Aprilia’s Answer To The 790 Duke And Street Triple Is Coming To India

The 600cc supersport segment may be dying out, but middleweights are fast gaining popularity. Royal Enfield, Kawasaki and Honda all offer 650s in India, and next year, Aprilia will be getting in on the action as well. The weapons it will be wielding are the RS 660 sports bike and Tuono 660 naked streetfighter, both of which are expected to launch by the end of 2021. So that’s the good news out of the way, now let’s tackle the bad news.

Like most Aprilias, this pair of 660s will come to India as CBUs, meaning they will attract a pretty massive import duty. As a result, expect the Tuono to set you back by around Rs 12 lakh (ex-showroom), while the RS will cost a cool Rs 13 lakh (ex-showroom). For this price, you get a pretty explosive 660cc parallel-twin motor churning out 101PS. That makes the RS 660 even more powerful than the Honda CBR650R, which is an inline-4.

Aprilia created this engine by essentially cutting the RSV4's 1100cc V4 motor in half and using the forward bank of cylinders. It also gets electronic nannies in the form of an APRC (Aprilia Performance Ride Control) package. This includes traction control, wheelie control, engine brake control, cruise control and five power maps, all of which are assisted by a 6-axis IMU. Aprilia has even thrown in a quickshifter, and all these aids are controlled via a fully digital colour TFT display.