Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

eTEST e A rilia Climber 300 C="n~d [rom page I l 14 Salvador , Colombia, Mexi co , and Canada as well as the U.S. Asked about his new motor cycle, Ryan said, " It seems to be workin g gr eat. I'm still impressed by th e qual ity of the bike, how well made it is. It 's solid. The motor's very bal anced . There's no vibration. Nothing comes loose. You don't have to che ck it every time yo u ride it, " The motor is su per pow erful and fairl y quick. It has great low end power. I hardly ever use fir st gear, mostly second and third. I like that for big ledges. This April ia winds out . incredibly high, compared to th e '89. . It screams right out, ma ybe higher than the Beta. The motor's stro nger than the Beta. "This bike does almost everything as well as the Beta or better, except for balance. It' s not quite as easy to balance on the Aprilia. It weighs a few pounds more and it's a little top heavy, relative to the Beta. But it's better for pi vot turns and normal turns. For steering with the pegs, left and right, it does that really nice, so that's the trad e-off. " I'rn glad to be back on the Aprili a rear suspens io n because th ere's a lot of it and it's very progressive. It goes up big things very easi ly. Ho wever, with so much rear suspension it's a bit harder to do the japzap or those short little nip turns to get lin ed up. It takes more movement. "T he front end is a lot better tha n th e '89 because of the adj us ta ble damp in g and every th ing . It 's sturdy. The front end wo uld twitch o n th e '89 if it wasn't set up ri ght. The '9 1 seems more progressive. It doesn 't go right down to the bottom like th e '89 did. "The wh eelba se is sho rter and you can really feel th e differen ce as far as manuever ing and getting lined up for an obstacle. Going over a lon g o bstacle o n th e old ApriIia, the front end would be over ' but the rear end still had to clear. But th e shorter wheelb ase is a lot better for that. I know they change d the bar/pegs rela tio nsh ip, the pegs are , lower. It doesn 't feel cra mped at all. , "T he brak es are great. The cl utch is about the same as the '89, bu t it doesn 't mak e the strange noi se the '89 d id . It re leases grea t, does g rea t rollbacks, It has just the rig ht amo unt of progressiveness. It's not too q uic k and it 's easy to pull to do all the new tech niques. " I' ve fou nd the Pirell is wor k as well as the Michelins, if no t bette r. The side wa ll action seems to be bett er. It ' rea ll y stic ks to off-ca mber terr ain . When yo u hit a rock and come down , it just sticks ins tead of washing OUL" Severa l ot her riders commented o n the Aprilia. National number 2 Mark Manniko , a longtime Fantic ri der switching to Beta this year, rode Todd Roper's bike in Arizona. " It feels mu ch better th an last year. The bike bein g shorter makes it feel like a normal bike to me now . They've lowered the pegs. It still feels high and it's still heavier than th e Fantic or Beta. " The Aprilia suspens io n is designed to absorb more. It isn't as responsive but . .. On the Aprilia, you look at a big step , put it in third, and you go for it. On the Beta or Fantic, yo u' d probably use second gear, mayb e third, but pi ck yo ur way up the step, especially 'if it had a seri es of ledges. With the Aprilia , the bike tends to do more of it for you. In a sense, th ough, you lost some co trol and precision by hav i n g suspens io n like that. T he Aprilia tends to abso rb wh a t you do as a rider. The Beta an d Fantic take less energy to do certain moves, but you have to work harder to do o the r moves. It 's just two different development philosophies." Three-time Na tional Champion Scott Head rod e Todd Roper's Aprilia in California. "The bik e's come a long way. The last one I rod e, I couldn ' t sta nd it. This one feels stable, bu t it's heavy compared to the Beta. It has a good stable riding p latform. T he rear end really sticks. The ridi ng .positio n is more spread o ut than the Beta, but less so than last year. " T h e brakes worked well. T he clutch seemed fin e. The Rotax motor felt good. It wasn 't as smooth off th e bottom as the Beta. It felt more like the '89 Beta as' far as response. April ia still seems to be hampered by the fact they 're using that ph ysicall y big Rotax engine." Paul Webster, number 2 in southern California the last two year s, rides a Fantic which he sets up for su per fast ,en g i n e and suspe n sion response. Here's how he rated the Aprilia: " It 's definitely two steps better th an the '89. The '90 was an improvement and th e '91 is even better. It' s slo wer than th e Fantic for acceleratio n. The Aprilia motor isn 't as smooth as the Beta, but it probably ha s more pow er. With the sho rter wheelbase, it rides a lot smaller th an it used to, but it still has th at Apri lia bigness. It 's rea lly the righ t size for Todd. Aprilias hav e always felt taller, but they are getting smalle r. You still can' t fli p them around as easi ly. The suspens io n is slower, so you have to wai t for it to com e up. It 's proba bly the best bike for using suspension compressio n to lock yo u in place. If Providing the power for the Aprilia Climber 300 is a li quid-cooled, rotary-valve, 276« Rotax engine that was called "powerful" by all who rode it, it gets o u t of balance, you can' t correct as easily, but , its stabi lity makes it harder to get out of balan ce. " T he Aprilia ha s a n' aggre ssive clutch. It bites right from the get-go . The throw is short, very good for spla ttering. In third gear , you can use the torque drive of th e motor and it has th e clutch to make it happen . You can be at a standstill , go wh oo p and get it to launch you. For trail ridi ng, I'd pick the Ap rili a because of th e bigger suspe nsion, the engi ne, and th e fact the bike ap pears to be very strong." What emerges fro m the comments of some of the na tion 's top riders is tha t the Aprilia keeps getting better. It started as a tall, heav y motorcycle. It 's getti ng shorte r, lighter, slimmer, and still boasts straight-line stability and that pow erful rot ar y valve engine. Aprilia manages to keep smoo th ing the power while th ey focu s on the chass is. It 's com menda ble that a com pa ny relatively new to trials has introduced several technological firsts to th e sport. Rid ers here and in Europe hav e proven the bike's abili ty to win. T hose wh o remember th e earl ier April ias will probab ly be surprised by the development progress. T hose who apprecia te an a lternative in chass is thi nk ing will likewise be sat isfied. And those who prefer proven rotary-valve po wer need loo k no further . CIi

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