Aprilia's newest addition to the New Zealand lineup puts the scooter back into Sports Scooter.
Officially launched at Hampton Downs late last month, the new SR GT 200 from Aprilia has the looks and the practical features to become quite the contender in the small-capacity market. With hot styling, decent performance and a competitive entry price of $7,490.
Available in two variants, the base SR GT and the slightly upmarket SR GT Sport, the only differences between the two are the colour options (of which there are six in total) along with the red wheels and sportier graphics on the Sport model. Oh and the Sport retails for a $200 premium over the base SR GT.
Powered by a 174cc single-cylinder engine with 17.4hp and 16.5Nm of power, the SR GT has enough poke to comfortably sit on the legal highway limit. Top speed was indicated to be 114kph, however, at the official press intro that speed wasn't exactly attainable on the Hampton Downs' Go Kart track.
Yep, as Aprilia likes to do the SR GT was launched to the media at Hampton Downs. However, unlike previous Aprilia launches here, we jumped the fence from the National Circuit to the Go Kart track to put in some laps on the SR GT.
With four bikes on the track at once and instructions essentially telling us to not race each other, we rolled out onto the track to see what riding the SR GT rides like.
While it's admittedly a strange introduction to the most practical and accessible side of motorcycling to take scooters on a racetrack, it was a whole lot of fun.
In the practical column is a phone-sized glovebox with a USB port to charge your phone and keep it out of the elements, while under-seat storage is rated at 25 litres and shaped to accommodate most full-face helmets.
Aprilia's idea for the SR GT is to make the daily commute fun, but with the ability to do more on weekends - the promo video has the SR GT out on what looks to be a mountain back road for instance.
As a result, on top of useful features like a stop-start system to help conserve fuel and the optional Aprilia MIA (Aprilia's phone connectivity system) the SR GT comes with a long travel (in scooter terms) suspension from the factory which pushes the seat height up to 799mm.
It feels quite tall at first, but once moving it seems fine. Naturally riding laps at Hampton Downs, putting our feet down at a stop light wasn't on the day's agenda.
As we made our way around the track familiarising ourselves with the layout it was immediately clear that the SR GT gets a tick in the fun box. Sure, it's got a CVT transmission the same as basically every scooter on the market does, but flicking the bike from corner to corner and braking heavily before tipping in revealed a remarkably stable platform.
Unlike other scooters I've ridden, the SR GT didn't feel skittish and if I had worked out my knee placement better I'm sure I couldn've carved corners with even more gusto.
Okay, you are limited when leaning the SR GT to the left somewhat by the factory-fitted centre stand as we quickly found out in the tight first turn of the track, but adjusting our lines soon saw less steel scraping the course.
Once you've negotiated the seat, the cockpit is roomy and everything falls to hand as it should. The reach to the brake levers isn't too far and the LCD screen has plenty of info on offer.
There were a few times I felt that the dash was a bit prone to glare on our constant circulation of the Hampton Downs track, but I'd like to spend more time with the bike to see if this was actually something problematic or just a result of the conditions we were riding in. After all, I wasn't particularly in need to check the bike's vital stats while putting in laps.
While all new motorcycles need to have ABS these days, a fun quirk of the SR GT is that it only has ABS on the front wheel. That means you can get a bit cheeky with the way you treat the rear rubber if you want to, but also know you're not going to lock up the front end and dump the bike when you really grab a handful.
All in all the SR GT appears to be a fantastic option for riders wanting a fun commuter that is also practical and easy to ride. I'm really torn on whether I like the Sport model with its red wheels and RS660-style graphics over the base model. Keeping the wheels looking good aside, that $200 saving could fuel the 9-litre tank for a couple of months at least.
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