Aprilia RS 660 production-spec renderings revealed, expected launch in 2020

Aditya Chatterjee Updated: June 10, 2019, 06:55 PM IST

Aprilia took the platform of EICMA 2018 to showcase their upcoming youngest superbike, the RS 660 in a concept form. This was seen as Aprilia's interpretation of a middle-weight supersports machine. While this itself is an amazing news, the bigger update was that Aprilia plans to target Asian markets with the production version of the 660 supersports bike. Yes, we in India are excited for it as well. And now the renderings of the production-spec Aprilia RS 660 have been unveiled, and it confirms that concept's design will make it into production without much changes. We expect the production version of the Aprilia RS 660 to be launched internationally earlier next year.

Aprilia RS 660 concept showcased at EICMA 2018

Aprilia RS 660 rendering. Launch in Early 2020

The overall silhouette of the Aprilia RS 660 does look like the showbike, however, there are tweaks in the design to accommodate the newly designed side panels and also the distinctive air wings do not come with air outlets positioned behind them as shown in the concept bike. The air winds have been designed in such a way that it functions as a complete unit and channelises air flow accordingly. Further, the LED strip has been given a miss but the overall headlight design remains unchanged. The side indicators should be a bolt-on on the fairing, as it's not seen on the rendering or on the concept bike. Also, the concept motorcycle was showcased with Öhlins fork and Brembo Stylema calipers which have been replaced by Sachs suspension and Brembo Monoblocks, similar to what is on offered on the RSV4 RR. This could be the regular or the standard version of the RS 660. Aprilia might also churn out a pure-performance bred Factory machine like it offers the RR and Factory siblings of the RSV4. The wheel design has been changed to Y-spoke.

Overall shape of the Aprilia RS 660 looks similar to the concept machine

Powering the Aprilia Concept 660 Supersports is an all-new parallel-twin engine that has been developed from taking the front half of the Aprilia RSV4 1100's unit. From the looks of it, it can be seen that the new engine is a complex and compact unit. In fact, the overall construction of the motorcycle is so compact that the engine acts as the stress member of the chassis. The rear swingarm has been pivoted inside the crankcase while the engine is positioned inside the twin-spar aluminium frame at the rear of the heads and also with the top of the rear of the crankcase. The right arm of the swingarm has a curved shape in order to all the exhaust terminal to pass. The particular mounting of the shock absorber allows outstanding progression to be obtained without using linkage, thereby cutting down on weight and making it a cleaner package overall.

Powering the Aprilia Concept 660 Supersports is an all-new parallel-twin engine that has been developed from taking the front half of the Aprilia RSV4 1100's unit

While it is still too early to speculate when Aprilia will launch the RS 660 in India, we believe it could happen sometime next year as the Indian audiences have started showing interest in more premium performance spec automobiles. Aprilia India recently launched the Storm 125 in India, a scooter that is based on the SR 125 but gets snazzier styling and chunky tyres. Here's our first ride review of the scooter.