Aprilia RS660 – Pre-Launch Details and Thoughts

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We’re not far from the release of the very highly anticipated Aprilia RS 660. This is literally the motorbike every single lightweight twins racer has been wanting for 20 years. We first got the concept back in 2018 and the population has been itching to get their hands on this APE. We now have a few more details concerning the twin effort.

Below are the basic specifications supplied by Aprilia about their new RS660.

There was much discussion how this was simply one bank off the RSV4. While it does have the same 81mm bore as the 1100 v4 model, the stroke is 11.63mm longer on the RS660 over it’s larger sibling. The cylinder head is also different. So it’s not just a bank off the RSV4. There is one nice similarity between the two APEs and that is the ride by wire throttle bodies. The throttle bodies look almost identical between the RS660 and the RSV4. Both are 48mm and the RS 660 has variable stacks which is a tuner’s wet dream. To show how massive the throttle body is, the Suzuki SV650 has 39mm throttle bodies and the Yamaha MT07 and Kawasaki Ninja 650 have 38mm throttle bodies. The massive 48mm units on the Aprilia RS660 will let racers not have to waste their time/money boring out the stock units like there was need to with the other Twins in its class. Feeding the massive throttle bodies is a nice ram air system which none of the other machines in the class come with. APE came to play and they came to play hard.

Moving down to the crankshaft, it shares the same qualities as the Yamaha MT07. The 270 degree crankshaft will make this beast punch in the mid range and still share the tone of a tradition 90 degree Vtwin. Aprilia claims UP TO 100hp. If I had to take a guess, we’re going to be looking at 80-85 to the wheel. If you’re a diehard SV racer, don’t run away scared just yet. Let’s wait until we get some real world numbers on the 660 before we all go home crying.

The RS660 comes with a slipper clutch and quick shifter. Two items many racers have had to purchase for their SVs, FZs and ERs for the last 20 years. So, yes, the Aprilia has a hefty price tag (~$12,500) over the Japanese models; it does “save” you money in some areas.

The features the new Aprilia twin that most twins racers haven’t purchased for their machines are the rider aids; Wheelie Control, Traction Control, and Engine Brake Control. Wheelie control most likely isn’t needed for this class of machinery, but the traction control and tunable engine control is definitely bad ass. Traction Control, also not very needed, it will most likely slow the bike down but for wet weather situations it could come in very handy.

We get Brembo brakes but they are the cheap lower level OEM Brembo units and aren’t anything to brag about. The suspension is also less than desired. Forks and shock only feature preload and rebound adjustments which means we will be replacing the cartridges in the forks and the entire shock assembly. IF Aprilia could have supplied KYB units that also had compression adjusters, we may have been able to get away with just a re-valve. While I may have just shat all over the brakes and suspension, those units on the RS-660 are FAR ABOVE what comes standard on the SV, FZ and ER. For most racers, a simple re-valve on the stock Aprilia suspension will be more than enough seeing only the pointy end of the field will truly need to replace what comes on the APE.

Styling, not much to complain about here. 6 spoke wheels look awesome, the RSV4 inspired tail section is dead sexy, the dual layered aero fairing is bad ass, and the tank looks like it will allow a very nice place for the rider to anchor their leg while leaned off the machine.

The controls on the other hand look almost cumbersome to replace. The handle bares are integrated into the top triple clamp… why Aprilia? Why? Now we have to replace the top clamp and clip-ons (the purchase of after market clip-ons would happen regardless).

The foot rearsets are even worse. If you look closely, you can see they use a bracket that is mounted using the swingarm pivot bolt. That means if you get in a crash and need to replace your rearset you will need to suspend the bike in a way that allows you to pull off the rearset AND swingarm at the same time. The swingarm doesn’t need to fully come off the bike, but pulling the swingarm pivot bolt will make it so having the bike on just a rear stand is not an option. Since the frame does not go down that far, Aprilia didn’t have many options for your footrests.

Am I going to buy one? I just don’t know yet, $12,500 is a lot of money to spend on a showroom twins race bike that is still going to need $4000 or so to lightly race prep it. Do I want one? Oh yea, hell yea. Us as lightweight twins racers have to be ecstatic over this machine. We’ve been waiting for a lightweight twin class ripper to have the track in mind when it’s being designed and Aprilia has delivered such a machine. The SV650, MT07, and Ninja 650 are all great road bikes and we bastardize them into race bikes and it works… but now we have a chance to start off with a platform that looks and (hopefully) performs like a race bike. Thank You Aprilia.

The current word on the streets for the MSRP Price Tag is $12,500 USD and will be available in March or April of 2021. Don’t quote me on that, seriously, don’t.

This post has already been read 2915 times!