Comparison test: Aprilia NA 850 Mana, Gilera GP 800 and Honda DN-01

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Comparison test, Aprilia Mana 850, Gilera GP 800, Honda DN-01

Aprilia NA 850 Mana, Gilera GP 800 and Honda DN-01

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One "Smooth operator" is a skilled seducer. The Aprilia NA 850 Mana, the over-scooter Gilera GP 800 and the star cruiser Honda DN-01 appear as such and with their automatic transmissions seduce tough PS testers into lazy driving. Is that pleasure or annoyance?

The speedometer needle is at 170 km / h, the driver of the VW bus with TDI engine looks annoyed and is visibly reluctant to clear the left lane of the motorway. The 69 PS strong and 839 cubic V2 V2 of the Gilera GP 800 scooter acknowledges the gas command with a sonorous hum "maximum performance", in German plain "Full throttle", and pushes the 275 kilogram heavy hum including the driver past the brisk panel van with impressive aplomb. Free travel follows. 200, 210, 220 km / h, acceleration is only over at the end of the speedometer scale, the VW bus is getting smaller and smaller in the rearview mirror. Yes, with such a start, the currently most powerful scooter on the market is rightly in the PS test fleet. Soft shell, hard core. This is how you could describe the appearance of the Gilera GP 800. It is like a hit with him "Smooth operator" the singer Sade in the mid-eighties. For months it was "skillful operator" at number one in the German charts and rounds off affectionate, romantic evenings for couples with the heartfelt voice of the singer. But the cuddly soft song has it all sings of the horizontal trade and the men who work in it. Soft rhythms or scooter optics hide evil texts or powerful engines.

The Aprilia NA 850 Mana comes with an even stronger acceleration and is also equipped with an automated gearbox and an almost identical engine. Nominally seven horsepower more, 41 kilograms lighter and significantly slimmer, it displaces its distant cousin from the left lane. On the other hand, Honda’s DN-01 can’t do anything, has to let the two significantly stronger Italians go. The hour of the DN-01 strikes later, but all the more violently. Because it is an incredible eye-catcher, especially in fashionable white – the show par excellence in traffic. Whether in the village or in the city, the Honda attracts the eyes of the vast majority of people. Even a naked blonde who gets out of a sports car with an ultra-long hood in the city center at the best time of shopping would be overlooked next to the space glider. The people, motorcyclists or not, cannot assign the Honda DN-01, they have to look twice until they understand that they have not seen a UFO.

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The ride in the women’s seat goes without any problems because the machine switches. The most common is the styling of the Aprilia Mana, slightly disproportionate that of the Gilera, the manta look (fish, not car!) Of the Honda DN-01 is simply unbeatable.

But away from women and towards technology. Aprilia, Gilera and Honda seduce you into convenience because they completely relieve the pilot of shifting gears. Italians and Japanese go technically different ways. The Mana and GP 800 have an electronically controlled, continuously variable belt transmission, E-CVT "Electronic continuously variable transmission" called. Gear ratio changes work by means of two longitudinally divided pulleys with variable contact surface spacing. An appropriately shaped V-belt runs on the angled running surfaces, similar to a conventional 50 mm roller. An electronically controlled servomotor forces the primary belt pulley into a suitable distance, thus setting the barrel diameter. Since the belt length and the distance to the secondary (output) shaft are fixed, the distance between halves of the secondary wheel is set automatically: The gear ratio is changed continuously. The electric servomotor enables fixed gear steps that can be called up using the selector buttons on the handlebars or the gearshift lever by setting certain distances on the primary pulley. A mechanical centrifugal clutch engages the clutch when starting up.

Honda is working on the DN-01 with a hydraulic power transmission, also HFT "Human Friendly Transmission" called. A centrifugal clutch transmits the engine’s drive power to a hydraulic motor on the primary side of the HFT. A swash plate fixed at an angle on the primary shaft presses against axially aligned, hydraulic master pistons through its rotary movement and transfers hydraulic pressure to analog slave cylinders via intermediate oil. Thesis in turn press on a second swash plate, this time attached to the secondary shaft at a variable angle. By virtue of the ramp effect, the second swash plate evades the pressure of the pistons and is thus set in motion, which in turn drives the firmly connected secondary shaft in the direction of the cardan shaft and rear wheel.

