Launched only last year, the all-new RS660 from Aprilia was hailed as an antidote to the out-of-control, weapons-grade litre bike sector, which until the 660’s arrival had been pretty much the only type of sportsbike you could buy. Yamaha has followed Aprilia’s lead this year with its R7 to get in on the action and changing market appetite for a more affordable, simpler, and less extreme sportsbike. To be fair to Yamaha, it was a no-brainer to come up with the R7 – it had the MT-07 to begin with, so it had a very good starting point, unlike Aprilia.
The gestation period for the RS660 seemed to take forever, from when rumours of its existence emerged to its showroom arrival. It’s not really a big surprise when you consider that the RS is new from the ground up. Every single component, every single design element… every single thing about the bike is brand new. Aprilia tried to say that the RS660’s engine is just an RSV4’s engine with two cylinders missing, and I suppose while descriptively that’s true, technically of course it hasn’t just blanked off a couple of cylinders on an RSV4 engine.
I don’t know why it would claim that, other than to make some sort of tenuous link between it and the RSV4 for the marketeers and their army of influencers to make use of – which brings me neatly to the first and most important point. The RS660 is nothing like an RSV4 for lots of reasons, many of which are obvious and not what I’m referring to on this point. I’m talking about the fundamental design concept of each bike; one is a premium product with no corners cut, and the other has been built to a price. There is a place in the world for both types: we need them, but do not be misled, or mistake the RS as being a mini RSV4 because it
