Italian manufacturer Aprilia used the recent EICMA Show in Milan to launch one of their most important motorcycles in years—the RS 660. Powered by an all-new 660cc twin-cylinder four-stroke, the RS 660 harkens back to Aprilia’s early days as a manufacturer that built its name not on high horsepower superbike monsters, but svelte, lithe machines that hunt racetrack apexes and twisty mountain roads for breakfast.

As such, the motor produces a respectable 75kW. The motor is essentially the front back of cylinders from the RSV4 1100 Factory, the raucous superbike we tested at Mugello earlier this year, with Aprilia claiming the motorcycle weighs just 162 kilograms (without fluids).

That should give it a real-world weight of close to 180 kilograms.

The 2020 Aprilia RS 660 gets a twin-spar aluminium chassis mated to a 41mm Kayaba fork and shock, with the latter acting directly on the swingarm with no linkage. Brembo has fitted their M4.32 front brake calipers and twin 320mm discs, mitigated by ABS.

Despite being only a mid-size sport bike, the RS 660 gets the full gamut of Aprilia’s electronics suite in the Aprilia Performance Ride Control (APRC), a system normally found on the full-house RSV4 1100 Factory. With APRC, the RS 660 benefits from variable traction control, wheelie control, engine brake control, five different ECU riding modes and an up and down quick shifter, plus cruise control. The latter two features are some that even motorcycles nearly twice the price (such as the 2020 KTM 1290 Super Duke R) don’t come with as standard, making the RS 660 a very tasty prospect indeed.

For now, Aprilia should be congratulated for making a sport bike for the masses, and we have no doubt the RS 660 will eventually go on to replicate the success of the legendary Aprilia RS 250 from the 1990s.