2022 Aprilia SR GT 125 Tested
Scooter review by Wayne Vickers
Aprilia are once again back in the scooter game after a number of years without representation here down under. These new scoots add to what is a pretty handy overall product offering.
That now includes the lust-worthy RSV and Tuono V4s at the top and the new 660 cc parallel twin offerings of the RS 660 and Tuono 660 (that I reviewed recently). The upcoming Tuareg 660 lightweight adventure bike also promises to be pretty ace.
Sales are starting to pick up for Aprilia in Australia. Even the MotoGP bike is doing well, especially when they don’t celebrate too early (actually that was painful to watch – poor bugger).
And I reckon the new scoot should do pretty well too. Mid size, nicely designed, well built, agile handling, decent performance – it ticks a lot of boxes.
Let’s have a glance at the spec sheet:
- 125 cc single cylinder four-stroke
- Start-Stop technology
- 11 kw (~15hp) and 12 Nm (most power in category)
- Double cradle steel tube frame
- 144 kg wet weight
- CVT box with auto clutch
- 14 inch front and 13 inch rear wheels
- Linked brakes when using the rear brake (front lever only activates the front)
- Solid handlebar for more ‘big bike’ feel and dynamics
- Decent 120 mm travel in the front and 102 mm in the rear with adjustable preload
- 175 mm ground clearance (most in class)
- 9 L tank will get you a fair distance based on claimed 2 L / 100 km!
- Phone connectivity via Bluetooth and the Aprilia app
All wrapped up in what I’m sure you’ll agree is a fairly snazzy looking styling package. Hopefully the pics do it justice because in the metal it looked on point. Nice paint too. Good selection of colours and graphics, which is the only real difference between the ‘Sport’ and non Sport models – ‘Sport’ gets the red wheels and Aprilia ‘a’ on the side fairing.
Tough to choose between ‘Raceway Red’ in the Sport trim, or ‘Street Grey’ in standard trim. I’d probably go Street Grey… because as much as I love the look of red wheels… I know how much work they are to keep looking nice when you ride your bike a lot (which I do). It didn’t go unnoticed that the whole frontal treatment was very family derived and unmistakably Aprilia. LED lights front and rear. Nice touch.
One of the key points the local boys made sure we understood was that the ground clearance, suspension and tyre spec’ were a key differentiator from some of the less well spec’d competitors.
That’s a fair enough point too – the extra ground clearance and travel making it easier to get up onto curbs to park – and the extra suspension travel and wheel size soaking up some of our less than perfect road surfaces better than you might expect during our little road loop. Normal potholes, surface changes, ripples, speed bumps all taken in its stride.
You might also notice the dual purpose tyres too. The design brief was to be able to tackle any road surface, from tarmac, to cobble stone European streets, to gravel backroads. And having spent a short stint onboard – I can’t see it having any issues with those. Like the bigger and more powerful Kymco DT X360 I also tested earlier this year it’s not really going to go far off-road, but gravel roads won’t be a problem.
On good surfaces – such as the Port Melbourne Go Kart track, it’s surprisingly capable. While our morning started in typical damp and blustery Melbourne conditions – the track did dry out eventually and I started stepping up the pace a little later in the morning.
While you’d have to describe the suspension feedback as ‘low’, it felt super agile on change of direction, while still being predictable and stable enough to start scraping centre stands mid corner and generally clowning around a little.
I pushed it about as fast as you’d want to push. I certainly didn’t want to be the guy who crashed a scooter at the go kart track. Apparently that’s a thing, but what happens at the track, stays at the track.
Worth calling out how good the brakes are actually – with the ability to trail them quite deep into a corner. I was actually winding the gas on before fully releasing the rear brake which seemed to be a fairly effective way to rip around corners. Outright stopping performance is deceptively good. You can yank pretty hard on both levers and it sheds speed damn fast.
Note that it doesn’t have ABS but does have the linked CBS (combined braking system) as mentioned above. In practice that means the rear brake lever on the left side will actually engage a small amount of front brake at the same time, which works well in practice and is particularly good when manoeuvring and filtering through traffic.
The engine and driveline is super smooth. Now with just a smidgen under 15 hp it’s never going to rip your arms out of your sockets, but it’s a little deceptive in terms of just how quick the CVT boxes propel you along. It has no trouble zipping off and staying in front of traffic at the lights and really would make for a great little thing to duck around town on.
The auto stop-start functions almost instantly. Come to a stop for more than a few seconds and the engine will shut down only to fire back up again and get you moving as soon as you twist the throttle. It’s a seamless bit of tech.
The seat is comfortable enough to enable longer trips and stand-over is easy even for the vertically challenged amongst us. I was sitting flat footed without any problems. Those longer trips would be further aided by that quite effective windscreen. Even though we didn’t get much above 80 km/h on our little circuit it seemed to be providing decent protection from the elements on what was a blustery day.
Underseat storage looked decent with the obligatory ’it’ll fit a full face helmet’ line in the brochure – I’d be making sure to test yours. Yes it should. But some lids are bigger than others…
It also has a USB charging doodad in the compartment in front of your knee. Oh – and the centre stand is probably the easiest to operate that I’ve sampled. Even the most spaghetti armed amongst us will have no problems flicking it on and off the stand.
All in all – it’s hard to fault. And at seven and a half big ones, I think it represents decent value for a well styled scooter from a premium brand. A bunch of accessories are available too including various top box options, heated grips, fog lights and side protection to make it yours.
Aprilia SR GT 125 Specifications
| Aprilia SR GT 125 Specifications | |
| Engine | 125cc, Liquid-cooled single-cylinder 4-stroke i-get, SOHC, four valve, with Start&Stop system |
| Bore x stroke | 52 x 58.7 mm |
| Transmission | Automatic continuously variable transmission (CVT) with torque server |
| Clutch | Automatic centrifugal dry clutch |
| Frame | Single cradle structure in tubular steel with pressed reinforcements |
| Max power | 15 bhp ( 11 kW) at 8750 rpm |
| Max torque | 8.9 ft-lb (12 Nm) at 6500 rpm |
| Fuel capacity | 9 litres |
| Consumption (WMTC cycle) | 40 km/l |
| Emissions compliance | Euro 5 |
| Seat height | 799 mm |
| Bike weight | 144 kg |
| Front suspension | 33 mm telescopic hydraulic fork (122 mm travel) |
| Rear suspension | Hydraulic dual action shock absorber, 5-position spring preload adjustment (102 mm travel) |
| Front brake | 260 mm brake disc with 25.4 mm dual piston floating calliper, CBS |
| Rear brake | 220 mm brake disc with 22 mm dual piston floating calliper |
| Front tyre | 110/80 – 14, Tubeless |
| Rear tyre | 130/70 – 13, Tubeless |
| Price | $7,440 Ride-away, Sport: 7,540 Ride-away |
For more information on the Aprilia range available in Australia, see the Aprilia Official website.
