AT A GLANCE

hinese sourcing hardly put a dent in the New Zealand sales of Suzuki’s venerable GN125 when the model ceased being made in Japan and its manufacture shifted to the Asian mainland back in 2001. We still bought them by the container load, and still do. The GN is still the best selling new motorcycle in New Zealand, the sales encouraged by a price tag of just $2699. But there could now be Big Trouble in the little Chinesemade motorcycle sector, because Aprilia is now wading in with a pair of price-leading 150cc singlecylinder models. Unlike the latter, these sexier Eyetie-branded bikes don’t look like they were made in 1984, and they cost just $300 more than the bike that has populated our roads for 31 years.

Any comparisons of the new Aprilias with the Suzuki are possibly a little confused by the more recognised branding placed on the tanks of the bikes in question. What any potential buyer is essentially trying to do is decide whether to purchase the Zongshen (Aprilia) or the Chongqing Wonjan (Suzuki). However, Suzuki can claim some moral high ground here with the fact that the design and engineering development of the GN125 is all their own work. It might be development work that they did way back when Robert Muldoon was our prime minister and we still possessed a tactical air force, but the GNis their intellectual property none-theless.

Whereas the new Aprilia STX150 (road styling, right-way-up forks, and 17’’ alloy wheels) and identically-priced ETX150 (adventure styling, semi-knobbly tyres, upside-down forks and 17’’ wire-spoked wheels) arguably result more from the IP of the Chinese partner of the Piaggio Motorcycle Group, Zongshen. From what I understand, Aprilia’s sole contribution was the placement and design of the branding of the bikes. In other markets such as Pakistan, the ETX150 and STX150 wear the Derbi brand. In Argentina, they’re Zanellas. Now there is nothing wrong with this at all, as my time aboard the new STX150 proved. Zuo Zongshen is now one of the richest men in China because he is also one of the canniest motorcycle engineers that the nation has produced. From his humble motorcycle repair shop beginnings he has established a motorcycle-making empire that now builds more than one million bikes a year, with factories in China, Brazil, and Thailand. The Piaggio connection began in 2004 when he became the Vespa distributor for China. He now distributes Harley-Davidson there as well. These are companies that don’t wittingly align themselves with fools or IP rip-off artists.

Give a bloke like Zongshen a soft target like the three-decadesold GN125 and he can outdo it easier than he catch a fly with his chop-sticks. I was surprised by the performance of the STX150, as an initial glance at the air-cooled, carburettor-stoked, singlecylinder engine architecture hadn’t exactly heightened my expectations. If the STX had simply matched the low-revving, understressed, laid-back nature of Suzuki’s mechanically-similar 125, I’d have considered Zongshen’s job done given that the STX trumps the GN in most other areas such as design, instrumentation, suspension, braking and rider comfort. However the Aprilia’s more imbalanced cylinder bore and piston stroke dimensions give it an added willingness to rev, imparting the STX with a sportier personality. The bike really deserves an extra gear to take more advantage of this. As always, five ratios are not enough.

A price-sensitive bike like this is going to attract petrol-cost sensitive owners, and they’ll be pleased to discover that the STX is capable of travelling almost 500km on a single 18-litre tank of fuel. As for parking costs, this Aprilia is compact enough to jam under any staircase or into any corner where pedestrians won’t trip over it. Just

Engine:

149cc single-overhead cam, two valve, air-cooled twostroke single, power and torque figures not available.

Five-speed sequential gearbox, chain final drive.

Transmission:

Frame:

Welded steel spine frame with steel rear swingarm, 37mm telescopic front forks offering 70mm of wheel travel, preload-adjustable twin rear shocks with 70mm of wheel travel.

Price: $2995 Hot:

A price pinned just three hundred dollars higher makes the spunkier STX150 the greatest threat to the bestselling bike status of the Suzuki GN125.

Spring-loaded side stand retracts like a mouse-trap and the centrestand is awkward to operate; ETX150 sister model adds adventure vibe for same dollars.

Not:

be wary of the parking stands. The sidestand is spring-loaded and retracts with mouse-trap speed as soon as the bike’s weight is shifted off it, and although the centrestand is a better option its design doesn’t exactly help you lever the bike up on to it.

Aprilia’s blurb on the STX makes no mention of seat height, but rest assured that feet can securely find terra firma easier than when riding most scooters when coming to a stop. So much so, that Aprilia’s South Island dealers are expecting to flog a few to dairy farms in colder parts of the country. Seems the compatibility of the migrant labour increasingly used on these farms with tall farm bikes is encouraging a switch over to lightweight affordable streetbikes. Which is what the $2995 Aprilia STX150 certainly is. The GN125 might still mark the entry point to the full-size wheeled motorcycle sector in this country, and be more reliable than the postie, but you’ll enjoy the ride to work more if you spend the extra three hundy on the Priller.