Aprilia RS660 Reviews

Do you think MA is going to restrict the induction or not allow certain motor mods? What about weight? Will they require weight added to it?

What kind of money does Aprilia have to pay for something like this?

 

We will find out soon. No idea on the homologation fee..

 

An arms race in the middleweight twins category. What a time to be alive.

Unthinkable just a few years ago.

 

If Aprilia is going this far in the process, I would imagine they have the money to pay the fee.
The question will be if they will pay the fee if they feel the rules are too unfair to their new bike (too much weight, not enough mods allowed). No way to know on that one until the official announcement.

 

Isn't this all a foregone conclusion at this point?

I see posts from Twins Cup racers and teams here they've already bought the bikes and are modding away to their hearts content.

I have to believe they know the Homologation process is a formality and all they are waiting on is info to find out what their rpm limit will be and what the bikes min weight will be set at - a la the Ninja 400 that has an rpm limit and min bike/rider weight to "even" the field which, clearly it hasn't.

 

Biggest question I have is if it will get a 2 mil piston allowance right away or not. Recall, the SV/EX did not get the displacement allowance at first and then there was a rules update to allow 2 mil pistons to match up better with the Yamaha.

The RS clearly makes good top end power, but it does seem to be a little flat in the mid range (similar to the Kawasaki 650). The power advantage of the high rpm range is maybe not as useful as the mid range poke off the corners.

Allowing 2 mil pistons coupled with an rpm limit could level the field but make the Aprilia more expensive to make competitive. That’s probably too complicated to start with; too many unknowns. I’m interested to see what Tige does.

 

I'll bring a 12 pack of PBR to CMP. That should cover it..

 

Frickin hipster

 

Don’t say shit about pbr. It’s the best stuff

 

You're definitely a hipster you, cop and metal head are a squadron of hipsters

 

Ok, what secret go fast trick am I missing here? The 660 has to retain stock pistons, rings, wristpins, piston clips rods and cylinders. Cylinder liners are free though. Why specifically allow liners to be monkey'd with, and with the above restrictions what could you gain from said monkeying?

 

Being able to replace liners in case you damage one. Otherwise, you'd have to replace the cases. As far as stock pistons go, I don't know if that means stock size OE pistons, or they will allow OE oversize pistons. That would be another reason to allow replacement liners. If someone wanted to get tricky, maybe make some aluminum liners, and then nikasil plate them. Not sure if that would reduce friction any. Just spitballing here.

 

I don't believe oversize OEM is allowed based on the wording: "Pistons must be the originally fitted and homologated part with no modification"

 

Seems the intention is there is no secret go fast trick. They want to make the RS660 as bonestock as possible so it would be fair to compete against the modified SV’s and MT07’s

 

Well, that would answer the overbore question. OE piston, stock size. (the homologated part). In some engine manufacturing facilities (not necessarily motorcycle), there may be an in plant off line repair process that would allow use of oversize/undersize parts in order to save a block/crank/engine.

 

If same as aprilia sxv sleeves are not attached to cases, they are just separate tubes sitting in cases. You take head off and pull sleeves out, very easy to replace.
On sxv sleeves are aluminum with coating.

 

IIRC Ducati uses similar on their later motors, and IIRC some KTM single cylinders as well. The KTMs stick in my head as they were playing with fins/ridging the coolant side of the sleeve to get more heat transfer. It doesn't look like the RSV4 uses liners, which is interesting as I thought the 660 was heavily derived from it? Looks like on the SXV you could buy the liners separate, if the 660 follows suit, they could just stick to OEM liners, easy. This allowance is in place for a reason and I'm super curious who asked for it and why.

 

Nobody needed to ask, it makes sense. Same as any other bike that has to stay stock bore. You replace piston and cylinder when needed. For aprilia that is sleeve and piston, same shit.