Aprilia SRV 850 scooter test

Menus

• Discovery
• In the saddle
• Contact
• In the city
• On the highway
• On national
• Comfort / Duo
• Braking
• Consumption
• Convenient
• Breakage price
• Conclusion

You will no longer say GP800 to the question which is the most powerful scooter, you will now say SRV850! The biggest scoot on the market has indeed come out as a brand, moving from Gilera to Aprilia, to display a sportier image than a scooter, even if we still remain in the bosom of the Piaggio group.. But the change of team was accompanied by an almost total metamorphosis of the maxi-scoot through the brand which now claims 49 world titles in competition. So no more big packaging to take up the Aprilia design and more precisely that of the RSV4, emblematic sports figurehead of the Italian brand..

In the end, the SRV displays 76 horses and a torque of 76.4 Nm, gaining a single horse compared to its parentage, but displaying a much lower maximum torque curve available, for more responsiveness while confirming its bomb position. most powerful scooter of the moment. The brand announces that it has also worked on the suspensions for a more stable behavior than the old model. So, simple visual effect and publicity stunt to relaunch the model or real novelty? Test drive on the back roads of Tuscany, Italy, in the sun !

Discovery

When we discover the front of the SRV850, we immediately find the affiliation with the RSV4, by the shape of the headlights and the characteristic frontal air intake. At the rear, we also find an identical form of fire. The analog counter unit for both speed and tachometer retains sporting characteristics through its look. However, there is a digital display in the center. Practical, we alternate the partial double trip with the outside temperature indicator, from a button of type lighthouse call, placed on the right. It is also the only scooter to put so much forward its tachometer, often non-existent or a simple indicator sometimes barely readable, reinforcing the importance of the engine speed, despite the absence of a manual gearbox..

Everything is automatic here. The other typical scooter elements are based on a large saddle, both for the pilot and the passenger, as well as on a real trunk under the saddle … well, when we speak of trunk, a space just allowing to place certain integral but not all and no modular. Ouch! We look a little for the empty pocket, without finding them. It is a scooter, but sport, therefore not GT and without maxi-capacity. Finally, we find the usual parking brake, hand, placed on the right side … very useful especially as the side stand is quite straight and without gear in gear, the scooter quickly tilts forward. We dream of the generalization of the engagement of the parking brake by the use of the central stand. Finally, we note the fitment in Pirelli DiabloScooter, the same original fitment also equipping the C600Sport.

In the saddle

We start by stepping over the central beam, high enough for the category. It must be said that the 839.3 cm3 VTwin had to be housed at 90 °, and that the 90 ° imply advantages in terms of reduction of vibrations but disadvantages to insert very compactly at the horizontal level. Quite high, the two tips of the feet are still on the ground, provided they stay at the end of the saddle. Once a little more pressed against the backrest, the feet no longer touch the ground for the 1.70m pilot. The handlebars immediately fall under the hands, neither too wide nor too narrow, with an almost straight and natural overall position. The mirrors offer a good field of vision and are easily adjusted or even can be folded up completely against the fairing. Because it is indeed a fairing, incorporating a long bubble but not high, and not adjustable. Sport, we told you! The feet are then placed just on the space of the footboard available to the pilot. You can hardly bring them backwards but you can place them either flat under you, yourself far in front but on the raised part and no longer flat. The space for the feet is here a little less than on other competing models.

Contact

The SRV850 snorts with a loud sound, very rewarding … closer to a motorcycle than the sizzle emitted by some large scooters. Handbrake released and hit on the right handle, and the SRV 850 sets off immediately, without inertia or latency … despite the 249 kilos dry and without gearbox! (The scooter took on an overweight of 14 kilos compared to the GP800). Because it is indeed a variator which is used here, particularly reactive. The cavalry thus arrives immediately with an almost maximum torque reached from 3,000 rpm, which happens very quickly and propels you very quickly at a speed prohibited on national roads and even more so in town. Aprilia announces a 100m standing start in 5.7 seconds, making it the most powerful and responsive maxi-scooter on the market. Beyond the figures advanced and any announcement effect, this is indeed felt from the first meters. And the smile is born! We hardly feel the vibrations of the vtwin that we might have thought very present given the displacement. Nay. It is also undoubtedly one of the scooters which one feels the least the vibrations inherent in the engine architecture. Aprilia has done a great job of balancing and reducing vibrations here..

In the city

A little higher and with the same weight as a C600Sport, the significantly higher center of gravity makes maneuvering at low speed or on slopes a little more difficult. On the other hand, the reaction of the throttle to the slightest request makes it possible to put the machine back on its feet as dry, and thus to react very quickly without getting carried away. The rear brake is very effective, and much more effective and present than the vast majority of rear brakes, without any propensity to block easily what could have been the case. And fortunately ! Because the first SRVs do not have ABS, which will only happen in a few months with the APRC traction control..

The front brake offers the necessary expected power. And suddenly, the braking is up to the acceleration capacity of the machine which encourages driving dynamic, even aggressive in town. When most competing maxi-scooters offer inertia to the throttle, here everything responds to the slightest request and almost approximates the responsiveness of some roadsters. Pleasant! We almost forget the 270 kilos in running order, all full facts … except on parking maneuvers with a little false flat where the weight is then felt.