The angle of the second swash plate determines the gear ratio and is electronically set to match the forward thrust or manual gear selection using a switch on the handlebar. A high technical effort to relieve the driver of the switching work.
In real life you don’t feel anything about the complicated matter. Up on the show star, the DN-01, turned the ignition key and off. But oops, the stove is not moving forward: Ah, first of all from the neutral position to either the Boring Mode D (here the motor rotates at a maximum of 4500 rpm) or straight into the men’s mapping S. Despite C-ABS, the DN-01 can be Thanks to cold rear tires, you can get a little burn-out in the underground car park. The mood rises suddenly, after all, nobody expected such impetuous behavior from the Honda. Surprise number two is not long in coming. Between basement level 2 and basement level 1, the folding footboard already makes contact with the flooring with a screeching light. What the heck, is it not a racing machine but a, what actually? Neither naked bikes, cruisers nor scooters match the character of the DN-01, so we’re sticking with Showstar.

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The bad eye-catcher. Honda DN-01

It takes less than 20 meters for a staring motorist with an open mouth to miss the switch of the traffic light from red to green. With sovereign, but not exuberant pressure, the DN-01 pulls away like a rubber band, accelerating towards the city limit without jerking or twitching. Aprilia Mana and Gilera follow in the slipstream, but are hardly or not at all noticed by the outside world. The Mana is just an ordinary motorcycle, the dark scooter just mighty big and violently fast away from the traffic light. While at the Mana between three fully automatic modes (Sport, Touring and Rain mode) and the switching mode "Sports gear" can be selected, the GP 800 pilot can only do one thing: give full throttle with automatic. Apparently, the Piaggio Group is of the opinion that scooter drivers are not technically savvy and saves the options. But it doesn’t matter, because the Power-Roller really does it, convinces with remarkable acceleration and high stability. Despite the relatively small wheels, it burns stubbornly through the area, does not get restless even in fast corners and stays on the Mana for a long time during sporty driving. Only the lack of feeling for the front wheel is annoying, it hardly allows you to brake far into corners. The ABS of the Mana or the C-ABS of the Honda would look good on the scooter. What speed is lost at the corner entrance, has to be made up for at the exit. So tap on and full chapel on the straight. The spring elements can even cope with the courageous pace and only have an impact on really bad slopes. The lean angle is also okay. When the GP 800 keys down, it is massive with the main stand.

The DN-01 pilot can only dream of lean angles and a sporty chassis. His litter speaks cleanly and synchronously, but with its overall design it is on the very comfortable side. That means, two bumps in a row are enough and the spring elements go on block. Which is not really bad, because the DN-01 does not want to be a heating iron. However, it would look good on a little more lean angle. Because after the very early scratching, foldable running boards, the main frame hits immediately and relentlessly. Bad takeoffs on bumps can happen faster than you think. You can always rely on the great C-ABS. So change your driving style, anchor hard in front of the curve, roll in slowly, snake up to the top with a grounded footboard and accelerate out of there from there. This has a special charm and is ultimately not slow either.

The Mana is classically sporty through the course. On lazy Sundays or with a passenger in the automatic sport mode, alone in the leather suit "Sports gear"-Switching mode. Despite its very soft set-up, the fork hits almost every braking maneuver and the shock absorber is no better, the Aprilia can quickly be torn around the corner. However, she also treacherously uses the main stand, wanting to stick to enthusiastic athletes, is fraught with a certain risk. But the ABS, which is subject to a surcharge, has a convincing performance. It intervenes very late, controls sensitively and with good delay.
One "smooth operator" In a very positive sense, as were all three automatic transmissions in the test field. Regardless of whether the pilot can intervene or not. It is always switched "smooth", so soft and hardly noticeable.

Conclusion: Automated transmissions are currently not for super athletes because they were not developed for that. Nevertheless, automatic two-wheelers offer a lot of driving fun, and the view beyond the typical HP box must be allowed. As a classic motorcycle, the Aprilia Mana 850 easily wins this test. The Gilera GP 800 scooter is more sporty than you might think, and therefore ranked 2. Queen of hearts and eyes is the Honda DN-01.

PS data

PS

PS data

Performance chart

PS

HP performance diagram

PS goes automatic, which changes the performance diagram. The X-axis this time in km / h instead of the speed – the torque curve cannot be determined due to the automatic system. What remains is a transfer of the driving performance. The Aprilia Mana (measured in Sport mode) burns the other two, while the Gilera GP 800, which is equipped with an almost identical drive, irons the Honda. The drive of the DN-01 is not only the weakest, but also the thirstiest and the oldest (based on Honda NTV 650).

PS rating

PS

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