Go Big and Ride Small

[Godspeed]

Welcome back to the <125 club.
I personally swear that the weight difference and smoother engine more than make up for the power reduction.

Definitely!

How’s the Aprilia going?? Any fun adventures?

[Magnusson]

The situation Is a bit silly. A lot silly really. Reminds me of a soap opera.
They say you should never buy Italian products. I found out why. Designed in Italy is great as long as you don't expect reliability.
It's been mostly sitting because I got check engine light. Dealer cleared the light but it came back the next day. After some investigation, a little bit of back and forth by the dealer and Aprilia, the culprit appears to be the firmware in the ECU. The problem is the second lambda sensor not heating up fast enough for the ECU (which is set to the new EU5+ pollution standard). That only happens when it's started with cold engine in cold weather. The firmware with the fix in is in Beta so it will not be given to the dealer. A possible temporary solution would be for Aprilia to log in remotely to temporarily upload the Beta firmware. That is only possible during office hours in Italy. I don't like to ride far with the light on (it's supposed to be safe and I have been given permission to use the bike with the light on, but it doesn't feel right). The dealer would have to send a van to pick up the bike. Their van is booked at the time I'm free for the next few weeks. Being a wise guy I ordered OBD2 adapter to try to clear the error myself. Of course I ordered the wrong adapter first. Apparently Aprilia changed the connector when they implemented EU5+. The probably right adapter is supposed to arrive tomorrow. If that works, I'll ride until it's time for 1000 km service, at which time the firmware should be released and can be installed.

[Godspeed]

What a nightmare!

I do remember talking to a chap who ran a motorcycle recovery company and he said that his most frequent pickups for electrical issues were Aprilia scooters, though that was about 10 years ago.

Really sorry though, has it dampened your feelings for it? Hopefully you can get it sorted soon

[Magnusson]

This is not all. I ordered Givi luggage rack and screen. The store messaged me that the Givi screen was not available. I asked them to substitute Kappa screen. Exactly the same screen except for the letters on it. Which they did. Removed the Givi screen and mounting kit from the order. Added Kappa screen. Sent me a refund for the difference. Very nice. The mounting kit for the Kappa screen is noticeable by its absence. I didn't have the time or energy to argue about it. Probably I'll try to make my own mounting kit. If that doesn't work I'll mess with the Italians and order the Givi mounting kit. "Hey Luigi, why are we having-a too many Kappa mounting kit-a in stock-a with-a no screen-a but too few-a Givi kit-a." Besides, the Givi mounting kit is almost half the price of the Kappa kit, but they use the same photo of the contents.

The scooter is nice and the bright spark in all this is that the dealer and manufacturer have been very professional. Problem identified, fix on the way, and I've been assured that i can use the scooter in spite of the light. Me not feeling comfortable riding with the light on and timing mismatch with the dealer pickup schedule is partly my fault. I could have pushed them harder to pick it up or taken part of a day off, or I could have brought the bike to the dealer (or any Aprilia dealer) and picked it up after the ECU has been flashed.

[Godspeed]

The good thing is, once you get it all sorted you’ll have a superb and fun scooter to have many adventures on!

I’ve ordered a Varadero 125 Givi monokey pannier rack which I’m going to cobble together some brackets and fit on my PCX so I can carry a bit more luggage… it works well for camping gear and have a potential trip next year down to south of France and will probably take camping gear for that.

We all like cobbling

[Godspeed]

Cobble. What a fantastic word….

Utilising a varadero 125 Givi frame and a set of brackets from a curtain rail I fitted pannier frames to my PCX and then took it for a ride to check it doesn’t all fall apart.

So far so good

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[Tramp]

When's the sidecar coming along Chris...your mad i say mad..

[Godspeed]

Quite like the look of the new AJS Imber:
A CT125 version, kick start and electric, side stand and centre… mmmm looks fun at £2349!

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[Magnusson]

Disk breaks front and rear. Center stand. Spoked wheels. Interesting/different front fender. Looks good.

[Brenhden]

Quite like the look of the new AJS Imber:
A CT125 version, kick start and electric, side stand and centre… mmmm looks fun at £2349!

IMG_7104.jpeg

Saw this online and thought you would like it