2018 AJP PR7 Adventure – personal ride report
Wow ! wow ! wow ! this is a beautiful adventure motorcycle to look at and ALSO ride. The only real comparison I have is to my Honda XR650L that has a Uni filter free flow air cleaner, fully jetted carb for adventure riding ( not a huge main jet for performance ) and economy, header pipes and a FMF Q4 / FMF Power Core 4 silencer.
There are two models of the PR7, the racier one that goes to the USA ( they actually race them in the USA ) that does not have indicators and is not road legal over there and the standard model that is road legal. The standard version pushes out 48 hp and the USA model pushes out a healthier 60 hp. The model we get into South Africa is the 60hp that is completely road legal and is on the NaTis system already. The USA / SA model has slightly bigger holes in the air intake cap, a differently programmed ECU unit and a complete Doma performance exhaust system that is remarkably very quiet in comparison to my FMF Q4 that I have on my XR650L.
Although on some websites you see it described as a 650 it is only a 600 cc single cylinder that is fuel injected. I like the idea of the tank being under the seat as it made the bike feel very light and ‘ flicky ‘ The motor is from Italy and is made by SWM, a very old name in motorcycling that has been around for many many years. They also produce a 600cc single adventure bike but it does not look anything like the PR7 but more like an old maid.
• The looks are stunning with the new 2018 grafix on, the cherry red wheel hubs, cherry red wide style footpegs, cherry red rear brake lever, cherry red front fork tubes, etc
• The rear of the seat has a PR7 logo embroided into it and it really finishes off the seat neatly. The seat is firm yet extremely comfortable and didn't give me a hassle all the way to Natal and back
• Swinging a leg over the seat you notice straight away that it is lower than the XR650L and ones feet touch the floor a LOT easier.
• Hand controls are laid out well and easily reachable like any good bike these days.
• The clutch and front brake are both hydraulic and the clutch is super light to pull and release
• Once underway pulling the front brake stops you very quickly and I even managed to lock the front wheel on the tar doing a ‘ quick stop ‘ at very slow speed, it certainly opened my eyes. On the XR I am used to really pulling the front brake lever hard to stop quickly but the PR7 needs much less pull to stop the bike really quickly. Great front brakes with a large diameter thick wavy Galfer style disc that looks chic. Rear brakes also have a Galfer style wavy disc on.
• Riding the bike slowly and short shifting ( the Langebaan guys always curse at me for short shifting the XR but it has loads of grunt so does not need high revs to ride it ) was easy and it pulled well if suddenly given a handful of throttle. As the revs rise the demon awakens and it takes off like a rocket. The Doma free flow exhaust does not shout at you and is relatively quiet when running hard. My FMF Q4 on the XR is a lot louder and this is supposed to be the quiet version of the FMF silencer for the XR650L.
• It comes standard with a Android Tablet mounted into the tower which functions as a GPS as well.
• If you had to try to get a KTM 690 or a Husqvarna 701 up to this ‘ adventure ‘ state it would cost a minimum of R35,000.-. Bigger tank, GPS, alu bash plate, rally fairing, wide footpegs, etc, etc
•
https://www.ajpmotos.com/en/models/trail-en/pr7-adventure-600-en/ Dislikes –
- The side stand kicks back up when any weight is taken off it. This is a Euro 4 requirement and is easily remedied by hacksawing off a small pin on the side stand pivot screw. Very easy to do and I will for sure cut mine off. You will see this on a lot of bikes now that have to comply with Euro 4 to be able to sell bikes in various countries with these requirements.
- The rear view mirrors also were attached via a system that you would put on to a bicycle and looked really awful. They are in the process of upgrading these so as to screw on to the clutch & brake lever perches as per any normal bike. The clutch side already has provision to screw the mirror into but the front brake side lacks this. I have changed these already with mirrors that cost R100.- each and one side mirror mount that cost R80.- so not a big problem at all, it is a trivial complaint.
- Not sure how to put on a center stand as the 5mm thick aluminium bash plate covers the entire bottom of the motor. This we will look at and see if there is a solution.
General summary –
This is a bike that you purchase off the showroom floor and need to ADD NOTHING as it has it all. The only thing I need to add is a set of soft luggage racks but that one would need to add to any bike to suit the style luggage one would want to carry.
ALL the parts on the bike are really good quality items from levers to footpegs to bash plate, simply everything.
The dashboard comes with Andriod GPS system and place for two round accessory dials – voltmeter, USB port, Cigarette lighter ?? These you can retro-fit with what you want there. You merely have to cut out these pre-marked roundels.
I used the Oruxmaps app for the tablet GPS but it is an extremely complex app that needs a lot of effort put in to understand it. I am getting better at it but it is still ‘way above my head’ so will still take some time to get used to. I give the tablet an email address and email my pre-planned GPX routes to it which I download onto it. As you then open Oruxmaps it lets you open the GPX route that then shows on the tablet map.
Ride impressions summary –
• The motor is very smooth and not a lot of vibration can be felt if any – I certainly didn’t notice any
• Runs well at low revs and has lots of low end grunt
• Seat height is lower than the XR650L and very comfortable. It has a non-slip covering.
• Soft pull hydraulic clutch that engages well when pulling off from a standing start.
• Side stand Euro 4 specification NOT cool as it retracts if any pressure comes off it like when trying to push the bike. It will wack your shin pretty hard if you do not pay attention. An easily fixable problem
• Bars are at a good height so standing is in the correct position for a rider of 1,85 meters . They are a lot higher than the standard XR650L bars. They are also a nice width to give stability at speed in the rough.
• Digital speedo with fuel gauge, trip meter, large speed read out, neutral light, high beam, flicker warning & total kilometers travelled.
• Two halogen headlights, the dip light with a park light in it and a lensed bright high beam light
• Acerbis hand guards that have an aluminium bar in them to protect the levers properly when falling over
• Twin exhaust port head with Titanium headers
• A combination of square metal tube and moulded aluminium frame
• 17 litre under-seat tank that will take you approx. 350 km at a normal speed. It is still filled up from the normal petrol tank cap area so there is not a problem with having to remove ones luggage to fill the bike each time. On our dirt trip to Natal I got between 24 - 28 km/litre riding between 60 – 90 km/hr
• Cush drive rear hub to stop the jerkiness of the single on the road – it made the ride smooth
• Galfer style wavy discs front & rear that gave the wheel a killer look and really stop you quickly
• Thick 5mm aluminium bash- plate that was very well mounted to the underside of the frame and is easily removable
• Wide footpegs as standard with very good grip lugs for the boot. They have the screw in pins so if it is overkill some can be screwed out to suit.
• Light-weight rear swingarm hollowed out where it crosses from one side to the other to strengthen it.
• Completely clear see through screen that does not get in the way of your sight while sitting on the seat.
• Great quality Domino grips & switches
All in all a great bike that I was VERY impressed with.
Topic: AJP model PR7 - coming to SA (Read 21655 times)
