AJP in the house...

Snagged one This is a demo bike with almost 600 miles on it. Still very clean. Very interesting bike. This is the PR5 and it is bigger then I thought it might be. Pretty much a full sized bike. Lets call it a 9/10th scale bike. Rolling it around it does feel somewhat small and light. Putting it together the first thing that jumps out at me is the high quality. Everything fits nice and has a place. This has some of the cleanest electric routing I have ever seen. For a bike with full switch gear, instrumentation, e-start and EFI and wiring is very clean and well routed making it seem like there hardly is any. I like it. Quality everywhere. Triple clamp is a very nice black ano CNC part as are the bar mounts. Bars are very nice, switchgear is excellent and has lots of light options. Plastic fits perfect and the frame has a purpose built lug for the shroud mount. Lots of very clean features and great fitting parts. Brakes look modern, wheels look nice, spokes are big, hub is nice. Forks are coated and feel good pushing on them. :>) Dash is very nice and even has a neutral indicator. Front brake line and odo wire have a purpose made protector and the line is a thick steel braided one. Bars. levers and brakes feel very modern and nice. Seat is very well built and underside forms the top of the air "box". It has thick padding and the fit and finish is very good. Its odd to take off with an underside quick fastener but it serviceable. The battery, horn, and other stuff is nicely packaged under the left rad shroud as there is no tank there. Very clean and out of the way but EZ to get to. Horn is freaking loud, hope to use that some rads have a fan. Frame is unique and very nicely designed as is the subframe and tank. The tank filler is a very nice billet unit but almost no room to get the can nozzle in there and is at the tip of the tank so hard to see in there and fills quick at top. Works but is awkward. Holds 2 gallons. Motor is nice looking and compact. Looks well designed and the finish on it looks modern. Fits the bike well. The steel part of the frame is larger and more robust looking than I had thought it would be. The stock skid plate is thick plastic and one of the nicest plates I have ever seen. Form fitted around everything. Both brakes wired for brake light and it has a nice small LED tail light that is super bright.

It is dumping rain here today. Crap. I rode it around my house in the rain. So no real report. Motor fires up and runs nice. It is quiet and smooth. Has a nice honk when you get on it but never loud. Bike feels super slim and light. Very tight and purposeful. Feels about like what I figure 27hp would, good but not fast. I'm told the EFI changes maps when fully warm and it gain HP. I dont think I ever got there but even so it felt good. Was not disappointed or blown away. Shifting seems stiff.

So in summary I am VERY happy with the quality of the bike. I was hoping it would be good from the reports but it surpasses my hopes. Time will tell how it works and lasts but initial impressions are very good. Buddy Ken ran over to peep it and was very impressed with the bike and quality as well. Already uttered... "A PR4 would be perfect for my wife" ha ha ha. This bike is built good by any standard not just odd ball bike land. The fit and finish is amazing. The quality is very high, CNC parts are cool. Level of detail like the hardware, mounting tabs, layout, everything, is very good on first inspection. Impressive so far. I already have a small list of improvements ideas to send back to the factory but so far all are small nit picks and choice of finish items but overall I am stoke. Can hardly wait to try it out. Slow down rain.

Picks coming.

Some quick pix...

From The front it looks very Beta.

Cool. It looks like a pretty nice bike. I'll be interested to read a review once you get some more time on the bike. That skid plate looks very TM Design ish. Good stuff. I hope these sell well.

It hasn't rained here for months Kelly. Come on down!

I pulled a 3rd gear wheelie in the rain.

Its like a 449/511's little brother lol

Good call. It kinda is.

Going to take it totally out of its element tomorrow for open high dez. NW gathering. I have 4 miles on it. Like it so far. Want to get it in the tight mountains before I have a real report.

I flogged it for 130 miles this weekend. Loved it. Full report coming.

So quick report. This is going to sound like a sales rave because the bike continues to exceed my expectations. First off the quality is top knotch. This is not play bike or chinese type bike. Not at all. This is a well thought out, great fitting and well detailed purposeful machine. Build quality is as good or better than many top name manufactures. No BS here.

So I got a good ride in. Took it completely out of its element and into the faster open deep sandy whoops of central oregon for the NW husky gathering. Also brought my amazing ZipTy suspended TE511 which I figured Id ride 95% of the time with the AJP sat by the fire getting talked about. Turn out the silly little AJP had something more in mind for me. I ended up doing 130 miles on it and only rode the 511 for one ride.

Looking it over:

Like I said, fit and finish are amazing. Everything has a place and is well laid out. Purposeful and well designed or spec'ed. Bike is top quality. Black anodized CNC top clamp and bar mounts, nice dash, great looking frame, plastic fits perfect, nitrate coated forks... etc. Top quality. No play bike.

