Why Mana?

Over the past few days that I have been riding the Mana, a lot of coworkers have been asking "what is that fantastic motorbike you own now??". However, a lot of friends of mine have also been asking "why the hell did you buy the Mana?". From their point of view, with the same money I could have bought a motorbike that would have kept a higher value...a BMW, for instance.

It is true that from that point of view, buying a Mana is probably a bet. Aprilias are not famous for keeping a high value when they are sold second hand. And on top of that, the fact that this is an automatic bike, a completely new model, and one whose reliability is not proven yet all add to the potential low value when I sell it. All true: but thinking about this when you buy a new motorbike is like refusing to sleep with a beautiful woman because maybe, in ten years, she will leave you. It only means you lack the passion.

When I was shopping for a new bike to replace the scooter I was using in Brussels, I had a couple of criteria in mind:

• It had to be a motorbike: I had grown tired of the scooter I had bought two years before, very practical and everything. It was great, but it wasn't a motorbike. I am a motorbiker, and I need a motorbike. It is that simple.
• It had to be practical, but not as ugly and as boring as a Honda Deauville. I needed something with space to put my stuff though.

• It had to be funky. It had to had the looks.

I never liked sports bike. I never liked the innatural position your body needs to be in while riding...so I was actually looking either at a new Enduro/supermotard or at an "old style" new bike.

I excluded the enduro option, because I already own a fantastic enduro-style bike, the V-Strom. The perfect bike, if it wasn't for those turbolences which kill my head as of 80 Km/h...I looked at the Yamaha MT-03, which really looks marvellous, but it has a zero score in practicality.

So I was looking in particular at the Triumph Bonneville or the Triumph Scrambler. I was that close to buy the Scrambler, as I had found a bike shop which had a fantastic offer, but then I tried the Mana.

And in spite of the fact that during my test-drive the bike actually broke off, it was love at first sight. A real motorbike, practical, with lot of space, which allows me to go to work without ruining my shoes with the gear pedal, and which has the looks and feels like a real power monster.

I understand: the Mana is probably the motorbike that for its futuristic features is the furthest away from the Triumph Scrambler or the Bonneville. Which are both great bikes, and which sooner or later will find their way to my garage.

But for the moment I am with her.