A few of us might remember when Aprilia entered the Kiwi motorcycle octagon and quickly made a name for itself . Its bikes were like nothing else on the market . They were painted like party girls – a chiaroscuro of competing colours smeared on pure , look-at-me Italian weaponry . And just like party girls , they certainly weren ’ t for tame , mousey souls . Aprilia was clearly uninterested in attracting mice to its marque . And then in 1995 , more mice were ignored with the advent of Aprilia ’ s brilliant two-stroke missiles – the RS125 and RS250 . Legitimate race-bikes you could ride on the road . Beautiful , wicked , and brilliant , they were the last gasp of the two-stroke era .
INTO THE DARKNESS At that time , the various authorities were busily enforcing safety on L-platers by limiting what was available for them to ride , and 250cc bikes were being foisted on wild-eyed teenagers by Safety Karens everywhere . Happily , it took the Safety Karens a little while to work out that this particular Aprilia 250cc bike was a giant-killer capable of being ridden at ferocious speeds , with the handling and braking
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