This is interesting

I'm down for that.
Where is the nearest Aprilia dealer?

If it's like the car leasing in the UK it'll be a close end lease. When the time is up you either pay the remainder or carry on your lease but with a different bike.
I hope the parts scenario is better in the US than it is in the UK, Aprilia are notorious for high prices and very slow supply of spare parts. The bikes are good though and well put together.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (povol @ May 3 2007, 09:21 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>The way a lease works is the Manufacturer comes up with a residual value,a figure they think the vehicle will be worth at the end of a 24-36-48 month lease.Lets say you have a 20,000 bike that has a 50% residual at the end of a 36 month lease.That means you pay on 10000 plus interest which at 6% would make your payment around 350.00 a month for 36 months.At the end of the lease is where this will fly or not.In a closed end lease,you have the option to purchase the bike for the remaining 10k or turn it in and walking away from it,assuming it is reasonably good shape according to their guidelines or pick out a new bike and start all over.This is the only lease you should ever sign.We've got the same in Ireland and the UK, over here it's usually called a PCP, personal contract purchase, like a loan with a deferred lump payment but the finance company underwrites the residual. A lease is a different thing over here as it's purely a rental agreement, the leesee may purchase the vehicle at the end but it's a seperate deal from the lease itself. Finance companies are a bit tentative on underwriting huge residuals on bikes, 50% after 36 months would be unheard of for cars let alone bikes. Ford then Renault were the big pioneers in that over here but got their fingers burned badly on the residuals as did a lot of other finance companies, many of which had American parent companies. It can be done on bikes, but none of the manufacturers run their own schemes at the minute as far as I know, but some dealers do. You'll probably find that Aprillia will probably underwriting the residuals or subsidising the loan rate to help with summer sales.

Interesting.