Please under no circumstances consider a Pegaso. I bought one myself and it was the worst bike I have ever owned. I have had 5 Pegs of varying years from 95 onwards and they have always been good fire-road bikes, capable of a decent turn of speed and quite reliable other than a faulty water-pump, a common snag. They had a 5 valve rotax head instead of the 4 valve unit BMW fitted to the funduro. It made it a little quicker but cost more to run, either way it was still fine. The Cube was a great all rounder, faster than most bikes in the same class.
Eventually I bought the Trail. Different bike altogether. Build quality is absolutely appalling. My problems began with brake light switches going. The front crumbled into bits, the back snapped in half. I replaced them with upgraded switches. Next it fell off the stand at work (was pushed I think) and fell onto an old abandoned sofa. It tore off a mirror and did damage to the pegs. That worried me a lot, a tiny fall did a lot of damage and it fell on soft foam.
Then I used it through the winter and the engine finish peeled visibly off the bike. After that I tried to fit a power commander. Now on early bikes you have no choice, they simply will not run without it, later ones with 02 sensor you can't. Suddenly the bike stalled, died and never ran again. It intermittently showed fault codes for a failed temperature sensor and three other sensors as well as suddenly was not able to read the chip in the key. Then I found out on the various forums that this is a common fuel pump fault. The pump is 2 electric toy-car motors in a polythene bag. Nothing got it working but along the way I was horrified at the corners cut in the building of this bike. In the end a workaround fix was to kick the side of the tank where the pump was and yes, it ran again for an hour or so but when it rained the key sensor died. After doing some homework on the Aprillia forum this is a common fault, there are many more. The owners are oddly in love with their bikes but at one point the top 5 posts on the Pegaso forum was fuel pump failures.
I got burned on mine so please consider this when thinking of these bikes. They're also expensive to run, not as quick as an XT for some reason and the accessories are hard to find and Aprillia ones broke (mine did).
Your money is better spent elsewhere. I'm sorry for anyone who has one but when i did my homework trying to fix mine I found a lot out about these machines. 2 guys on the Aprillia forum used them to go over South America. 1 did break down several times.
Sorry guys... just don't do it...

Thanks so much for the info.. After reading some forums and other owner reviews, I feared this...

This is obviously why they're £1000 cheaper than an XT660 for the same miles/year..

Cheers again, Ted

__________________
Did some trips.
Rode some bikes.
Fix them for a living.
Can't say anymore.

I was so disappointed. I have had 4 of these before, my favourite being the 95 just because it looked so good, had real usability and was very easy to work on.
Myself, my brother and uncle went out together for a ride, my brother on a Tenere, my uncle on an XT and the Peg did not have as much go in it which was silly, it has the same state of tune and is lighter.
The shame is that it's a lovely comfortable machine that handles well. It ticked all my boxes until things started going wrong. Sadly there is a reason they're cheaper. Ironically I now have a BMW G650 X which is built in the same factory at the same time and it's actually the best bike I've had. Worth noting that I go to the motorcycle auctions and they can be had for roughly the same price as a Peg now. They just never caught on.
When it comes to the Tenere my brother did't have it long. He said it felt heavy and breathless, the build quality and finish was poor and he actually had 2 minor spills on it which is odd, he never crashes. Twice someone pulled out on him and he ditched the bike, he said it was just too heavy to pull round the obstacle and he dropped it. In respect to the bike there was virtually no damage, the hard panels did their magic. I think they're a great adv tourer which could maybe do with more power. Shame they never fitted it with the TDM 900 engine. None of us would be buying anything else.

I hadn't considered the 650X..I might have a look

__________________
Did some trips.
Rode some bikes.
Fix them for a living.
Can't say anymore.

It is a great machine with some significant design drawbacks such as a weak alloy subframe which is no use for luggage and a tiny 9.5l tank. Deal with those and it's a great little bike. I'm as happy as a lobotomised monkey with mine.

Is yours the Country or the challenge ??

I'm used to alloy subframes and pack light accordingly. Don't the newer models have a steel subframe ?? Or is that just the country? I'm not sure !!

I hear MPG is AWESOME, getting 200 miles from a tank ? Really ??

I like the fact it's got a Rotax engine and they seem to have ironed out all the problems of the earlier F650GS donkey...(please ppl, no turning this into a F650 thread)..

Ted

__________________
Did some trips.
Rode some bikes.
Fix them for a living.
Can't say anymore.

You should read 'The hunt for Puerto Del Faglioli'. Paddy Tyson had plenty to say about the Peg. I have a Tenere and am very happy with it. Went 2 up fully loaded Ushuaia to Alaska. The rectifier packed up after about 17,000 miles but thats understandable after the miles. I think there is a simple reason you dont see many Pegs on the road !

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www.onepistononeworld.com

I'm finding many posts from this individual on any forum mentioning Aprilia Pegaso's.

I've had mine for 3 years, and have not had a single issue with failures that were not brought on by my own abuse of the machine. And I ride the crap out of it on forestry trails. Suspension's too short for that, poor thing..... Also Paddy rode the old Rotax engined bike. Never owned one, so can't comment.

