Italjet Dragster
I know the word "dragster" conjures up 0-60 times at your local drag meet,
but put away all thoughts of going fast, especially whilst in stock form.
This became immediately evident in my first "restricted" ride. I was
cruising at 50 mile an hour and congratulating myself on having a faster
"scoot" than my fellow editor. Unbeknownst to my good self, it was actually
50 KPH (30 mph) and I had a traffic jam behind me that had to be seen, to
be believed. Now, I can exaggerate with the best of them, but I probably
had 15 cars racked up behind me. As soon as the two-lane road appeared,
it wasn't friendly waves, it was at least 15 middle fingers to confirm
my progress. The major point about the Dragster, is its unique look.
Styling is from the same pen as Miguel Galluzzi… yes, the same Argentinean
who designed the
Ducati Monster, ciao baby! The trellis frame is oh so
similar to a
Ducati counterpart and was a major draw to Ducatisti.
The
Italjet looked the part, but unfortunately didn't go the part,
having smaller tires than the
Aprilia meant it struggled, gearing-wise
to hang with the SR. It might get the slight jump on acceleration from
standstill, but the SR always pulled it with at least a 5 mph difference.
Handling was better than the
Aprilia though, right down to knee drag angles,
although, like the
Aprilia, judicious hanging off was necessary to avoid
dragging hardware. Instrumentation was similar to the
Aprilia, but with a
fuel light instead of level indicator.
Never mind stock, what about the go fast bits?
Obviously these scoot's are big in Italy, so who to turn to for tuning
bits was immediately obvious.
Malossi is a big name in hop-up parts for
these psuedo racers. The local importer for
Malossi was NY based, but
we managed to track down a fruit loop in California, who goes by the
name of Kregg Williams. Now Kregg runs
Californian Speedsports, he's
been there, seen it, and done it, as far as hopping up Minerelli engined
scooters are concerned. Kregg kindly sent us some "stuff" to feed our
speed habit.
Yeah, but what did you get?
Well,
we received two of everything. 65cc big bore kits, 22mm carburetors
(up from 12mm), straight cut final drive gears, adjustable variators,
Arrow performance exhaust systems and beefy drive belts to
manage the explosive power delivery we were hoping for. In order
to address the speed differential (due to the aforementioned tire
circumference) we also got an overdrive kit for the Dragster.
Installation of the
Malossi parts was pretty much straight forward.
Take a stock part off. Replace it with the appropriate hop-up part.
Trial and error is called for, with reference to the variator, a system
of weighted pulleys to achieve a low enough gear to pull away and maintain
drive at the optimum RPM. We had to adjust ours several times, well worth
the extra effort to set up right though.
So now they're perfect, right?
You betcha. Kinda sorta. Power is addictive, and the
Malossi kit
offered the ultimate fix. The bikes are more pipey now and have lost
that soft and cuddly edge. Acceleration is pretty quick and will see
off any traffic from a standstill. The scoot's pull fairly hard up to
about 40, tail off a tad, and then pull again up to about 65 - 70mph.
They are a little noisier, but not too much. They have sort of lost
their fluffy exhaust note and are now leaning towards that purposeful,
but angry, bee sound. They require a little more attention and a fresh
spark plug every then and now. Power jumped to around 9BHP.
Conclusion?
This is the handy bike to have in your garage, that'll stop you racking
up miles on your favorite steed. There is a definite danger of it becoming
your favorite steed though. As far as performance mods and your bank balance
are concerned, buyer beware. Bride on a budget? Exhaust and variator.
Donald Trump style taste? Buy everything.
So, which one is the better scoot?
The
Aprilia is easiest to find and buy. The
Italjet takes effort. (
Aprilia 1 -
Italjet 0).
The
Italjet is easy to work on, due to the open trellis frame. The
Aprilia takes time and the patience of a saint. (
Aprilia 1 -
Italjet 1).
The
Aprilia is fast. The
Italjet isn't. (
Aprilia 2 -
Italjet 1).
The
Aprilia looks good. The
Italjet tops it on style and handling. (
Aprilia 2 -
Italjet 2).
The
Aprilia has absolutely superb build quality. The
Italjet is a little bit "iffy" in places . (
Aprilia 3 -
Italjet 2).
The
Aprilia can be had for less than three grand. The
Italjet three and a half.
The
Aprilia gets it by 4 to 2.
But if you're a fruit loop, you'll buy the Dragster.
Hey, I did.
