This is the future of the lw class in my opinion. Mw are going the way of the dinosaur. Twins are the up and comer. Until now we have been taking heavy, underperforming twins and making them "race bikes" the big companies are finally starting to look at this and see a potential for the future. I think these super twins are going to keep coming and are going to be the future class to replace mw racing. The "grass roots" lw, sv, hawk, er650 era im sad to say is coming to an end (as sad as i am to see that). Stuff like the rs660, and norton twin, and kramer twin is just the beginning of a new class of super twins that i bet will change the class forever.
“Aimed to be a lightweight / high-performance motorbike, the Aprilia RS 660 is poised to turn the supertwin category on its head, as the segment is dominated by bikes like the Kawasaki Ninja 650.”
"Of course, pricing will be key. The Kawasaki Ninja 650 retails for $7,400 MSRP, which means a near-$10,000 price tag will be a must for the Aprilia RS 660. A four-digit price tag would be our hope." Jeez, they really are smoking crack.....that bike is going to be around current supersport prices, if not $1-2K higher.
They can slap whatever MSRP they like on it, as long as they end up selling at deeeep discounts like they do on Tuonos.
Sure but it's all r6's yamaha is the only manufacture still developing the middle weights. Most brands like Honda and triumph just cut the 600 out entirely. Kawi has that new 636 but is it really all that different under those fairings? Manufactures just aren't developing 600's anymore. Wsbk has stated several times in the last few years that they are planning to end the 600 class all together.
I don't think it's going the way of the dinosaur until LW twins has all the top riders, and supersport is just old (albeit fast) club racers. I'd really love to see twins be the next thing, but personally I'm more interested in whichever has all the national level talent.
Joe street rider doesn't know or care what race classes are popular, and he's who the mfg.'s care about. If $12K 600s gather dust on the sales floor and $7K twins sell like hotcakes, then the 600s will eventually go away.
