All Duels – Duel RS4 Vs YZF-R125: back to school with six! – Heart and reason

Posted on by admin

Duel RS4 Vs YZF-R125: the return to full six !

All Duels - Duel RS4 Vs YZF-R125: back to school with six! - Heart and reason

With all due respect to purists, the reign of 125 4-stroke sports motorcycles is now established. We therefore organized a duel between the two sharpest representatives of this category: the new Aprilia RS4 and the Yamaha YZF-R125…. Duel 125 !

Heart and reason

The purchase of this type of small motorcycles is triggered above all by a crush on their pretty faces, and much less often by the real desire of the rider to go and feel the vibrators on the circuit or to tarry on small viroleuse departmental roads..

The use of 125 cc, even qualified as "sports", remains mainly utilitarian – even urban. However, our two motorcycles of the day are not necessarily the best suited to face everyday life because of their inherent faults in machines made to chase the clock and singularly lacking in versatility..

Typical driving position

They offer a driving position as caricature as their big sisters, with a particularly marked support on the wrists on the Yamaha (its longer tank means you have to bend over more to get the bracelets). On the other hand, the legs are a little more folded on the Aprilia because the footrests are placed higher..

Trips of more than 30 minutes are therefore quite demanding, especially in town where you keep accelerating and braking. The first pain in the wrists and neck appear quickly … so you don’t let go! But that’s the price to pay for class…

Limited practical aspects

Until now, 125 4-stroke rhymes rather with utility courier or scooter with top-case … However with these two small sports, even the transport of a lock is difficult. Under the pilot seat of the R125, we barely manage to fit the Yamaha lock with specific dimensions.

It’s a little better on the RS4 which offers a little more space, but the Japanese can be forgiven by offering anchor points to hang a bag with tensioners on the passenger seat. The back cover of the Aprilia, beautiful in addition, does not allow to take anything.

The duo should only be considered as a last resort because the exercise will quickly become a test, both for the pilot and for the passenger who will not be at the party on the very small beanbag of the Yamaha, without a handle to hold onto and with very bent legs.

Selfish motorcycles !

The Aprilia of our test being devoid of passenger seat, we were not able to test the duo. But it does not have any asset so that the trips for two go better than on the Yamaha.

If their displacement confines them to primarily city and peri-urban use, their sporty positioning makes them more dedicated to fast driving and more open spaces. They nevertheless offer some appreciable qualities in the city, such as their lightness and their successful cycle part..

The driving position very forward will not reassure pure beginners and will require some adaptation time. Once in the saddle, the Yamaha gives the feeling of being significantly higher than the Aprilia, while according to its technical sheet it is theoretically lower by 2 mm … In reality, the seat of the Japanese separates a little more pilot’s legs.

Related articles

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *