Aprilia plan to unleash a small and sporty two-wheeled weapon
All-new twin will power a range of mid-capacity bikes
Aprilia are set to join the hotly-contested middleweight class with a range of new bikes set to be unveiled later this year aimed at plugging the glaring gap in the Italian’s firm’s range between the RS125 four-stroke single and the 900cc Shiver parallel twin. “It’s pretty obvious that we need to add models to our range,” a source at Aprilia told MCN. “At the moment, once people stop owning a 125 they have no choice but to buy another brand. We need to keep them on Aprilias so we’re working on a range of midcapacity machines which will bridge that gap. You’ll see the results first as a concept bike at the EICMA show in Italy in November with production due to start 2020.”
The middleweight class is currently one of Europe’s bestsellers and the obvious targets for any new Aprilia would be the likes of Yamaha’s MT-07 and Kawasaki’s Ninja 650. Like those we expect the new Italian machines to be powered by a parallel twin. This classic configuration is cheaper to manufacture than a V-twin and allows a bike to be shorter and better packaged. Aprilia can also fast-track development thanks to the V4 motor powering the RSV4 and superbikes. Take one bank of cylinders and you’ve almost got the capacity and size of a middleweight. As well as a mid-capacity naked, such an engine will also have potential for supermoto or even race-rep style bikes. “The bikes will carry on the sporty Aprilia spirit, they’ll just be smaller,” said our source.
Expect a 400600cc twin with a sporty edge