Aprilia SR150 Race
Aprilia’s recently-launched sporty scooter gets even sportier
A go-faster look for the popular sport-scoot
IT WAS AUGUST last year that Italian marque Aprilia launched India’s first truly sporty scooter, the SR 150. This machine shattered the impression that scooters in India had to be practical, family-oriented vehicles, softly sprung for comfort, and with enough room for a week’s groceries. The SR 150 introduced the Indian public to a fun scooter that accelerated hard, had immense stopping power, and was endowed with a firm suspension and sticky tyres oriented towards sporty handling rather than comfort. So great has been the response that Aprilia have, in just six months, introduced a variant of this groundbreaking scooter: the SR 150 Race.
We thought the original SR looked sporty, but this new variant takes it to a whole new level. Liveried to match Aprilia’s RS-GP MotoGP race bike, the SR 150 Race gets a grey paint job adorned with a whole new set of red, white and green stickers, so there’s no mistaking its Italian heritage. The Y-spoked wheels now stand out in a racy red, as does the
rear monoshock spring, while the ByBre brake calliper has gone from black to gold on the new scooter. When viewed head on, the svelte profile of the SR 150 Race is extremely attractive, with the focus on that sharp divided headlight that resembles a frown while, from the side, the racy stance of the scooter is obvious with the large, red 14-inch wheels, telescopic fork, and disc brake up front.
The original SR 150 was definitely a scorcher off the line, and Aprilia claim that the CVT on the new Race version has been tuned for even better acceleration; something we can endorse when we put the new scooter through a complete road test. For now we can confirm that the scooter definitely feels quick, still dispatches a series of corners like no scooter before it, and still stops on a dime with the help of that 220-mm disc up front and 140-mm drum at the rear. The riding position and twotone seat remain unchanged, which is great as the scooter is pretty comfy for rider as well as pillion. During the ride the scooter felt extremely planted over good roads as well as some rough bits, although the firm suspension did feel a little harsh over bumps. The 150-cc air-cooled SOHC engine is quick to rev up with a pleasing growl, and feels extremely relaxed, cruising at quarter to half throttle between 50 and 60 km/h, with enough power in reserve for overtakes with a quick flick of the right wrist. Out on the highway the SR 150 Race can cruise comfortably between 75 and 85 km/h, and with the throttle wound to the stop this scooter will cross the 100 km/h mark.
The SR 150 Race is a great option for the young crowd looking for an attractive scooter that’s stands apart from the competition, with fantastic performance to boot.
The Race still features the white-backed analogue meters, Vee Rubber tyres mounted on 14-inch alloys and sharp creases running along the length of the plastic panels. Parked side-byside with the regular SR 150, the Race clearly looks to be the sportier of the two, and with the sporty scooter market opening up in India, we just know that larger capacity scooters can’t be too far away.