AJP PR7 Ride Report & Factory visit

AJP PR7 – Made in Portugal  –  

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, the racier one that goes to 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 only model they had for me to ride was
the USA model BUT it was roadworthy with indicators on. The USA 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. On the standard version
exhaust system the back piece is removable and I am VERY sure this will already
make a big difference to the claimed 48hp that the standard bike pushes out.
One has to be careful as to open the exhaust completely will destroy the bike
as the ECU will have to be re-programmed to work with the opened up silencer .

  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 but I have not sat in
it long enough to give an opinion of a whole day on top of it, that will come
later.

•             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 ‘, 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 disc that looks chic. Rear brakes also have a Galfer wavy
disc on.

•             Wide
style footpegs  as standard

•             Cush
drive on the rear wheel as standard

•             Fuel
Injection via a Delphi 45mm system

 •            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.

•             The ‘ hop
up kit ‘ is available and consists of  –
slightly bigger holed air intake cap, a differently programmed ECU unit and a
complete Doma performance exhaust system with catalytic converter sensor . The
price is not bad at Euro 895.-.

•             Standard
tyres are Continental TKC 80 front & rear

•             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

 

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 hack sawing off a small pin on the side
stand pivot screw. Very easy to do and I will for sure cut mine off.

–              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. It’s certainly something I can live with as 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.

 

When I was in the factory I saw them putting a PR7 together.
It just had the motor and the frame together at that stage  – a very small family style business with
lots of attention to details

 

official website – http://www.ajpmotos.com/en/#     

 

Bike with Doma Performance exhaust system ( the one that we
get here in South Africa ) – this is the exact bike I rode. I tried to get a
ride on the standard bike to compare but they did not have one unfortunately.

 

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 with
Andriod GPS system and place for two round dials – voltmeter, USB port,
Cigarette lighter ??  They are talking
about changing to the Samsung tablet for the next delivery of bikes.

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

•             Seat
height is lower than the XR650L and very comfortable

•             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 ( me ) 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 part ( not part of the tablet ) , rev counter, fuel gauge, trip meter,
large speed read out, oil light, neutral light & 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

•             Fuel
injected 600 cc single cylinder motor

•             Twin
exhaust port head

•             A
combination of metal trellis and moulded aluminium frame

•             48 mm
Sachs suspension front and Sachs rear shock – both fully adjustable compression
and rebound damping

•             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 luggage to fill
the bike each time.

•             Continental
TKC 80 tyres fitted front and rear – there is talk of changing these to full Motocross
knobby but my impression was that it was just that ‘ talk ‘

•             Cush
drive rear hub to stop the jerkiness of a single on the road – it made the ride
smooth

•             Galfer
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

•             Comes
standard with the Android tablet to be used as a GPS. I need to do some further
studies on this as I am not sure how to plot a route and get it onto the tablet
– more later on.

•             Wide footpegs
as standard with very good grip lugs for the boot

•             Light
weight rear swingarm

•             Completely
clear see through screen that does not get in the way of your sight while
sitting on the seat.

•             Great
quality Domino grips and switches