Out of the ashes comes my little Aprilia

My Aprilia RS50 means a lot to me. I wanted to get a bike that I could race. A smaller size bike so I could learn to be a better rider and race. Not sure why I really wanted to race, but I did.

I saw this very bike at a shop, took it for a test ride, and really wanted it. It was used, scratched, had an aftermarket pipe on it, and was now a 68cc bike. I felt pretty good about it since I was going to add my own scratches on it. :-)

It’s a 2-stroke. I don’t know how to ride one. I don’t know anyone that has one. I would ride it to a bike night, and back to work on learning how to ride it. My once a week my ride out to Pasadena via side streets was quite an adventure. Finally I was ready to race. So I thought. I still had on street tires. It was January in the dessert and I was on ice cold track, with ice cold tires that were rock hard to start with. Oh and I did not practice. I got second to last. Next race I got slicks, practiced the day before, and got third. I was in the top three every race after that. I dragged my knee for the first time on that bike. I won my first race on that bike.

What I forgot is how tall that bike is compared to my NSR. I forgot how bad the brakes are. I forgot that the front still dives down even after I put spacers in the forks. I forgot that the power band is not small it’s tiny. I forgot I had to change the gear oil after each race because it has a false neutral between 4th and 5th gear. No wonder I started to race the NSR. LOL It’s still a cool bike and now that it’s together (thanks to my best buddy Mike) it’s time to get tires and hit GMR for a little street legal, 2-stroke madness. I don’t think it goes fast enough to give me a speeding ticket. Oh, ok it does, but come on it’s a 50cc (well that’s what the vin# says).

Here is my rough ride on my bike after 4-5 years of sitting. Poor tires. Oh, I should have checked the air pressure…….. holy cow.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKAN-PCFKTI

Have a wonderful day.

xoxox

:-)

.