Aprilia MOTO 6.5

IN the 1990s, when designers became demi-gods, it was no surprise that adventurous Aprilia should commission the pre-eminent doodler of that decade, Philippe Starck, to design a bike.

The result attracted great interest and large amounts of column inches outside the specialist press and alerted a raft of people to the new acceptability of motorcycles and motorcycling. People who, by and large, couldn’t tell a crankshaft from a kettle.

Old-school motorcyclists were less impressed with the ovoid forms and wilful use of funky old technology like high-profile rubber, wire-spoked wheels and even quaint grey-sleeved cables.

It was compact, light and handled sweetly in tight town traffic. But it didn’t quite make it. Chiefly because it was a single-cylinder machine when bulk sales were being made in fours.

It was also self-consciously ” styled ” at a sensitive time when most bikers were just about giving up waxed-cottons for Alpinestars. It was a bit ahead of its time and just a bit too contrived for 1995.