I was fortunate enough to be offered the opportunity to use an AJP SPR 310r for a four day Coast to Coast trip with a group of riders from one of the northern England Trail Riders Fellowship groups.
AJP UK supplied the bike via their dealer MHB Motorcycles, based in Kirkby Stephen, Cumbria. We agreed a few minor changes from the stock bike and added a couple of accessories for the trip. Before we get into that though, a little bit of history for the SPR 310r bike.
AJP is a small family motorbike manufacturer based in Portugal. All of the build work is done by their workforce in-house, so in essence the bikes are hand built. The engines come from the original Husqvarna bikes, (Before KTM bought them out). AJP buy the latest generation, then couple them with the Athena fuel injection/ECU set up. The frames and swing arm are an in-house design and the main components are all supplied by quality manufacturers, such as Brembo for the brakes, Sachs for the suspension, Acerbis for the fuel tank and plastics etc.
The bike itself is the latest generation of the their discontinued PR5 bikes, with some significant upgrades and design changes. The PR5 was water cooled, so is the SPR 310r. This made it a little more expensive to buy than the other bikes in the range such as the PR3 and PR4.
The PR5 was generally built to a budget and keeping in mind the fact that AJP is a small manufacturer and as such needs to manage it's cashflow carefully to stay alive, they used quality components bought in as opposed to designed and built in-house. (An example of this was the Zongshen 250 engine used in these bikes, an engine that is used by a lot of European bike manufacturers). The current AJP SPR 250 still uses that engine.
I can only guess at the conversations around the boardroom table with regards to the rebranding of the bike range, but the result is now available to buy. The PR7 is the premier bike of the AJP brand, built as an adventure bike straight out of the box. The SPR 510r & 310r share components from this bike, such as the fuel injection system, the swing arm etc etc. What they also share is a quality finish to round off the design specs. AJP have decided to move the goal posts in terms of build quality and the SPR bikes and PR7 leads that charge. So, onto the SPR 310r review from a rider's point of view.
First impressions:
When I first saw the bike coming out of its crate direct from Portugal, I liked the look of the bike. I've ridden KTM's as my main personal bikes for a few years now, alongside this, I've also managed to ride just about every other make and model of bike whilst out with friends. I understand what makes a good dirt bike and to my eye, the bike just looked 'right'. We put it together and rode it around the forecourt to get a feel for the engine. At the time we had both a 250 and the 310r built, so it was easy to ride them back to back.
The 310r felt punchier, had more grunt and sounded a little more raucous than the quieter and smoother 250. The front wheel lofted in several gears and the brakes felt sharp. The geometry of the bike had me feeling a little cramped at first, but on a longer 100 mile ride around the Dales, it soon felt comfy, albeit my knees felt a little higher than on a KTM
The gearing was very definitely set for a track. 1st to 4th were so short, I was through in seconds and spent most of the day in 5th & 6th on trails and roads.
Coast to Coast trip:
We planned to ride the bike out and was lucky enough to get involved with a local TRF organised 4 day ride. So, with this in mind, we decided to make some changes to the bike for such a trip.
First up was discussions about the gearing for longer road stretches, after plenty of debate and research online, we settled for 13 up front 48 on the rear. This gave us a longer 1st to 3rd and a top speed of 60 miles per hour on the tarmac.
Next up was additions. We added a pull strap to the front of the bike in case it got stuck somewhere, hand guards to protect levers etc, we then added some tie down loops to the rear tank, both on the sides and underneath. Next up was a GPS to navigate with and finally was luggage options. Here we started with a drybag on the back for a tent, but it soon proved to be damaging to the rear plastics, so we swapped to an over the saddle bag, the Giant Loop Coyote, which worked excellently for the last three days of the trip.
Over the four days, we clocked up just over 800 miles. The terrain was a good mix of all types of roads, 'green lanes', river crossings, steep ascents, steep descents and plenty of tarmac, where the bike would be sitting at 50 - 60 mph for long periods of time. So first up the positives.
Riding Position/Ergonomics
When I first sat on the bike, it felt a little cramped, (coming from a KTM 690, that is not surprising I guess). My knees felt high and I had to adjust my sitting position accordingly. Over time, this became a non issue and I found the seated position to be comfortable over longer days.
The saddle was comfy, which was a nice touch after using KTM saddles, (which are like planks on every bike I've ridden to date). The filler cap for the rear tank in mounted at the rear of the saddle. This meant that if you stretched back a bit, you were actually sat on the cap, which is uncomfortable, but sit forward and it's a pleasure to sit on.
The handlebars, levers, clock and switches all felt good, with no odd stretches needed to reach anything. I still haven't figured out all of the settings for the clocks, but with a GPS, I didn't need to really.
The footpegs were superb. Both comfortable to stand on for long periods and also in terms of weighting the bike to change direction when needed.
On the whole, the bike felt as right as it looked whilst on the move.