They're cheap because no-one knows about them as they're not marketed well. Other than that, for no great reason. The rear frame bolts need to be locktighted or they come loose. The fuel pump will fail around 30,000kms and is easily replaced with whatever, someone with some reasonable motor skills can adapt in a new pump from another machine as the factory one is small as it's designed to fit in with a fuel gauge on other models. Trail doesn't have a fuel gauge. The instrument cluster will take in steam from the exhaust if you go through water or wash it hot. It's a doddle to remove and seal it. If you don't, the cluster will fail.
The front forks are 45mm, larger than many others, and the bike doesn't look like a science experiment. The engine is the same 660cc Minarelli found in the current Tenere and pulls like a 15 year old boy. As with all bikes, free up the intake and exhaust and fit a PC3 and even better. The injection system works fine, some complain of a miss around 4,000RPM but mine doesn't have this issue. Brakes are good Brembo's.

I think you'll find there are more posts about G650 and F800 BMW failures than are any about Pegaso's, when considering them the trick is to make sure the 'drama' posts aren't from the same person........

NOT AGAIN. is this where I should be.......... ?? thanks. john

If you're looking about information on Aprilia, you could ask here or on the manufacturer specific catagory.

__________________
Did some trips.
Rode some bikes.
Fix them for a living.
Can't say anymore.

Yeah, but the next time you abuse it ´till it breaks down, why not try coming here on the net, and telling _your_ version of the story, how it happened (crappy machine/manufacturer/tyres/gear, etc - pick any one, or create your very own culprit here!)... a lot of people do that, so it surely must be relieving

Would be interesting to know, what percentage of all techical troubles with today´s bikes are actually caused by a user error, but claimed to be from something else.

The funniest case I´ve heard of, was probably a "rusty swingarm" on a 1250 Bandit, the owner was oh so furious at a dealership, it was a 6 months old bike, and he naturally wanted it covered under warranty. Had already spread his frustration around the web, too.

Turned out there was absolutely nothing wrong with the swingarm... but the chain was totally wasted after some 4-5000 kms. He didn´t know, that you´d have to lubricate it every once in a while! So the chain had rusted, and flakes had fallen on to the swingarm. I dont believe he got a new chain on warranty either.

You're right, they're lightweight motorcycles and not tanks. I read some of the reviews for whitegoods before buying, you have to ignore a large percentage of the reviews due to numptiness......


And back to topic, the Aprilia is significantly cheaper out here, and I don't really see the Yam as the 'better' bike anyways, so my opinion is toward the Aprilia.

This is the usual head-in-the-sand idiocy you get from pegaso owners. You always get the same rubbish, "i've got one, it's fine!" is their logical argument why you must have one. The forum is so full of stupidity I left, after reading about someone comparing his to a KTM duke and having no idea why the bike couldn't handle a 40% power increase I figured the best thing to do was leave them to it and let them kill themselves and strengthen the gene pool for the rest of us.
Simply my problems were common faults. Google them, search the forums. Do I hate these bikes, certainly. I would never buy Aprilia again. I have had 3 BMWs, 2 were rubbish. You have to shop around bike by bike, model by model to find a good machine. Interesting fact for the peg-boys, my G650 was built in the Aprilia factory to german specs at a price tag of twice the italian bikes and the quality shows. If it was assembled in China or Poland I wouldn't touch it, I wouldn't buy a Yamaha 660 because they're not assembled in Japan (Tenere is assembled in France and has major build quality issues.) There is homework to be done when buying a bike. Sad but true. No manufacturer can be trusted any more but there is not one Aprilia that can be trusted. The pegaso was a dire machine, you have one and that's your bad luck. I made the same mistake and lost a packet on it because I scrapped it, I would not sell a bike like that to a person in the same position as me.
To say the G650 fails more often is basically a childish response not backed up by any realistic evidence. There is a common fault in the water-pump but that is the older GS, not the X which has a slightly different engine. In fact the XT660 engine is old and crude. Expensive to run and pretty low on power. Ride the new BMW 650gs and see it's quicker and feels lighter even with less bhp, it also delivers an average 30% to 40% better fuel economy than the Peg. Mine is better than that, even when it was restricted to 33bhp when i first got it it was still quicker than the Peg and has not had 1 issue in a year. I'm not thinking of buying a BMW 650gs so have not done a lot of research so don't assume I'm suggeting you buy one.
Looking forward I have an idea we may be seeing a new Pegaso pretty soon. BMW have just brought out a new G650gs, the same exact bike as the old model and the same exact engine my old 95 and cubes were based on. I wouldn't be surprised if a new peg comes out based on this and I will watch with interest.

*Yawn*

I guess we can all go and buy a POS bike from the auctions (that was probably was submerged by its prior owner and dumped there for some unsuspecting individual to get a 'bargain') then take it home and decide it's the worst pile of rubbish on the planet and then spout off how this one machine is the evidence required to prove the entire marque is made of old boots and cheese. Now THAT'S childish.
I don't actually have a soft spot for Aprilia. I just happened to pick one up cheap and it's been good. In fact, absolutely none of the issues others have had has affected mine at all. Sorry about that, I didn't mean to buy a good one and then dare to tell others and disprove your comments..........

So a dud was bought. Who's fault is that? As for comparing these things to a KTM, I agree that's being silly. But if you're after a cheap DP to see if this is the style of bike you're after, it's an inexpensive place to start. Or you could spend more on something else, it's up to you!

No. Learn to read. I have had 5 pegs. The latest one is a dud, they fall to bits due to being built to a cost. Whatever other crap you just spouted came from your head. Do some research and if you're serious about bikes then buy a serious bike. Aprilia don't even take this machine seriously.