In what we hope is the final “sneak peek” at the Aprilia Tuono 660, we get a price, and some final details on the electronics package.
The Aprilia Tuono 660 first broke cover months ago as a naked version of the RS660 sportbike. Although, as is the Aprilia way, this is more of a “scantily clad” bike than a full-on naked. There’s a lot of plastic on this machine, with as much fairing coverage as a first-gen superbike.Â
However, as Aprilia’s designer points out in the video above, that’s supposed to be part of the bike’s practicality. All that bodywork keeps the wind and weather off the rider. This is intended to be a street-oriented machine, a useful bike with room for a passenger.
The chassis itself is low to the ground, with the engine moved forward for a tight C-of-G. Aprilia used the liquid-cooled parallel twin (half of Aprilia’s V4 engine, basically) as a stressed member of the chassis. In turn, this let them cut excess off the frame elsewhere, which was key to reaching that low 183 kg wet weight.
The Tuono 660 has 95 horsepower in the EU, 100 horsepower in the US, and we would expect Canada to also have triple-digit output. That makes for excellent power-to-weight ratio, particularly when you consider this machine is aimed at the wallet-friendly middleweight naked market. Pricing starts at $12,795 in Canada, with bikes showing up in-country around the end of March.
There are some concessions to reach that sub-$13k price, when compared to the RS660 sportbike. Aprilia says the Tuono 660 has the APRC electronics package, but the base model of the bike ships without an IMU sensor. That means the base model has ABS, traction control, cruise control, ABS, traction control, adjustable engine braking and variable engine mapping, but no leaning-sensitive functions. Pay extra for the IMU, and you get cornering-friendly ABS, traction control, and headlight systems. Both versions of the bike come with five ride modes as standard.
Aprilia also says the Tuono 660 will race in Moto America this season, but don’t expect to see it in CSBK, as we don’t have a Twins series up here.
So much for affordability, only for the well heeled or fanatics of Italian bikes.
I often considered getting an Aprilia but there is a 3000km gap in the dealer network and I’m right in the middle.