Aprilia Pegaso 650
Aprilia Pegaso – An Italian revenge that initially seemed like a very good purchase.
Since the Pegaso shares most of its parts with the BMW GS 650, it would be logical to expect the same quality and reliability as its German counterpart. But that would be without taking into account the Italian design and sense for beautiful, but often impractical things. Despite the 650cc Rotax engine being manufactured on the same production line, “Luigi” had an espresso, and since it was his fifth cup that day, he said: “Mama mia! Let’s add a fifth valve.” Then he had two cigarettes and suddenly exclaimed: “Un tavolo per due!” So he added a second carburetor. And anyone who remembers how difficult it was to adjust a Jikov on two cylinders of a 350cc knows that adjusting two carburetors on one cylinder is an even bigger nightmare.
After the first trip to the Balkans, Pablo’s Pegaso became the subject of ridicule, and dozens of jokes featuring the Italian winged horse emerged. Since then, no trip went without repairs to this machine. When it wasn’t the carburetor acting up, the regulator would burn out. In short, with each outing, Pablo carried more and more tools and spare parts.
It would probably have continued to the point where he would have carried an entire spare motorcycle, a service vehicle, grown a thin mustache, and started speaking fluent Italian. Fortunately, this didn’t happen because one fine day in Prague’s Žižkov district, this hellish machine was stolen from him. No one, including the summoned police officer, believed that such a thing could happen.
It seemed that the Italian nightmare was over. But! One rainy autumn morning, Lieutenant Colonel Moučka called Pablo to say that his Pegaso had been found!
Pablo rushed to congratulate the police on their excellent work, but when he discovered that the thief had preferred to leave the Aprilia in the middle of fields where it had stood for weeks before our gendarmerie heroically found it, he was taken aback.
Pablo would have continued riding happily (or rather unhappily), but the bureaucratic red tape intervened. The motorcycle had its VIN number ground off, which meant that despite being roadworthy and functional, it couldn’t be on the road. Stamping and restoring the VIN would cost almost as much as a new motorcycle, so Pablo sadly wiped away a tear and declared: “Never again!”
And he pushed the motorcycle off a cliff.
