Aprilia Mana GT

[Rincewind]

We were discussing the new Shiver GT shown at Intermot in another thread.  Looks like Aprilia is also showing a Mana GT version.







Very nice.  Automatic transmission, helmet storage in the tank area, and now a nice fairing.  Fuel capacity is probably at 4.1 gallons like the other Mana.

[Tar Snake]

I know it's for looks, but if the muffler didn't kick up so much at the rear some bags would be a nice fit. I'm interested to read a road test.

[Tar Snake]

Found a good review:

http://www.webbikeworld.com/motorcycles/aprilia-mana/aprilia-mana-850.htm

[goodhawk]

I give Aprilia great credit for offering interesting bikes ( brings to mind a certain company that refuses to do so)
and - hopefully with economy/ gas prices as is, scooter sales are booming and Aprilia is on solid ground. thou imports to U.S. and sales here may be a differrent story.

[chornbe]

I give Aprilia great credit for offering interesting bikes ( brings to mind a certain company that refuses to do so)
and - hopefully with economy/ gas prices as is, scooter sales are booming and Aprilia is on solid ground. thou imports to U.S. and sales here may be a differrent story.

+1  

[Rogue]

I'm keeping a close eye on Aprilia.  In the next couple of year or so I will be in the market for a new bike and I'm really liking what I see coming out of Aprilia.  The Mana and Mana GT, with is innovative features have really caught my attention.  In fact if the Mana GT would have been available a few months ago, I would have seriously looked at it along with the VFR, Sprint ST, and F800ST that I was checking out.

[JonS]

That is a very nice looking bike! I sat on one at the bike show and it felt great. That transmission would take some getting used to, but considering Aprilia is owned by a scooter company, I would think that the automatic would be trouble free. The only downside, for me, is with the price tag. I would want a used one and those would be few and far between.

[chornbe]

Rider just did a review of the Mana - full road test, specs, etc. They say it's a very important point to *not* compare the bike to the Shiver; it delivers 1/2 - 2/3 the overall power of the Shiver and the engines are *not* the same. There are also other major distinctions; the fly-by-wire and multi-modes on the Shiver are handled at the transmission on the Mana. Other minor but important differences. In short... It's not an automatic Shiver. If you're ok with that, the bike seems to be a serious contender in the market place for mid-weight, easy-to-ride and easy-to-own commuter/tourer. I was really jonesing for a Shiver, but I think I'd like to ride both.

[Rogue]

Price is reasonable and very competitive, almost surprising really.  Around $10k-$11k.

If this was a BMW or Ducati, it would be priced at $15k!!  

[atadaskew]

If this was a BMW or Ducati, it would be priced at $15k!!  

If this was a Honda, it would be much lamer, have less features and make less powah.
And be priced at $15K.
Sounds familiar?
 
 

[Rogue]

If the Mana was a Honda, it would be a DN01 AND priced at $15k.

Oh wait a minute!  It is!   

[Stray Cat]

It reminds me very much of the Yamaha TDM. Which is being offered everywhere but the US.



The automatic mode on the Mana is supposed to be well done, which I think will be a huge thing for people that want to move up from a scooter.

[Rogue]

I don't think the autobox will matter to Scooter riders around the world.

Most likely the Mana and Mana GT would appeal to buyers looking for a citybike for daily commuting, and a weekend getaway bike.  The Autobox would be icing ont he cake but it does not make the bike.  It does make it easier (and probably more fun) to ride the Mana in the city.  No more holding a clutch in traffic, or feathering a clutch at slow speed, or getting exhausted manipulating a clutch is slow stop and go.  In places where you can't lane split to the front, having a clutchless tranny would be a big plus.  

[Oilhed]

I know it's for looks, but if the muffler didn't kick up so much at the rear some bags would be a nice fit. I'm interested to read a road test.

They already offer the Givi bags mounted high, looks cool!  See Rider mag!

http://www.jaylenosgarage.com/video/clips/aprilia-850-mana/738141/

[Rampant]

any word on maintenance costs/intervals for this or the shiver?  I can't find that info anywhere

[Desmo Demon]

Found a good review:

Here's a real world review after my wife rode one...

I remember about a year ago when Terry first told me about the Aprilia Mana 850. I was pretty interested in it and wondered if it would make it to the United States from Europe, as a lot of the really cool motorcycles never seem to make it to the USA. The largest thing about the bike that had a lot of appeal to Terry and me was that it would not require a custom fitted Pingel electric shifter. I need an alternate way to change gears due to a motorcycle accident with a car back in 2003 in which my left leg became paralyzed from the knee down. The lack of needing the shifter makes the price of the Mana a little more reasonable.

Terry found out about the Mana when he went to harass the salesman at the local Aprilia dealer. He noticed the bike as soon as he pulled into the parking lot, walked out to confirm that it was the Mana, and then called me on the cell phone. We immediately started talking about me getting to do a test ride maybe the following weekend.

A few days later we arrived at the dealership with helmets and other gear in the trunk of the car and I got to see the Mana in person. It reminds me a lot of the new Monster 696 and a little of an MV Agusta Brutale in its styling. I was able to sit on the bike and discovered the ergos are a lot like my 2001 Ducati Monster 900ie, but maybe a little more upright, a little more top heavy, and with a slightly taller seat, but…..it felt good. It caught me offguard that the bike has a parking brake, but it is necessary with the automatic transmission and was pretty neat, too. With the Saturday afternoon traffic, I didn’t feel comfortable with riding the bike, so we decided Terry would take off of work the next week when his mother would be watching our daughter.

