Aprilia SR 50 R

Do not buy！！！ – I bought it about 5 months ago. In the second month alone, I found a lot of problems. The exhaust pipe emits a lot of smoke, the noise is very big, it is difficult to start... but when I find the dealer At that time, he told me that he had no other way than to send the smoked video to the manufacturer, and he said that he thought that there should be no big problem, but a new scooter always took the initiative when it started. The smoke lasted for nearly 7 minutes, and I don't think it can be said to be normal. At that time, I asked if I could return or replace a car. He told me that it was absolutely impossible. At the time, he said that he sent the video to the manufacturer's representative, but three months later, there was no information to reply to me.

Now this scooter is parked in the backyard of my house. It only takes a few days to start. It is very difficult to start again. I have to spend a long time to get out of sweat.

do not buy – Bought my Aprilia sr 50 from new from Youles for 2,367 thought it was better to buy a good make or so i thought, 1st year was ok but not to good at starting from cold, then exhaust started blowing, weld at neck failed Youles said exhaust not covered by warranty, price of original exhaust over 200 pounds so got aftermarket one for 60 fitted,it then started to cut out in the rain and could not get it to start until the next day when everything had dried out, took it back to Youles as it was under warranty they had it a few days, but i found it still to cut out in the rain, had it back to them for another few days and they said it was electrical fault from the wires from the engine, seemed better then but still hard to get started when cold,then just after warranty ran out forks started to leak oil.Then after another few weeks the engine seized up and had only done 3,500 miles, I took it to my local garage he had it for three months and found that the oil supply cable had snapped depriving it of oil and also found that a thrust washer on the main shaft was missing had to have full engine rebuild at a cost to me of 800 he said bike was not very good build quality for its make, even after this the bike was still not good at starting from cold. Then thankfully someone pulled out on me knocking me off it and wrote it off, the insurance company asked me if i wanted it back I gladly said no, i was glad it was not my problem anymore. Just wish i had bought a much cheaper bike elsewhere.

It's not just any old 50cc scooter – If u wanna get a 50cc to go fast.... This is the machine. I was very surprised of what this thing was capable of, after it was derestricted. Work done: Washer taken off gearband, gold plate carb restricter taken off, and a Leo Vince' pipe derestricted with new clutch rollers, springs and weights. I weigh 100kgs, 80 kph all day long.... No sweat.

Excellent – This is an excellent scooter for day-to-day commuting (e.g. to/from work in the city). Has enough storage space under the seat (e.g. for 4 x 2L milk bottles no problem) and even infront of your legs. I bought mine in 2006 (new) and had the ECU re-mapped by the dealer to get a bit more fuel into the cylinder. After about 2000km I had a Leo Vince exhaust fitted which made it sound slightly louder but improved acceleration and top speed by about 10% (which is noticeable on a small scooter such as this). I am consistently achieving about 42km/L and can accelerate upto 80 km/h no worries (I weigh about 75kgs). Travelling down a decent hill I can manage to clock 100km/h and can easily keep up with 90 km/h traffic on Southern Cross Drive in Sydney! All this from a 50cc scooter! What more can I say???

I have been monitoring my fuel consumption since new (about 500 days now) and have the following figures for those interested (all $ are 2007 AUD figures):

26.15km/day; 183km/week; 9500km/yr.

$0.80/day in fuel; $24.40/month; $292.77/yr!

228L/yr in fuel;

3.07 cents/km in fuel!

638 kg/yr in CO2 emissions (@ 2.8kg/L - ditech engine!) (trying to do my bit for the environment too).

28.65 kg/yr in CO emmissions (@ 3g/km)

Total running cost of $3.21/day which is cheaper than a weekly train ticket for me.

Comp. Insurance = $289, Rego=$99; CTP=$84 and maintenance during year = $401.95. This adds about $0.09/km which takes the total running costs to about $0.125/km.

The scooter uses premium (recommended) unleaded petrol(RON 95) but I also use regular unleaded (RON91) every other tankfull.

This is my preferred mode of transport now due to the utter convenience and low running costs. Excellent in the rain too as it has good tyres (will probably get 20,000km out of the rear one and will probably cost about $75 to replace). My car is rarely used now and is more cost effective for me to sell it. Only use my Honda VFR800 (motorcycle) for the odd weekend getaway.

The only other scooter I would consider is a sportscity 250 (27km/L) or a Daelim NS125 (50km/L). Find it hard to locate fuel consumption figures of scooter models on the internet. Always takes a bit of effort to locate.

Hopefully my review has been of some use to you.

Happy scooting! Fun, sporty, agile, excellent brakes, excellent fuel economy, easy to squeeze into tight parking spots. Hard to find replacement spark plug otherwise no cons.

You'll be amazed how well a 50cc scooter can perform! – The Aprilia SR50 R Factory is the successor to the original SR50, launched in 2001 as the first scooter in the world with Direct Injection technology. The 50cc Ditech engine(as it was then called) uses technology invented by our own Orbital Engine Co in Western Australia. This Direct Injection technology is so succesful at combining increased performance with better economy and reduced emissions, that it is now becoming common in car engines throughout the world.

So what does this all mean for the Aprilia SR50 R Factory? (The Factory is the injected version, SR50 R is the carb version) If you live in one of the Australian states where it's legal to ride a 50cc scooter on just a car driver's licence, you can buy a scooter with performance that will make you smile everytime you ride it. Consider these specs. Fuel injected, water cooled, disc brakes front and rear, low profile tyres and digital dash with on board computer.

So the Aprilia has class leading performance and handling, and this is wrapped in a big-bike looking body, sure to attract admiring glances. A very good examply of Italian design. But there are some drawbacks.

The seat is tall and not suited to those of shorter stature. The bike is also quite expensive new (around $5000 dollars ride away) and because of this reason Aprilia Australia discontinued the injected version (the SR50 R Factory) in 2007 to concentrate on selling just the carb version (the SR50 R)for $4000 ride away. Please note that carb version is nowhere near as economical, nor does it's dashboard have all the same features.

But the biggest consideration is that the Direct Injection engine can be quite fickle due to the poor quality fuel and oil used in Australia. It requires high quality petrol, and can respond poorly to additives used in some petrol. It also requires a semi-synthetic or full-synthetic oil (luckily, it won't use much of it!!)

My conclusion: if you want a totally reliable scooter to simply get you from a to b, buy a Honda!! If however, you want the best performing 50cc in Australia, get an Aprilia SR50 R Factory. The bike may require more attention to detail, but the benefits of performance, economy and clean emissions are hard to overlook. And everytime you take it for a ride, you'll marvel that a 50cc engine can perform so well. That's why I've been riding these Aprilias for the last 9 years!! Ridiculously brilliant performance for a 50cc, combined with economy as low as 2.5 l/100km. Sporty looks with great handling. Can be ridden with only a car driver's licence in some states. One of the most expensive 50cc scooters. Can be "touchy" and requires good petrol and oil. Not suitable for shorter people.