Aprilia rs125 or nsr125?

[quote="Kris"]

Keith Walker wrote:

Anyways I'm not getting into this argument again.... Rolling Eyes

Mmm, tend to agree.

Oh well, here goes a long story.......

I bought my first Aprilia in August 1989, and it had just had a complete engine rebuild by a main Aprilia agent after the first owner had attempted to service it and failed miserably. So, 5000km on the clock. A week later it burnt a hole in the piston (I had done 2000km in that week). Got the bits from the dealer and repaired it. That lasted a short time. Overall I went through several pistons in a short space of time. Turned out the dealers had made a bad job of the rebuild and left dodgy main bearing seals in it, and not set the timing correctly. This way it was running lean and also pinking a bit, causing bad idling, seizures and the hole burnt in the piston.

Main bearings went and we replaced those along with the big end bearing. Unfortunatly the first set of mains died after 1000km (the cage desintergrated, but the bike still ran fine.......no idea how) so they got replaced again. All in all I ran that bike up the the late 20000's km and then sold it to a friend. He ran it for a while up to 32000 then didnt use it for ages so I had it back again. Had it running just after I got it back, but couldnt get it to run again the last time I tried. No too worried as the mains have worn again as I dont think it likes having been stood around for years.

Charlotte had another AF1 of the same model. Other than the clutch making nasty noises (which didnt affect how it worked) she had no engine problems. We ran these bikes quite hard, and used them for going 2 up from Mansfield to Nottingham to go to work. Not an ideal bike to ride 2 up at speed and the clutch got some serious abuse. That one is at around 20000km, but is sitting in the garage waiting for me to get the frame powder coated. Both bikes are '87 models.

In 1991 I bought a new AF1 Futura for a bit of fun. Unfortunatly my FZ750 died so I landed up using the Futura for commuting down the A38 from Mansfield to Derby every day to get to work. At just over 7000km it snapped a ring (which is why I now change them when the service interval just says to check them at 6000km). The rear shock on the bike blew and it had an appetite for batteries (fine on new batteries, but once they were a few months old it randomly decided not to charge them). Both the piston / barrel and the rear shock were covered under warrenty. When I traded it in the mains were beginning to whine so I did a deal with the dealer that I would drop the engine and and put it back in and he would change the mains.

In 1993 I part exchanged the AF1 for my RS125. This has not had that much use. Before the first service it broke down with rubbish blocking the fuel filter. I changed the rings at 6000km, and at 12000km changed the piston. The rear shock blew at about 8000km (2~3 years old). I have replaced the front wheel bearings, had one electrical connector break and had ignition problems (not sure whether it is the coil or stator as I swapped both for some spare ones, but the 2 sets were not compatable with each other). First battery lasted over 6 years, clutch cable lasted 8 years. It is now at just under 17000km.

The '88 model Sintesi I have in the garage was bought about 2 years ago. I bought a crashed bike and a tatty bike to make one good one out of the pair and have loads of spares. This barely ran when I got it. The piston was badly damaged, but it had over 30000km on the clocks. The bodywork for this is away being resprayed at the moment and once that is back I will register it (not UK registered at the moment) and put it on the road.

All the best

Keith
____________________
Traxpics, track day and racing photographs - Bimota Forum - Bike performance / thrust graphs for choosing gearing