I almost bought an Aprilia Shiver. They've got the reliability of a BMW (they actually make the F650) but the flair of the Italians. I thought it was an Aprilia story but it isn't, but I'll tell it anyway: In July of 2008 Harley Davidson announced they were paying $109m for MV Agusta and Cagiva. In October 2009 Harley Davidson announced they were selling MV Agusta and Cagiva back to the Castiglioni Brothers for $1. I love that Harley Davidson paid two charming old Italian gentlemen a little more than seven million dollars a month to mis-manage their company for five quarters. …and then of course they killed Buell. Fuckin' Harley.
In NZ, you're restricted to 250 cc or smaller bikes for something like 2 years, before you can get your unrestricted license - so the Aprilia is a great bike for meeting the letter of the law, while blatantly violating its intent :-)