Hands-on with the Hyosung Aquila Pro

The 647cc V-twin purred to life with the most gentle of persuasion, and like every man-child on a monstrous bike, I revved the throttle. You know the kind of revving that hooligans do at traffic signals? Those two-short pulls of the accelerator followed by a satisfied sideways look. Of course I didn’t do the sideways glance, honest! I immediately heard the engine note change instantly from that soft purr to a dignified growl. That’s one of the first things I observed when obvious comparisons started forming in my mind with the 883 Superlow. Unlike its entry-level Harley rival, the Aquila Pro isn’t that throaty.

I couldn’t wait to get on the road with the bike and the ride quality was everything I expected and more. The wide, soft, leather seat, the posture, it all makes you feel like you’re on a moving recliner. Even if you’re not a hulking six foot three bruiser, and are a more moderately proportioned Indian male like me, you still don’t feel stretched out over the bike. The engine responds quickly to the call of the throttle and the belt drive makes for a nice noise-free ride. The Aquila Pro sticks to its cruiser cred to the tee and yet feels zippy enough when you need it to. The bike is more nimble than you’d think. Despite my apprehensions about navigating traffic (especially Pune traffic in this case) weaving through jams was not an issue at all.

So, how does it perform? The bike builds torque steadily and before you can open it up fully you either run out of road or traffic makes you ease up. This juggernaut is rock-steady, grips the road well, and there’s very little vibration.

One of the funniest things with being on the road with a high-end bike is the questions you get asked at pit-stops. From the reasonable “How much does it cost” to the very Indian “How much milage does it give?” Who cares, seriously?

And now for the geeky stuff

Since this is after all a geek’s review there were some interesting discoveries I made on the electronics and gadgetry front. The instrument cluster, though a little tacky, had an indicator for reporting internal errors. The bike has a number of sensors which report problems using error codes. In addition to this the bike can be hooked up to an Android-based diagnostic tool for maintenance and service. Now that’s cool!

Highlights

The BFG Exhaust? Maybe we’re playing too much Quake… The bike is built quite well. And it ought to be, right? At a price tag of close to Rs.6 lacs (approx) it’s not exactly cheap. It is however one of the best deals you will get on high displacement cruisers in the country.

It’s not just about the looks Well it kind of is, and the Aquila Pro does not disappoint. Don’t go by the “Shadow Black” variant we’ve pictured here. The “Lava Red” we got for the test drive was all chrome and glory. The only place where the overall styling falls short is the instrument cluster. Very sparse and no tacho.

Did you say V-Rod? The long flowing lines from the tank to the pillion seat might give you that illusion, but it’s simply because it follows a more modern design philosophy as compared to the more classic and chunky hogs. In fact Hyosung’s own ST7 looks a little dated in front of this sleek beauty.

Powerrrrr! The 647 CC Water Cooled V-twin produces 74 Bhp at 9000 Rpm, making this beast of a machine nimble enough for almost any kind of riding. It will serve up that additional surge of power needed when you feel the urge to pull that throttle all the way.

And with great power comes… …the need to stop in a great hurry on our Indian roads. With dual disks on the front wheel and a single rear disk, you’ll get by without running anyone over. The Bridgestone Battlax BT tyres play their part in stopping you on a dime.

Still, the open road beckons We picked up the bike from a DSK showroom in the heart of Pune and took it straight on to the scenic old highway. The 60 km ride to INS Shivaji let us test the bike on everything from pothole ridden city roads to wide open highways.

 

All good things come to an end
Pretty soon the time came to head back and hand over the bike. But to conclude the bike is certainly worth considering if you want to go beyond the Enfield and don’t have a strong penchant for the Davidson name.