Plastics, Frame etc
The quality of the plastics stands out from the get go with this bike. The decals are great quality and they showed no sign of marks or damage after the trip. The rear fender suffered a little from the weight of the drybag on the back for the first day. Every time I hit a rocky section at speed or bounced over a step, the weight of the bag would bend the rear fender until the rather large standard number plate finally broke off the bottom quarter when caught on the tyre. You can see a small crease where the plastic fuel tank ends and the tail piece continues. That said, it didn't break at all on the first day after 145 miles of bouncing. I swapped to an over the seat bag that night, which removed the issue.
The paintwork on the frame just stands out as a great finish. You rarely see this level of paintwork on a dirt bike and the cherry red is a colour I really like.
The bash plate is made from HDPE, so plastic. This is quieter than an alloy plate and the design protects the majority of the engine and frame, which is great. We had some shape changing at the bit that sits behind the exhaust header pipe. No doubt heat distortion. As a personal thing, I would like to explore longer protection piece for the rear linkage, but that is for the future.
Engine and Fuel Injection
The engine/fuel injection is lovely, it's perky, responsive and gives a good kick of power just when you want it. I found I could pootle in 1st up and over some rocky steps or through a ford, then kick it up to third for a boost of uphill before heading to 6th for some tarmac. The mapping on the Athena seemed to be about right for all things. None of this trip really pushed the bike hard, so it will be heading to a motocross track sometime soon for a blast and maybe to an enduro somewhere to. So time will provide more info on this setup. One thing for sure is, the package is versatile and agile. Weight distribution of the whole lump feels low down too, which is a good thing for trail riding as it helps with changing direction, jumping ruts etc plus riders often get caught out and drop the bike, meaning picking it up. If the weight is higher up, that becomes an issue. Especially if the bike is handlebars down off an embankment or something. At no point on the trip did I need any help to pick up the bike. To me that is a good thing!
Suspension
All round is the Sachs ZF suspension with 300mm of travel and good adjustability. With the bike loaded up, it actually felt pretty balanced with the stock suspension settings. on the first day, the suspension felt nice, but a little on the hard side. This softened up as the miles clocked up and I can safely say the suspension quality was one of my favourite things about this bike. It soaked up the rough ground, let you loft the front wheel as needed and saved my bacon a few times when I overcooked it a bit!
The rear shock is mounted to a rear linkage setup, this took a bit of a bashing as I hoiked the bike over some fallen logs and a horse gate en-route. Not sure if the bash plate could be extended to protect this a little. This is a feature on a lot of bikes available these days, so just something to be aware of I guess.
Wheels & Tyres
The stock bike comes with beautifully designed anodised hubs, black rims, stainless spokes and in this case, Michelin tyres. Over the mileage, the wheels took some punishment, yet remained looking good once washed. We installed mousses into the rear for the trip and had a UHD tube in the front. I managed to puncture the front, which required a change on a lane at 6pm at night, around 15 minutes from our accommodation & a beer!
Now using levers on any alloy rims always needs to be done carefully and this was so with these. The black finish can mark up right at the tyre edge, so as always, go gentle. We managed to demount the wheel, change the tyre and get going again pretty easily. That said one thing to note is that the rim lock are two different sizes, the front is a 12mm spanner and the rear is a 13mm spanner. That may be something to change over time, even is just for the ease of carrying tools/spares.
Brakes
Brembo brakes front and rear make up the kit. There is little to say here as they are such quality kit, they do their job superbly and are fitted to most bikes because of their superb well earned reputation. You get plenty of feedback from the front and it is progressive. the rotor is big enough to scrub the speed as you need. The rear can be a bit savage, ie the rear skids at a gentle dab, but I personally like that!
Range
The bike comes with a 9.5 litre rear mounted fuel tank, with a fuel pump inside pushing fuel into the injection system. The range on this amount of fuel was around 55 miles to the reserve light coming on and I never tested it to empty. Various discussion put the range at around 90 miles as there is a large reserve compared to other machines. My biggest fill was 7.2 litres. I make this to be roughly 10 miles to the litre.
In terms of the other bikes I was with, an SWM RS300, a KTM 300 TPI and a KTM 450 EXCF, The SPR had the shortest range to the reserve light. It meant I spent time thinking about refuelling regularly. Carrying an extra bit of fuel would resolve this I guess.
Summary
I guess, when it comes down to it all, the real question is would I buy this bike and ride it? For me the answer is simple, yes I would.
I recognise some of its flaws, ie range. But for the price, it is easily as capable as the KTM 250/350/400/450/500's that I've ridden. The quality of the bike is great and the suspension, footpegs and saddle just round the whole thing off. I think AJP have done a lovely job with this bike, I'm keen to see what these bikes can do in a competition setup now.
The 250 is really the bike for the green lane folk though I guess, it's smoother, quieter and less graunchy... but then, as always that depends upon the rider!
If you want to see a film of the bike in action, head across to MHB Motorcycles YouTube page:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDwLdL41VzQ
For more details on these bikes, visit MHB Motorcycles at:
https://mhbmotorcycles.co.uk/34-2/vehicles-new-used/ajp/
