Aprilia Pegaso

Rode a Pegaso on Sunday morning, as i was test riding it for my girlfriends dad who is returning to biking after 20 years. Id never ridden anything like it and was quite keen on trying it as it has the supermoto riding position which i wanted when i first looked at bikes (DT125!)

The bloke in the shop said there was nothing i should worry about so picking up the keys i fired the engine up. First thoughts was the height of it, its quite low seat height makes it an attractive purchase for smaller riders and i had no problems getting both feet down. The engine sounded slightly agricultural being a single and could see it was a bit vibey, however the bar weights meant that the bars themselves werent vibey at all.

I spent about half an hour riding the bike and reckon it would be a great tool for city riding as its light (about the same as SV i think), got good responsive steering and has got some power low down. It tends to top out and hit the limiter quickly at around 7k rpm and isnt the quickest bike with only 44hp from the 650cc single. Ive heard that the bikes themselves are a bit prone to rusting but Suzuki arent the most hardy of bikes anyway.

After riding it, i was quite impressed. As it wasnt fast, i didnt feel like i needed to go as fast and instead spent the time pootling about on it. Good on the back roads etc. I wouldnt swop the SV for one however it has got me thinking about what to get next. I quite fancy a supermotard style bike but want a little bit of weather protection. The Pegaso is quite good for wind protection from the small screen.