At 60 km / h, after being mounted in the towers, the tachometer stabilized at 4,000 rpm … i.e. at the same speed as a little later on the national road at 90 km / h.

On the highway

The SRV 850 sets off quickly on the motorway, rising almost directly to 160 km / h then continuing to swallow the kilometer hours to just exceed the psychological bar of 200 km / h on the odometer. At this speed, the behavior remains healthy and the protection effective. The air is well deflected on the helmet which extends the CX formed by the bubble deflecting the air up to shoulder level. The protection provided is sufficient, especially without generating any turmoil. Even at this speed, we do not feel any vibrations, neither in the hands, nor in the mirrors, making it possible to travel at very high speed without problem (apart from a possible encounter with a hexagonal radar).

At 160 km / h, the tachometer is only 6,000 rpm, while the red zone is at 8,500 rpm and the breaker is practically at 10,000 rpm.

On national

Back on the national road, the SRV850 easily finds its marks to investigate the bends at high speed, even very sustained. The possible rhythm is greater than on the maxi-scooters of the competing 600 ranges, especially since the braking is there. The alternation of dynamic acceleration and braking, on the other hand, generates significant mass transfers, which lead to a significant relief sometimes from the rear and sometimes from the front. As long as the pavement is degraded, we then end up with barbings … impressive the first time, but without danger, so the SRV rests immediately and naturally finds its rail, without special intervention of the pilot. Likewise, on dynamic go-arounds on a little greasy pavement, the rear slips slightly but hangs up slowly and gradually, causing no cold sweat or rodeo-type behavior. The maxiscoot lives, undeniably, and provides sensations … pleasant in the end. If the pace picks up, and it prompts you to accelerate quickly with the model, the center stand begins to touch on the left.

Comfort / Duo

The SRV850 surprises with its comfort. Not that the saddle is particularly soft, but the suspensions do an excellent job, impressively erasing the defects of the road, even accentuated. It’s not Pullman literally (which would involve soft suspensions), but everything is smoothed out. The saddle is also long and wide and allows to sit widely, for the pilot but also for the passenger who has a good seat doubled with wide handles well placed laterally, and footrests not too high..

Braking

The 280mm rear brake is much more than a retarder with a power rarely encountered on a motorcycle and even more so on a scooter, and without blocking easily. You really have to take the lever very hard and at a low speed to block the rear … without however causing destabilizing behavior. The 300mm front brake is powerful but not overdone, despite the Brembo double disc. The set offers a good feeling, power and progressiveness in simple and combined use, largely dimensioned to the power of the maximum model.

Consumption

The first kilometers make fear the worst, so the gauge goes down quickly and regularly. But after 70km, the gauge stabilizes and the needle then descends more slowly, despite an identical driving pace. Suddenly, at 150 km, the gauge arrives just in the center. But at 195 km, the needle grazes the reserve zone, and this, after sporty driving on small roads. With a tank of 18.5 liters (or 2.5 liters more than the GP800), the autonomy is thus less than that of the GP800 which was capable of doing 300 km before reserve, or 8 liters per hundred kilometers. We are close to the consumption of a sports car, but the consumption remains above 7 liters / 100km, which becomes difficult at the time when the liter of SP95 is close to 2 euros.

Convenient

No storage compartment in the front. The trunk allows just to put a small full and in one direction to find (so not the first time). However, no modular helmet fits. And once the helmet is in place, there is just room for tightly packed rain pants. It’s better than a motorcycle, but much less than the possibility of double integral possible on the main maxi-scoots on the market (excluding Tmax).

Breakage price

The SRV850 will be more economical at the fall … because the slightest fall of the GP800 entailed a complete change of the fairing and above all a significant dismantling time which significantly increased the final invoice. With a reduced fairing, any fall will hurt less and this is also a factor to consider.

Conclusion

The SRV850 is a successful evolution of the GP800, if only on the aesthetic level, an essential point in the choice of a sport-style maxi-scooter. With its aesthetic personality taking up the Aprilia sports canons, it finally displays a real, sporty personality compared to the old scooter-style look, which should more appeal to bikers for urban use … and sporty by its character and its out-of-town play possibilities. Because if there is one point to remember compared to the competition, it is a real well hairy and reactive engine that pulls from the lowest revs. Another crucial point, Aprilia has a canon launch price of only € 9,799, or more than 1,000 euros less than a Tmax or C600Sport, certainly without ABS but with a much more playful engine. All that remains is to go and try it in concession since the youngest of the Noale brand is scheduled for the end of the month in its non-ABS version and by June in its ABS and ATC version for a non-ABS price. still fixed but which should turn around 800 euros additional. The price difference will then be less important, but on the other hand, given the character of the mill, ABS and traction control will be an obligation for any biker who wants to contain the inclinations of the beast on a little greasy ground and a fortiori under the rain, a useful and recommended form of investment against falling and its consequences.

Strong points

• Motor
• Comfort
• Sport look
• Price

Weak points

• Practical aspects

Competitors: BMW C600 Sport, Gilera GP 800, Piaggio X9 500, Suzuki Burgman 650, Yamaha T-Max 500

colors: white and black

See also the full test of the Aprilia SRV 850 ABS ATC

Datasheet
Aprilia SRV 850

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