Aprilia Mana 850 and RS 125 to begin U.S. sales
Aprilia has announced it will begin selling the Mana 850 and RS 125 in America. The bikes will premiere at the Laguna Seca US Grand Prix in July. This is big news as both bikes represent radical technical departures from other machines sold in this country.
The Mana 850 is an 839cc standard bike equipped with a CVT
transmission. Capable of operating in automatic or manual modes, it
allows riders to shift through seven predetermined ratios via a
traditional foot lever, buttons mounted on the left handlebar or to sit
back and let the CVT do the work for them. The Mana also offers
three selectable-on-the-fly engine maps, Sport, Touring and Rain. Each
of the three optimizes power delivery and shift points for the kind of
riding it's named after. The 90-degree v-twin mated to the CVT makes
76bhp and 54lb/ft of torque and uses a chain drive. Thanks to an
underseat fuel tank, it also offers room for a full-face helmet
underneath the fake tank cover. You’ll probably already be familiar with Aprilia’s RS 125, the company's European learner-legal two-stroke race replica. It can make up to 30bhp, weighs 120kg and can reach nearly 100mph. While it won’t be road-legal in this country, certain U.S. dealers will be selling 2009 models as track-only bikes. We don’t know which model we’re looking forward to more.
Aprilia USA
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The RS125 is the one I'm craziest about. With proper tuning, the RS has the potential to embarrass guys on newish 600s at the track.
If the Mana makes near 40 mpg they should be able to sell them like hotcakes. There are likely many non-riders who would like to save* money on gas but don't want to ride a scooter.
*most of these people look only at mpg, paying no heed to the cost of an additional machine and the maintenance it would require.