Aprilia RS 660 SuperSport Spotted Testing At Imola

At last year’s EICMA Aprilia unveieled a new mid-sized supersport concept dubbed the “RS660”. For those not in the know, the concept is a 660cc parallel twin (think RSV4 mill with the rear cylinders lopped off) wrapped in an aluminum twin-spar chassis adorned in RSV4-style bodywork. A Facebook page called Aprilia Cup posted an alleged video of the new 660 a couple weeks ago which you can watch here, and although it's short it's pretty sweet.

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Aside from the recent reskinning of Yamaha’s R6—a model that hasn’t fundamentally changed since 2006—and Kawasaki’s new sub-$10k ZX-6R, the midrange supersport sector has largely been dormant. Sportbike sales have dropped significantly, and with it not being much cheaper to develop a 600 than it is a 1000—which you can charge a good deal more for—few OEM’s are investing efforts or money there.

So it came as a bit of a surprise when a month ago the Noale firm revealed the 660 is slated for production, with the aim of a 2020 model release. With 2020 rapidly approaching, the Piaggio Group subsidiary has a lot of work to do before the 660 is ready to hit dealerships. Most recently, the forthcoming Italian supersport was spotted doing some testing two-hours south of Aprilia HQ at the famous Imola circuit.

The new footage gives us a chance to hear the twin-cylinder runner for the first time, and while camera mics are notoriously bad at accurately capturing engine sounds, we still have a rough idea of the 660’s exhaust note. Unfortunately the clip is only a few seconds long, and it was recorded in the track’s pit lane, so we have yet to really hear the thing sing. With the RS660 scheduled for release within a year’s time, we’re sure to be seeing a lot more of the new supersport prior to its release.

Source: Facebook/Aprilia Cup