100 MPG Madness, Project Aprilia SR50- Brakes, Bling and Suspension

The front carbon fiber fender is from PM Tuning in the UK. The fender is actually from the previous generation SR50 and needs to be fitted and mounting holes drilled for the late model SR. This is actually pretty easy.

More bling was added with a PM Tuning carbon front fender. PM Tuning is a Scooter tuning shop in the UK but we just happened to find the fender in a web search. International mail order or web shopping is surprisingly cheap nowadays so we usually don’t mind getting parts from Europe.

The aluminum Euro spec variator cover looks tons better than the butt ugly plastic cover found on US models. You can get these mail order from European parts houses. Get the cover from the previous generation Morini engined SR50’s.

The stock variator-transmission cover on US model SR50’s are ugly. They are huge and bulky and molded to look like a cheesy superbike one sided swingarm. In other words they really make the back of the SR50 look ugly. We fixed that by ordering a Euro spec SR50 cover. The Euro spec part is made of cast aluminum meaning it can be polished or powdercoated as you please. It also has a much slimmer sleeker profile. The cover does much to clean up the looks at the back of the bike. It really makes a huge difference and is one of the best cosmetic mods we have done to date.

The hideous looking plastic lawnmower shroud bulky plastic cover. The fact that it is molded to look like a cheesy single sided superbike swing arm is even lamer.

The stock shock leave much to be desired. Although it is a real shock with hydraulic damping, it is not up to snuff when it comes to high speed riding. On a scooter much of the riders weight is directly over the rear of the bike so the shock is very critical to how the bike handles. The SR50 is a very good handling scooter, probably the best handling scooter we have ridden but when hitting high speeds, if a large bump or dip is encountered, the rear suspension bottoms and you can end up doing a flying W. Not good. The soft rear shock is always bottoming out or wallowing under hard cornering.

Look how the Euro spec cover really cleans up and slims down the back of the bike. We will cover tuning for the air intake shown in our next feature on the bike. The back of the bike looks 100% better now.

The solution was pretty simple, we got an Aprillia racing shock designed by the factory especially for the SR50 from AF1 racing. The racing shock has adjustable spring preload, a much stiffer spring, more sophisticated shock valving and is gas charged with a remote reservoir just like an Ohlins or something. The Aprillia racing shock is an order of magnitude better than the stock part and really improves the riding and handling. If you weight more than 180 lbs this shock should be mandatory.

The Aprilia racing shock has twice the piston area, a stiffer spring, adjustable spring preload, gas charging and a remote reservoir. It works an order of magnitude better than the stock shock.

With our new shock, our bike corners solidly and turns in much better. The mid turn wallow is gone and it makes us feel like dropping a knee. Handling on rough roads and on big bumps is a lot better and our scooter feels solid like a big bike.