+ FIRST TESTS New XDiavel Black Star & Tuono 660 ridden
Aprilia’s Tuono 660 may not be cheap but it could be the flexible friend you’re after
The new Aprilia Tuono 660 is instantly intuitive and easy to ride. It’s one of those bikes that you can hop on and enjoy from the moment the road opens up. It’s light, responsive and easy to have a lot of fun riding.
This is a motorcycle that is accessible to everyone: from younger riders, who will enjoy a very light, intuitive and extremely easy-to-ride bike, to the experienced who will appreciate the extremely simple yet fine chassis setup together with the wellcalibrated suspension system and host of electronics.
It’s a bike that eggs you on to chuck it into corners and start accelerating hard on the way out as it has a natural balance and attitude. This ease of use boosts confidence and the new Aprilia can be ridden hard and fast on winding country roads.
This precision and performance reminds me of its sporty sibling, the RS660, which is hardly surprising as the pair share the same engine and chassis. Pick a line and dive at the apex, winding on the throttle as soon as you dare. It may not have stupid amounts of power, but what it does have can be applied with confidence. And if you do need to change tack quickly, the high and wide bars make steering input almost instant and drama-free. You may just need to shift your body a bit to help facilitate a sudden change in direction.
The riding position is a little more spacious and upright than on the RS660 and all day in the saddle causes very few aches and pains. Although the Tuono uses the same KYB suspension as the RS660 (albeit with different settings), it does have its own dedicated yokes, changing the fork offset to tweak the handling in line with its upright stance.
The Tuono may be nimble for a naked, but it’s the engine that is the real icing on the cake. The 660 drives cleanly from low revs, although there is a slight dip between 5000 and 6000rpm. And while the Tuono uses the same engine as its sporty sibling, it has been tamed slightly; down to 94bhp instead of the full-fat 100bhp. This allows the Tuono to be restricted to 47bhp and meet A2 licence laws as a bike can’t be more than twice as powerful as the limit set. But that 6bhp shortfall (compared to the RS) is barely noticeable and the Tuono 660 actually feels a little livelier thanks to lower final drive gearing, which puts the emphasis on responsiveness and acceleration rather than eking out the last few mph of top speed. It’s something that could affect trackday action, but on the open road it still feels like there’s plenty of power for you to play with.
There are five riding modes, too and the ‘Dynamic’ setting is just that. It gives instant throttle response and makes the engine more lively as the revs rise. On the other hand, the ‘Commute’ option keeps everything smooth and predictable, which is exactly what you want when picking a route through city streets or between rows of slow-moving congested traffic.
You also get traction control, wheelie control, cruise control and engine braking systems as standard. The impressive colour TFT instruments and LED headlights are also taken straight from the RS660. But, while our test bike was fitted with a quickshifter and cornering ABS, these do not come as standard on the middleweight Tuono.
The small windshield works pretty well and deflects windblast as high as the shoulders and with pretty serious bodywork all over the place, many may even argue this is not really a naked at all.
But as a user-friendly, funfilled motorcycle… it certainly delivers the goods.
‘Pick a line, dive at the apex and wind on the throttle…’
‘It’s the engine that is the real icing on the Aprilia cake’