But they get slated for it

I get why people like "character". Still makes me laugh a bit though.

[Bigjawa]

Honda make bikes which are cheap to buy/good value, reliable, well made, easy to get spares for, easy to ride fast, easy to ride slow, start on the button....

But they get slated for it

I get why people like "character". Still makes me laugh a bit though.

Because they feel like an appliance sometimes, if I'm 200 miles from home on a wet November night, I'm going to take a Pan European over an R1 without hesitation, but ask me on a summer day for an afternoon blast down to Newcastle for chips, I'll take the R1.

The odd thing is, I have a habit of buying the same models multiple times, I've had 3 CBR1000F, 2 Firestorms, 2 Pans and with the exception of the latest Pan, all were pushed out after something excited me that bit more.

Honda did make some utterly crap bikes though, thinking FT500, VF750, VT250, CBX550......

[weeksy]

I'm struggling to see the excitement, MV have had an F3 out for years that looks better and probably goes better.

I've ridden one a fair bit, and it's a howler of the thing, handles very well too - but it's a race rep and surely we're all over the race rep thing now?

Race reps are better at being on track, plenty of us do plenty of trackdays, they're still huge in the UK. All dates are booked until mid October in the UK, it's a big big thing.

This forum and it's riders are only one aspect of UK riding and the track scene is huge and full of expensive race bikes

[weeksy]

Race reps are better at being on track, plenty of us do plenty of trackdays, they're still huge in the UK. All dates are booked until mid October in the UK, it's a big big thing.

This forum and it's riders are only one aspect of UK riding and the track scene is huge and full of expensive race bikes

Yeah same here, that's the point I made earlier, as a track bike then I can see the appeal, but for the road I thought the fashion had moved on from race reps?

I also think you have to be fast to get the advantages of the riding crouch on a race rep, most people would probably be quicker round a track on a MV Dragster than an F3, just because they're easier to ride.

Yeah as we're aware bikers are getting older and fashion dictating triumphs etc are taking bigger shares, but I don't think Aprilia are looking to shift a million units of these, small production run, likely a race class in Italy, etc, that'll do them. Whether they sell 10 or 30 in the UK won't make or break the bike.

[Bigjawa]

I'm struggling to see the excitement, MV have had an F3 out for years that looks better and probably goes better.

I've ridden one a fair bit, and it's a howler of the thing, handles very well too - but it's a race rep and surely we're all over the race rep thing now?

If people race, you'll always have race reps, it's fashion, like when McGregor and Boorman started the trend for people covering GS beemers in touratech stuff for a day at the seaside and when kids watched SOA and all went out and bought Keeway custom 125s.

[Mr. Dazzle]

Plus they're better for a bad back and a belly.

[Bigjawa]

Plus they're better for a bad back and a belly.

If riding bikes was all about comfort and practicality, we'd all be riding NTV650s with aftermarket fairings!

[KungFooBob]

Plus they're better for a bad back and a belly.

If riding bikes was all about comfort and practicality, we'd all be riding NTV650s with aftermarket fairings!

You know Honda did make an NTV650 with a fairing and built in panniers



We should all be riding Deauville's.

[Bigjawa]

That fairing was tiny, I mean one of these monstrosities...

[The Spin Doctor]

It's aimed at the same market as the R6, and I haven't seen one of those on the road for a long time, the CBR650 is more road biased and I haven't seen many of those on the road, most bikes I see on the road these days are adventure tourers, I think the race replica market has died.

CBR650? Had a trainee out with one on Mon and Tue this week.

It's reasonably sensible in terms of ergos - much more like the original CBR600F than the later RR model. Quite pretty, actually with its not-quite-a-Fireblade looks.

[The Spin Doctor]

As a track bike then maybe, but as a road bike for any of us?

Fifty year old blokes with pot bellies on race reps looks so naff it's embarrassing.

Not as naff as a young kid who can't ride the fucker

Particularly when the young kid also has a pot belly

[Mr. Dazzle]

My Dad, 63, has a CBR650. 15 years ago he had a CBR600RR. I would say the difference in the two bikes is pretty much the same as the difference in my Dad

[v8-powered]

Plus they're better for a bad back and a belly.

If riding bikes was all about comfort and practicality, we'd all be riding NTV650s with aftermarket fairings!

I resemble (or did anyway) that remark. Back in the day I had an NTV650 with a big aftermarket twin headlamp fairing, think it may have been Powerbronze?
Up until only a few months ago I owned an NT700 Dullville, did everything I wanted apart from excite me in any way at all!