It was late the other evening and both Paul and I were getting a little peckish, so decided to head off for soup and crumpets.
I grabbed the NSR150R keys.....
So, the restaurant is about 15kms away from our place, which should give us a bit of time to get some comparisons. But as I'm about 25kgs lighter than Paul I knew it was gonna be a walkover.
First traffic lights a couple of klicks away from the office and the 19 year old Honda left the 2008 Italian pretender trailing in a cloud of stinky two stroke smoke......too easy!
Hooning along at about 150kmh (Indicated), with Paul at the sharp end I dropped back a tad, stuck my chin on the tank and nailed it for all it was worth. That little buzz box passed Paul at 185kmh on the clock with the tacho buried in the red. Hmmmmm......way too short gearing.
Arrived......ate......time for a re-match.
We swapped keys, and although I knew that the NSR was obviously making way more mojo than the RS I was hopeful that my slighter frame and tuck in technique may help to stay with him.
Not so
The NSR just hurtled away from a standstill, and even though the Aprilia has a real sweet engine and sounds great, it couldn't hold a candle to the Jap motor.
Then came my chance. Paul was getting held up in a bit of traffic, so I did a death move up the inside on the hard shoulder. But he's a crafty old fox and knows my game, so he took to the other hard shoulder and pinned that bad boy.
He'd got a bit of a jump, so I swung across the road and hooked into his slip-stream. But, even though the RS was screaming for mercy, and well into the silly zone I just couldn't hang with the NSR. And Paul effortlessly disappeared into the distance.
My final chance came at the U-turn. The anchors on the Aprilia are way better than the budget brakes on the Honda, but although I gained about 50m, I just couldn't make the pass.......not with oncoming traffic anyway.
So what do I think?
The Aprilia is so much more refined than the NSR, but then it should be, what with being in production for nigh on 20 years. If it wasn't then there'd be questions asked. Here's why:
The Aprilia riding position is a lot more comfy and more ergonomically correct, and even when in tuck, it just feels better....RS 1 - 0 NSR
The Aprilia engine is a peach, but needs more power. This could've been a number of things as I'm no expert on the Aprilia (restricted CDI perhaps?), but we also have an Aprilia Challenge bike which is definitely faster, but doesn't have light etc so stayed indoors. The NSR150 on the other hand is a bit of a clunker down low (as they all are), and feels very raw and hard edged on the pipe. But I kinda like that. Plus it sails round happily to 12k in every gear, so the NSR wins this round.... RS 1 - 1 NSR
I like the look of the Honda. Classic 90's 2 stroke. Faaaaantastic. Blah blah blah. The Aprilia is trying to look like a 4 stroke. Nuff said.... RS1 - 2 NSR
Both bikes handle well. The old NSR would have been an old kipper if we had not changed the suspension to that of the CBR150 and given it some more radical geometry. But, I honestly think that if my life depended on it, and the roads were slow and twisty, then I'd probably hop on the Aprilia. RS 2 - 2 NSR
Braking should be included here as that's what keeps you alive. The Aprilia brakes...err...brake, and do it very well, the Honda brakes don't. RS 3 - 2 NSR
So there you have it. An in depth (not) evaluation of a couple of tiddler two strokes. And a walk away victory for the NSR!
Oh, hang on. The Aprilia has it 3 - 2........
And for a bonus 10 points, which one would I grab the keys to if I walked out the door now? Yep, the Honda. Every time.
Final (unbiased) result: RS 3 - 12 NSR. As I said...a walk away victory
