Well this looks sexy, the Aprilia RS 660 Trofeo. So while the RS660 has set itself up as a comfortable sports bike, Aprilia has thrown that to the way side with this racing version. The RS660 is already highly sort after by racers for the popular twin’s class and with this version; I think all the other bikes are going to really struggle to keep up. The Trofeo has been designed by Aprilia Racing for their new Aprilia Racing RS 660 Trophy series. Aprilia have been kind enough to give us all the important specs and it looks like this will be the new bike to have in the twin’s class.
Ok let’s look at what the bike has. For starters, it has 105hp and weighs only 337lbs (153kg) dry! That is 35 lbs less than the standard version. Damn, this thing will be a lot of fun. In the suspension department, some sexual Andreani fork internals have replaced the stock forks and an Ohlins rear shock has been added too. The brakes have been upgraded with higher spec Brembo calipers with matching racing pads. The stock air filter has been changed to a Sprint air filter and the underslung exhaust from the stock bike has been replaced with a full SC Project system. It looks like the catalytic convertor has been ditched too. I will say that this exhaust looks way better than the Akrapovic version that Aprilia is selling as a factory accessory. To me that one doesn’t fit the style of the bike and for US RS660 owners, you can only get the street legal Akrapovic version. So for me you might as well stick with the stock pipe or look at this one from SC Project.
In addition there is fibreglass racing fairing, all the road gear has been stripped off, a push button panel and kill switch and Pirelli Supercorsa V3 SC1 tyres. Different triple clamps have been added to give the bike a racier riding position too.
You can buy some of these products already, so if you wanted to build your own Trofeo/Factory version for the street or racing you, plus it might be a fair bit cheaper than buying a Trofeo. I know a lot of people are wondering if Aprilia will release a Factory version, but from what I’ve been hearing from dealers, there’s no talk of it happening this year so it looks like this’ll be your best bet for some time. It also gives RS660 owners a pretty good idea of what power you can get by putting in a fancy air filter and exhaust system. There is no word on what ECU tuning is available yet or if the Trofeo version has been even been tuned, you would think it has with the new exhaust system.
So how much are they? Well this is a hard one as I’m not 100% sure if the everyday Jo Blow can buy one yet. The Aprilia press release is a bit confusing so I’ll seek some clarification on that. In any case, the price is 17950 euros which makes it roughly $21700 USD, not cheap. The US conversion is generally only about a thousand dollars more so it might not be too bad. If you want the full racers package, that’ll set you back 34900 Euro’s. That includes a bike, tech support, hospitality and pretty well everything you need to race.
All in all, this is a pretty trick looking bit of kit if you ask me. Aprilia already have their RS 250 SP series and with this they are definitely setting up the 660 as another stepping stone for racing. Now they just need to do that Factory version.
OnTheBackWheel.com 