APRILIA RS250 (1994 - 2004) Review

Version: Chesterfield

Year: 1996

Annual servicing cost: £1,000

Fun analogue bike, in an ever increasing digital age. Modern bikes are brilliant but... This is objectively awful in almost every respect, apart from handling, yet still leaves you feeling like a GP god when you get it right down a b road

Buying experience: Purchased private a long time ago. Best buy I've ever had.

Version: Rs 250

Year: 2004

Annual servicing cost: £200

It goes like the clappers

Buying experience: I'd hired it tho I agreed to service th bike

Version: Aprilia RS250 MK1

Year: 1996

Annual servicing cost: £3,000

A truly stunning package for a bike of it's time, superb chassis & brake combination that allows for such accurate feedback and flexibility with your lines through out the corners, tipping the scales at around 130kg's allows for any rider to truly dominate the machine and begs to have your knee slider on the floor at every corner! Then there's the engine, if your new to 2 strokes and have ridden inline/ v-twin 4 strokes then initially your going to find the engine incredibly frustrating and embarrassing as anything below 5,000 rpm is pointless, hand fulls of clutch are required to bring the rev needle into the sweet spot to really make progress but when the power valves open completely at 8,000 rpm you'll be grinning from ear to ear whilst doing your best to make sure you don't drop out of the "power band" with 60bhp and the combined weight you'll be amazed how many much larger CC bikes you'll put to shame. Personally I love the Aprilia RS250 and mine is used purely as a weekend toy, if you plan to do any sort of long distance/ commuting I would strongly recommend looking at another option - difficult to start/hold idle when cold, (highly advised against riding until the water temperature is 50c plus (normally around 10 minutes of light blips/idle to get it there so your drive way/ garage looks like a bonfire) terrible fuel consumption especially when combined with the £15 a litre 2 stroke oil which will last 2-4 petrol tanks... all that aside, as a weekend blaster around some tight A or B roads I couldn't think of a better bike to be riding and the attention it draws where ever you go is great! A short clip of mine running the Tyga exhaust systems - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7of5DgRwQk

Buying experience: If your looking for a future investment & something to do potentially 1-2,000 miles a year on its a solid buy, I would personally look out for one with an after market expansion chambers that's been up jetted correctly as it really improves the sound & performance for the better.

I had a RS250 and loved it to bits, could be a bit niggly starting in the cold and wet but when it was running it screamed around the corners like it was on rails. Great brakes, superb handling and the package meant it could go around Donington Park with some of the big boys and show them up on the Infield. Bad points were two stroke oil costs and sometimes needed some coaxing to start in the cold. Apart from that an absolute screamer.

My first road bike over 125 and I love it! Picked it up before I did my test off a bloke I know who had it from new, it had done 3k. Rode it/wobbled through last "summer" after passing my test with no problems what so ever. Although I do want a bigger bike I can't part with it, why? well how many ex-RS250 owners are glad they got rid? Loads of character, loads of fun!