Aprlia is a brand that has always flown a little under my radar. I don’t have anything against the Italian marque, but, equally, it doesn’t produce much that sparks my interest. To me, it’s something of an ‘also this’ brand. I feel like it’s spent the last decade or so producing nothing but indistinguishably different Tuonos and RSV4s.
As best I can tell, in all the years I’ve been running this site, I have only once written about an Aprilia before now – way back in 2013. Interestingly, the bike I wrote about then is the one I’m writing about now. In my early days of riding in the UK I was intrigued by the idea of motorcycles with automatic transmissions and included the Mana 850 in the very short list of bikes equipped with that feature.
These days, the CVT-equipped Mana might spark rider interest – automatic transmissions are kind of a thing at the moment – but 12 years ago, it was a dead-in-the-water idea. By the time I was writing about the bike it had already been pulled from the UK market. Maybe this is my chance to see what we were all missing.
What the ad says
“Aprilia Mana 850 Low Mileage – Only 14531 miles from new Owners Manual Service Book Documented Service History 2 Keys GPR Exhaust Tinted Screen Fake Tank Storage Grab Rail Braided Lines 12 Months MOT“
That’s a pretty no-nonsense description, and one that would be difficult for an AI to read (it wouldn’t know where to pause), but I suppose it tells you most of what you need to know. The seller conveniently doesn’t offer any pictures of the bike’s registration, so I’m not able to do a check of the bike’s MOT history but the presence of a documented service history is promising.
Well, probably. It depends on how extensive that service history is.
The pictures suggest a bike that’s been reasonably well taken care of. There’s some rust but no more than I’d expect from a bike that was manufactured when Adele was still an unknown. Certainly less than on my bike. The chain looks brand new, meanwhile, and relatively wide chicken strips on the tires suggest it’s not a bike that’s been ridden hard.
Scratches on the right fairing suggest the bike’s kissed the ground at some point, but a simple drop is something that most bikes experience. Nothing else appears to be damaged or to have been obviously replaced in the wake of a proper spill, so it was probably just a parking lot touchdown kind of thing.
What is it?
Noale, Italy-based Aprilia has been manufacturing two-wheeled conveyances for roughly 80 years but it was not until 1968 that they had engines. That was when Ivano Beggio took over his father’s bicycle company and decided to go big. He started with mopeds but in 1970, Aprilia put forward its first motorcycle, the 50cc Scarabeo.
Through the 1970s, ’80s, and ’90s the company had a kind of split personality, offering up a mix of scooters and small-capacity sportbikes, and trials/enduro bikes. It was not until around the turn of the century – roughly at the same time that it bought out Moto Guzzi and Laverda – that Aprilia started producing ‘big’ bikes, like 1998’s RSV Mille. It also produced the RST1000 Futura sport tourer and Caponord adventure bike – motos that I’ve heard reasonably good things about but have never seen in person.
Those latter bikes were part of an apparent attempt to expand company appeal in the early 2000s, an effort which, arguably, didn’t work as well as hoped; the company fell into Piaggio’s hands in 2004. It has remained a part of the Piaggio family ever since.
Aprilia manufactured the Mana 850 from 2007 to I don’t know when. The bike left the UK market in 2011 but was still on sale in the United States when I wrote about it in 2013. Described by MCN as a “half-scooter, half motorcycle designed to be the bike for all occasions,” the Mana 850 was driven by an 839cc liquid-cooled V-twin delivering a respectable 75 horsepower and 57 lb-ft of torque.
The bike’s Unique Selling Point, however, was the fact that it features a continuously variable transmission (CVT), automatically switching gears in the style of a scooter. For those who want more control, the bike’s Sportgear setting allows riders to click through the its seven gears via buttons on the left grip. All very similar to the sort of thing Honda offered a few years later with its NC700 series (now NC750).
Like Honda’s DCT-equipped NC bikes, the Mana 850 has a storage compartment where the gas tank is usually located. The compartment is big enough to hold a helmet – or several burritos. The bike also comes equipped with a 12v socket, which was hugely forward-thinking for the time. Equally progressive is the presence of three riding modes: Sport, Touring, and Rain.
Reviews of the bike at the time were positive, but its unique nature seemed to count against it.
“If you’re after a real ‘do-it-all’ bike, something that’s as easy to ride as a scooter commuting in the week and is as fun as a motorcycle at weekends, the Aprilia Mana 850 is excellent value,” observed MCN. “But as a motorcycle just for the commute or just for pleasure it’s not such a good proposition. There are far cheaper and more exciting roadsters out there for having fun on and cheaper scooters to ride to work on.”
Is it better than my current motorcycle?
I kind of like the aesthetic. It doesn’t make me drool, but I’d place it a few points above my 2012 Kawasaki Versys 1000. In addition, that chain looks brand new. And I’ll bet it sounds nice with its aftermarket exhaust. But, no, this 17-year-old motorcycle is not really better than my 13-year-old motorcycle.
Admittedly, my bike does not have built-in storage, but it is more comfortable (probably), more powerful, has a few more rider aids (eg, antilock brakes and traction control), and is easier to find parts for.
That said, Aprilias of this era generally have good reputations (their “engines tend to be bullet-proof” says MCN) and, although Mana 850 owners are a little hard to find, the internet suggests they are happy with their machines.
Should I buy this one?
Uhm, I think I’ll pass. That’s a decision that probably reflects badly on me, because my objection to the bike is just sort of a gut thing. I don’t have any particularly good reasons. The intangibles just aren’t there.
And, although I kind of like the idea of automatic bikes (and I especially like the idea of any bike that has a transmission better than my current bike’s clunky gearbox), I haven’t encountered one that I really enjoyed. The exception to that statement comes in the performance of gearless electric motorcycles, which have regenerative braking that mimics the engine braking of a V-twin.
If you want to tell me I’m missing out, though, I won’t argue.
“These bikes are not only incredibly good, but, because they are largely overlooked, they are an absolute used bargain,” declares one owner’s five-star review.
This particular example looks to be in good shape and is being sold by a dealership that appears to have a good reputation (KH Motorcycles in Market Harborough). But, still… nah. Not for me.
If this were a Mana 850 GT, however – the exact same bike but with half-fairing – I might, might, might be more interested. Especially since 2011 and later models had ABS.
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