Due to the weather, it would be nearly a full week when Terry would take a half-day of vacation on Friday and he met me at the dealership. I was fully geared, as I rode my Yamaha R1 to meet him, while he rode my ’98 Ducati ST2. The salesman showed me some of the features of the bike, and it was at this time when I was told how to not only change between Full-auto, Tip-tronic, and a Semi-manual mode where you can change gears with your left foot, but I was also informed that the bike has a Touring, Sport, and Rain mode for power. The salesman put the bike in Touring mode and in Full-auto for the start of my test ride. Within a few minutes, I was out of the parking lot and following Terry down the road.

At first we meandered with traffic, going toward a fairly twisty road through a subdivision that the salesman had told us about. While in traffic, I was checking out the acceleration a little, playfully seeing if it might wheelie (I didn’t try too hard, but I don’t think it will), checking to see if it tried to creep while at a stoplight, and trying to get used to the full-auto mode of the transmission. The acceleration felt good and is probably better than the Monster 900, but I was really surprised by the amount of engine braking the bike had. The engine braking is not as abrupt and harsh as a V-twin, like a Ducati, but it is much smoother like an inline four. I also liked that the bike didn’t want to creep when sitting at a stoplight. It was nice being able to come to a complete stop and simply take both hands off the bars instead of fighting to find neutral or having to hold the clutch in. I think I could really grow to like this bike.

The recommended twisty road may have been fun, but it was a 35 mph zone and we got stuck behind a minivan going 20 mph and had enough oncoming traffic that we couldn’t pass. Fortunately, the road came out in a part of town that we knew, and it was really close to a mountain twisty road that we have been over a few times. I took the Mana off of its Touring mode and put it into Sport mode. Off we went to Paris Mountain near Greenville, SC. The first thing I noticed was that the Sport mode seems to move the shift point between gears a little further up in the rpm range…..but I still couldn’t feel the bike change gears.

Terry let me lead so I could set a pace with the bike that I felt comfortable with. I shot up the road and the bike felt great. The power delivery on the uphill and the handling through the curves was much better than I was expecting. The gear changes weren’t felt at all and I always seemed to be in a good useable spot on the torque curve. The bike really has some good ground clearance and I was shooting up the mountain. I was taking strange lines through curves and purposely running wide to see how easily I could correct the bike, and it recovered very well. It is a very easy bike to ride. With the bike not being ours and there being a lot of driveways on this mountain road, I stayed a bit reserved……but I know I could comfortably go a lot faster on this bike. If two of our favorite roads were closer, I would have went there to really test the bike out. At the end of the test ride, Terry noticed that I removed some more of the chicken strips from the tires, though.

Once down the north side of the mountain, I pulled over into a pull-off. This is when I put the bike into the Tip-tronic and Sport modes to test that feature out. It is also here where I realized that the side-stand is simply too short, making it difficult for me to stand it upright with my bad left leg. The other realization was that both Terry and I forgot that before the bike will start, the front brake lever needed to be pulled in. We were starting to think we’d have to call the salesman, and we were at least 20 miles away from the dealership. After we remembered about the front brake lever, I got the bike started and we hit the road to head back to the dealership.

The Tip-tronic mode gives the bike a little more pep as I can use the power curve of the bike more to my needs. We rode in traffic and I noticed the instrument panel had an ambient temperature gauge that had numbers, but the water temperature gauge is some weird thermometer icon where the level on the thermometer climbs as the temperature raises….and it is vague. The bike seemed to do well in traffic and the fan kicked on fairly quickly.  The paddle buttons for the Tip-tronic modes made the bike more fun to ride, but I could really get used to the full-auto mode.

Overall, I really liked the bike. I was really impressed with its performance and the comfort of the bike. I rode the bike in both Full-auto and Tip-tonic modes and used both in Touring and Sport power modes, and I swear I would be able to literally ride the bike all day long with the seat on the Mana. I never did try the Rain mode and I simply can’t use the gear selector with my foot, so that can actually be removed for my purposes. The ground clearance and handling makes this bike a lot of fun on the twisty roads and the power is adequate. My largest gripe is probably the side-stand making the bike lean too much and makes it difficult to stand upright. If it wasn't for all the bikes that we already have, and simply don't have the space or the money, I'm positive I'd probably buy one of these Aprilias.

The salesman offered to let me ride it whenever I want to, so I’m really thinking I’ll have to test ride it, again. I wonder if he’ll let me borrow it for a weekend……I bet I could return it with well over a thousand more miles and it and probably needing a new set of tires.  

Terry likes quoting something I told him while on the test ride. I made a comment about able-bodied people (non-disabled) that….”If they can’t ride this bike, they probably don’t need to be on a motorcycle.”

[JamesG]

Kind of odd to me why they didn't tie the parking break into the side stand.  

Side stand down, parking brake engaged.  Side stand up, away you go...

Seems much more intuitive than a separate lever you've got to remember to engage and release.

[Croak]

Not always a good idea to drop the stand when you're stopped and want to take your hands off the controls without moving.  Making it happen with the pedal OR with the sidestand down would be a good failsafe.

[Oilhed]

I really like this bike but couldnt care less about the auto tranny.  It doesn't rule the bike out I just think a standard tranny version would be a good idea.  That and a few more Aprilia dealers.

[BizJetGuy]

Talking with an Aprilia rep earlier this year at the owner's BBQ at Moto GP Indy, he indicated that the engine in the Mana was originally designed to be a bit bigger (1200 cc) and to expect a larger variant of this mill in a new sport touring platform in the next few years.

Disappointing to me as I really want the RSV4 engine in ST trim.  But that was just chit chat over beers.  Who knows what Noale will come up with...