Mana well executed but ill targeted

DARING DISGUISE: Aprilia's Mana is really something of a Clayton's motorscooter.

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It's a scooter, Jim, but not as we know it, says PAUL OWEN.

It may look like a real bike, but the Aprilia Mana is really something of a Clayton's motorscooter. It's the twist-and- go two-wheeler you ride when you don't really want to be seen on a scooter. With its motorcycle disguise, the Mana can fool the punters as much as any cross-dressing entertainer of the night, by being one thing at first glance and quite another upon further investigation.

Beneath the Aprilia's streetbike clothes lurks the automatic powertrain of the Gilera GP800 super-scooter. In the Gilera, the 800cc V-twin engine creates the fastest scooter in the west, albeit one still slightly shy of the performance expected of a true motor-bicycle of such cubic capacity.

On the chassis front, the Mana is no fake, as full-sized wheels, tyres and brakes bless it with the more stable handling characteristics and shorter stopping distances than its scooter cousin.

Meanwhile, scooter attributes such as lockable storage remain in situ on the Mana. With the fuel reservoir banished to under the seat, the tank in front of the rider becomes a handy repository for refreshments and wet-weather riding gear. It's like buying a motorcycle and getting a lockable hard plastic tank-bag for free. You might even find you can store your helmet away in there, provided it's sized for a pinhead.

Herein lies the dilemma posed by the Mana. It's all too easy to consider the GP800 the more practical ride because of its more generous stowage and weather protection. The Gilera isn't far behind the Aprilia when it comes to feats of athleticism either.

With the true scooter being slightly heavier yet more nimble on wheels sized an inch or two smaller in diameter, any dynamic comparison between the two engineering siblings will be decided more by the skill levels of their riders than the difference in their physical limits.

For many, the GP800's price will be the deciding factor. A tag pegged $1000 below that of the Mana buys the alpha-scooter, and it's a bit of a gamble to spend the extra on the Aprilia in the hope of securing the extra prestige suggested by the name.

Many observers might opine that you've bought an enigma instead of a proper motorbike.

While the concept of a bike that looks like a motorcycle yet performs like a scooter might be hard to get a handle on, there is little doubt that the Mana is an enjoyable ride most of the time. Ridden in isolation away from less expensive showroom rivals such as the Gilera and Aprilia's similar-looking 750cc Shiver, the Mana starts to get its groove on.

With less power to tap into than the Shiver's quota, the Mana makes most sense when riding in cruise mode. The ever-present torque delivery of the detuned engine is ideally matched to the constantly variable transmission (CVT) that delivers the grunt to the back wheel, and the ability to relieve a rider's stress is a strong part of this unique powertrain's appeal, so much so that you begin to wonder why Aprilia didn't style the bike accordingly. A laid-back cruiser would be better match for the Mana's performance than a sporty-looking streetbike.

I assume brand values had a role in the Mana's inability to keep the promises of its sporty looks. Aprilia is a big player in motorcycle racing, and the Mana would have been the brand's first cruiser if designed as such, and an entry into a segment where the company prefers to let its Moto Guzzi subsidiary play.

Besides, as it comes, the Mana combines genuine cruisability with decent cornering performance, the streetbike design contributing both more ground clearance and extra comfort than most cruisers supply. The sharpish steering, decent suspension, and reasonable braking ability provide enough dynamic entertainment to keep experienced motorcyclists interested when they are on the Mana.

This is more than can be said for the sequential manual mode of the CVT gearbox that the rider can select if wanting the Mana to shift gear like an ordinary motorcycle. Like all CVTs, the Mana's features a robust belt stretched between two concave pulleys, allowing the bike to drive through a variable gear ratio that is always ideally matched to the load on the engine. Therefore, it makes little sense to stop the side-slippage of the belt along those pulleys at several pre-determined points to create the artificial impression of a manual gearbox. That's a recipe for making an already slow bike even slower.

Which brings us back to the question of whether Aprilia will ever find a market for the Mana.

Certainly, I can think of far better uses for the extra $6000 this well- executed yet ill-targeted motorcycle charges above the $13,990 Shiver. For $19,990, the Mana is the answer to a question that I suspect no-one asked.

APRILIA MANA

* Engine: 840cc liquid-cooled fuel-injected V-twin developing 53kW (71bhp) of power and 73Nm of torque.

* Transmission: CVT automatic with 7-speed manual mode, chain drive.

* Chassis: Steel tube trellis frame with dual-sided swingarm, Un- adjustable inverted front forks, rear monoshock adjustable for spring preload and rebound damping.

* Price: $19,990.

* Hot: Offers more lockable storage than any other streetbike.

* Not: Aprilia Shiver lookalike is faster, more rewarding to ride, and $6000 cheaper.