underseat exhaust design. It sounds great for a stock exhaust and complements the bike’ s overall look very well.
CHANGE OF SCENE The Papio Racer is the first mini bike I’ ve ever spent much time on after riding full-sized motorcycles for the last few years. I do have a passion for scooters and mopeds, so I was interested to see how it would fare against its automatic alternatives. My initial impression was that it’ s very punchy. The fuelling is good and the throttle is nice and responsive. Having a six-speed gearbox means it’ s super-easy to get the little engine up to flowing traffic speed around town and still have a taller gear for lower rpm cruising. It’ s size means its very quick to zip between lanes and so easy to find a cheeky parking space. All of the controls on the bike are easy to use, from the super light clutch and smooth gear changes to the brakes( which are pretty good for a bike so cheap). The ABS works well enough to not override the braking when you still have traction. I like the dash, with the big tacho, digital speed readout and … wait for it … a fuel
gauge! On top of that, it’ s got a gear indicator – some say that’ s not that necessary but I love having one, it’ s also great for learner riders.
MARAUDING PACK After spending a week boosting around city streets and commuting on it, I organised a ride from Hamilton to Raglan with a bunch of mini bike enthusiasts. There were six of us on bikes ranging from early Honda Groms, brand new CT125s, a big bore 190 Honda Monkey and the CFMOTO Papio Racer( and I can’ t forget the brave 600cc supersport biker who tagged along). Fuelled up and excited, the mini-bike pack hit the open road. Little did we realise how much fun we were going to have. All the way from each set of lights, twisty backroads and wide open Highway 23, we raced each other, slipstreaming each other the whole way. It was such an exciting ride, reminiscent of the Wacky Races, yet we didn’ t once break the speed limit. We couldn’ t quite crack beyond the 100km / h out of town limit! It was so entertaining only just squeaking past the other little bikes, full-on thrills while using only two litres of petrol.
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