Aprilia SXR 160 long term review, third report

The Aprilia SXR 160’s time in the Autocar garage has been rather action packed over the last couple of months. In between hopping from one test motorcycle to another, I’ve been regularly commuting to the office on this scooter. All this while, the SXR has proven itself to be a good urban runabout, but when the occasion to go collect a motorcycle in Pune presented itself, I didn’t shy away from covering the 340km round trip on my SXR.

SMOOTHER STILL: Engine feels notably smoother after an oil change.

At first, I had my apprehensions about sitting on a scooter with the throttle wide open for the most part of the highway journey. The fact that I had blissfully snoozed past my wake-up time on that day didn’t help either, so riding at a sedate pace to reach my destination on time was out of question. Thankfully, the SXR had no issues with me riding at a quick pace, a feeling cemented by how refined the engine felt, sometimes even at full clip. That being said, I wish the scooter had a little more top-end performance, as that would’ve made it possible for me to sit at 100-110kph with ease. With the way things were, a 90kph cruise was the last point of comfort.

FULL STOP: Braking stays consistent, even when descending ghats.

The small windscreen came in handy in deflecting some head-on wind and the ergonomics were pretty relaxed for the three hours it took to get to Pune. However, I had to stop, step off the seat and relieve my aching derrière, halfway through the journey. The seat is definitely not comfortable for spending a long time in the saddle. That aside, I enjoyed the trip to Pune. The icing on top was the respectable 33kpl that the scooter managed, even with the throttle held to the stop for long periods.

EYE SPY: Recessed key slot can be hard to locate in the dark.

All that intra and intercity mile munching meant it was soon time for the scooter’s first service since it joined our fleet. And the whole experience turned out to be pretty smooth. The Aprilia authorised service centre completed the vehicle check-up, oil and oil filter change within a couple of hours, and while at it, also fixed the ignition key slot issue that we’d reported about earlier. The fault was traced to a loose key switch that sits behind the key slot and was replaced under warranty. Total cost of service? Rs 885 – not bad!

PASS STICK: Rocker-style pass switch is cumbersome to use.

Post service, the SXR has been running without any issues and I’m glad it’s in a good condition as I handed over the keys to Zaran who has now taken over the ownership of the scooter. Meanwhile, I’ve hopped on to the eco-friendly Ather 450X as my daily. That means it’ll be the end of long-distance trips on a scooter for me. Sigh!