Normally I’ d be stressed to find a gas station after having a spirited ride on a full-sized sports bike, but after an afternoon’ s riding on the mighty Papio Racer, I had only used four litres of fuel. The 7-litre tank is good for around 350km. Ridiculous. Pure fun and my wallet is still feeling fat and happy.
DYNAMICS The handling of the Papio, paired with its front fairing and windscreen, meant it was fantastic at holding its speed even uphill, granted I was tucked in flat like a Moto3 racer. All of us on the ride were surprised at the outright performance the Papio had on the other mini bikes. On the downhills, I could start pulling a decent gap to the group, the clip-on style handlebars made it easy to rip around corners quickly. My favourite part of the day was the camaraderie from not only other bikers on the road, but the support of car drivers too. We had so many waves and smiles in just 45 minutes of riding, something you just don’ t get on full-sized bikes. People would help us overtake by slowing down enough for us to crawl past. The support that people have for these little machines is such an awesome feeling. There is some stigma that motorcyclists are a nuisance, loud, ride dangerously and generally wreak havoc, but not with these minibikes. I reckon people simply feel safer around the small bikes, laughing at how ridiculous they are- making other road users happy to see us out and about.
THE PROS OF MINI Beside the benefit of having ridiculously good fuel consumption, cheap insurance, low-cost rego and little tyre wear, these bikes turn every trip into a full on adventure. It would be such a laugh to strap up a group of 125s with luggage and jerry cans and go around the country. They’ re so damn easy to ride and so damn easy to have fun on. New Zealand is full of macho riders who think bigger bikes are better, when I think it’ s the other way around. As the famous Architect Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe famously said,“ Less is More”. The CFMoto Papio lives and breathes‘ Less is More’, not only in its price but its functionality. This bike genuinely caught me by surprise, I didn’ t think it was going to be this good. If you buy one, I’ ll buy one too.
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40 KIWI RIDER