Scooter Review Aprilia SR50 Di-tech Italian manufacturer Aprilia has combined forces with Perth’s Orbital Engine Company to produce something special
Photography by LOUMARTIN We all want to get from A to B, but some of us want to touch the earth lightly as we go. Scooters are great for the environmentally conscious consumer because they use fewer raw materials and energy in their construction than cars and because they use fewer resources in day-to-day running but, for some, that is simply not enough.
 Two-stroke engines produce more power per capacity than four-strokes, are light and cheap to produce but can be thirsty, smelly and smoky. Not good news. Fortunately there is a solution, and it’s one dreamed up by an Australian company, the Orbital Engine Company in Perth, who specialise in fuel-injection and engine management systems for small capacity two-strokes.
Without getting too technical, using direct fuel injection with a two-stroke allows the designer to drastically improve power delivery and drastically reduce emissions and fuel consumption. As a rough guide, an engine using the Orbital system will run one missions collected from the exhaust pipe of a non-Orbital engine. Neat, huh?
 But being green is only part of the solution. You still need to get from A to B. That’s where Aprilia’s SR50 Di-tech comes into the picture. As a 50cc scooter it is, in its restricted form, available to anyone with a car licence in WA, SA, and Queensland and it does what a 50cc scooter should. It provides quick, cheap and clean transport. It handles very well and, with the disc brakes, stops on a dime. It also comes in a Spiderman colour-scheme if you want, and that’s a bit of fun.
But, for markets where the 50cc limit does not apply (or if you have the appropriate licence) the SR50 can also be derestricted (check with your dealer for legality) and that makes it a whole lot better. A couple of years ago, I took one, loaded downwith camera gear, out on the freeway from Sydney to Eastern Creek and the little scoot buzzed along happily at an indicated 110km/h (dropping down to 100 on some of the longer uphill stretches) and that came as a surprise: quick, cheap, clean and fast.
As published in TW SCOOTER MAGAZINE - 27/10/2003
Subscribe to Two Wheels Scooter magazine now! |