Initial impressions:

200 yards out of camp I was feeling like i was riding a good bike with a briggs&stratton 5hp motor. Was kinda disappointed and thought this bike would see no miles in the whooped out deep gravel and sand filled power sucking wonderland. Then I remember the importer telling me it had three pams, a start up map, a worm up map and a full running map which takes about 10 minutes to get to and needs a fully wormed motor. Between realizing I am on a 27hp lower spec 250cc 4 stroke and not my 250 2st or my rocket of a 511 and the need to keep it in the upper 1/3rd of the RPM and the warm up map switching over I started to get it and found my self moving right along. As I held it open a lot, almost seeming like abuse the bike just started working. Wow, I'm hauling pretty good now. Starting to really like it.

Overall feel of the bike:

Super light and nimble feeling. Like makes 125's feel cumbersome type feeling. Makes the trail seem 2x as wide and so crazy fun. So EZ to toss around, repick lines mid corner, etc. Everything works great and is right where it should be.

Ergonomics:

Feels great. For a smaller bike it has a great layout. Many people rode it from 5'-8" 165 pounds to 6'-4" probably 260 and all liked it. I had several 50 miles rips on it and zero issue here. Yeah it is small but very comfortable. Super EZ to move around on and soooo slim. Nice bars, seat, pegs. So freaking slim and small feeling. Love it. Makes other bikes, even 125's seem big and goofy after riding it.

Motor:

Seems weak but really is not. I thought I was flying on it friday when out by myself getting to know it and taking pix etc. But was I? Wil no other bike referance it was hard to tell. Saturday met up with a bunch of guys from this board and did a ride. Ended up myself and Chad, Excuvators son in law dicing it up up front all day. He was a pretty fast guy on a WR300. We were tire to tire all day. He could gap me some ont he open up hill HP stuff and i'd be right back on him once we hit a few corners. In the end the motor was enough to hand with full sized powerful bikes you just had to use the strengths to your advantage to make up where the motor was lacking. I abused this bike all weekend. Thrashed it hard. Never once complained. Never got hot, never ran odd, fan never came on etc. Always started instantly with the touch of the starter button, hot, cold (32 and snowing sunday morning to 65 and sunny). Not one complaint or issue with the more. EFI work fine, really zero issues. Does not ideal as smooth as I would like but that nit picking. Very hard to stall and no EFI pop and stall or any issues.

Handling:

Best handling bike I have ever rode. Period. The small size, semi light weight (which feels way lighter than it is), geometry and suspension conspire to make this bike an amazing handling machine. Stable at speed, super nimble, crazy flickable, and excellent suspension make one amazing bike. I have NEVER had such high corning speed. The limits are hard to find. I was predictably sliding the front wheel through corners. Never had the nerve to do this with such regularity. Mid corner adjustments were never EZer. makes 125's feel like a tank. Made my much loved and well sorted for this area TE511 feel like a XR650 pulling a trailer. Flat out amazing.

Suspension:

Borderline perfect. The importer had told me these are very good suspened bikes. Man he was not kidding. The fork is a nitrate coated Sachs affair. Never seen or ridden them before. I'll take them on all my bike now please. I was raving to a friend about them Sunday before our ride. He did not believe me. He has ridden my ZipTy 511 and knows I love good suspension. He rode it and like me was in shock. Plush, controlled, do it all, no surprises. I know the low power and small bike have a lot to do with this but the suspension is well sorted and is ether the best or very close to the best stock suspension I have ever tried. Those guys have it well sorted from the factory. A huge range of riders rode it and were all impressed. Kevin with his fancy new Beta 250 rode it and said the same thing. In fact it felt a lot like his Beta suspension and Tim Troffers New TE250 husky suspension. Not good for a budget play bike but good for any bike. In fact great.

Pros:

- Fit, finish and amazing build quality
- Super EZ to ride and have a ball on
- Amazing suspension
- Best handling bike ever. Pick lines on the fly you never thought were possible.
- So EZ to live with. Comfortable, small, everything works nice, controls are right there, just a great EZ to love layout.
- Willing motor that seems to like a good beating.
- Excellent brakes

Cons:

- Kick stand flops around busting fast whoops at 40 mph. I don't think the designers designed this for this type of thrashing.
- Fuel filler is small, hard to reach and at the top of the tank where it fills super quick once it gets there. Cumbersome.
... thats all I can think of.

Summery:

The bike is FAR better than I had hoped. I'm stoked. The fit and finish are amazing. The suspension and handling are top notch. The feel of the bike when riding is totally fun and inspiring. These AJP guys have hit the mark. Its a much better bike than the price or pictures or spec's can tell you. Ride one.

Everyone who rode it loved it. Kevin was all giddy after trying it. Buddy on sunday with a KTM250 fell in love with it and did not want to give it back. He said the suspension and handling were the best he had ever ridden and loved the motor too. I kinda thought it might throw some people off like a 125 can do and they not understand how to ride it. It has what from my perspective and a mellow motor, and with the small size though people might not get it right away. Everyone loved it immediately. Its a great bike. Top quality fit and finish, amazing handling and suspension, 2 year warranty, EFI, e-start, etc... WINNER.

Yeah I am involved so take my report with a grain of salt. Go ride one, I think you will be as stunned as I am. Not just a great play bike but a great bike period.

I could tell from your giggling and thumbs up. Thanks for letting me try your most excellent Beta. Nice bike.