• 6 months ago
Aprilia’s RS 457 is the newest entry into its sportbike lineup. It features a 457cc parallel twin with a 270-degree crank, makes a claimed 48 hp and 32 lb.-ft. of torque, and weighs 386 pounds. Building completely new from the ground up, Aprilia followed the same design philosophy as the RS 660 for this lightweight sportbike: utilizing the engine as the main structure component of the motorcycle, but developing the RS 457 into a smaller, more accessible package that meets European A2 license requirements.

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00:00 This is Aprilia's RS457, their newest entry into their sport bike lineup.
00:04 It features a 457cc parallel twin with a 270 degree crank, makes a claimed 49
00:10 horsepower, 32 pound-feet of torque, weighs right around 386 pounds, it's got three
00:16 ride modes, sport, eco, rain, three levels of traction control, as well as you can
00:21 disable traction control. You got two levels of ABS, you can disable ABS at the
00:25 rear wheel, you can switch modes on the fly, switch traction control on the fly,
00:28 super sport bike DNA in this bike. You got a 320 millimeter single rotor up
00:34 front with a four piston by recaliper, dual piston by recaliper at the rear,
00:39 aluminum frame with a steel swingarm all mounting to the engine, as well as
00:44 exhaust and the foot pegs. This is all an effort to keep the bike light and
00:48 nimble. Alright, here we are at Auto Troma Modena in Italy.
00:56 This thing has a really agile chassis, gives you a lot of good front end feel.
01:02 This is a really good track bike and they really worked hard on making sure they
01:08 achieved that. As much as they did make sure it's good as a street bike,
01:20 riding on the roads and stuff, it was really important to them
01:25 to make sure this bike performs well on the racetrack or the pista as they say.
01:35 This engine, you can really ride a gear high, third gear right through there,
01:40 makes it really nice. You got this good torque curve right off the bottom. There's
01:46 a really planted chassis, like no fork dive, just razor sharp handling.
01:54 I tried second gear right there earlier but found that you got to really grab
02:01 that shift early and prefer just staying a gear high. On this tighter track at my
02:09 speed I'm fine. I'm mostly using third through almost the whole course.
02:15 And then
02:18 get up into fourth and fifth on the straights.
02:24 Same fourth here, fifth here.
02:29 Got rear ABS deactivated, the accessory quick shifter coming in. Good feel on the
02:38 front, kind of missed my apex.
02:42 It's a really agile bike, which for me with not a whole lot of track experience,
02:48 really good and confidence inspiring. I like getting on the brakes pretty hard into
02:54 this corner. Really good feel from the front brake.
02:59 And that fork, they talked about it, they really wanted a stiff fork and just a
03:05 stiff chassis in general for that track performance. They realized to a certain
03:11 extent you're gonna have to compromise
03:15 road performance. See, like just flicking it from one corner to the next,
03:20 really nice, kind of ran that thing wide.
03:24 Got off the brake, kind of ruining my lines here, but nonetheless, really good
03:32 feel. I feel like I can push this bike and for me this is a bike that would be
03:38 really good to get into track days. Getting eager here, cutting in a little
03:44 too early, but nonetheless, this bike is really a lot of fun.
03:51 Super confidence inspiring, just a lot of good front end feel. Like I just, even
03:56 though I'm not hitting my, oh, I missed the shift, got that quick shifter. Even though I'm
04:03 missing my lines and kind of struggling as far as where to be on the racetrack a
04:07 little bit.
04:10 As much as it is a stiff chassis, it's so planted that it's actually pretty
04:18 forgiving because you just have really good feel, really good grip levels.
04:24 You got this nice torquey engine. It has a really strong mid-range.
04:30 Gotta wait on that corner a bit more. Same with this one. I just love that
04:36 torque feel. You just crack the throttle and you have so much response and you
04:41 have the classic parallel twin, you know, engine pulses.
04:49 I'm already getting more and more, even though I have limited track experience,
04:55 with each lap, each corner, each section, it's gaining so much confidence.
05:01 Price point, under $7,000. Pretty good, man.
05:09 And the ride-by-wire system, which Aprilia was a pioneer in, really good on
05:16 this bike. I've spent a little bit of time on a Tuono,
05:21 the Touareg, some of their other models, the RS660, and I remember, wasn't terrible,
05:28 I remember having a little bit of sort of a fake feel right at the crack of the
05:33 throttle. This one does not have that same sensation.
05:41 It's really good. We're in the lowest traction control setting right now.
05:54 With rear ABS deactivated, sport mode, most aggressive engine mapping and throttle
05:59 response. We also have,
06:03 you also have a rain mode and eco with dedicated TC
06:14 and ABS settings. There's only, there's two ABS settings, one and two.
06:20 One is going to be a street, and there's going to be a track ABS. Good brake feel out
06:26 of these Vibrae. It's got a Vibrae caliper, four piston caliper up front,
06:32 two in the rear. You got a single 320 millimeter disc up front.
06:41 It's getting right up to the rev limiter right there in third.
06:46 Wow, it's really good on the front end. It's amazing on the brake, trail braking
06:52 into the corner. It's such good feel. I mean, man, it's like a little race bike.
06:59 I like how you can turn off rear ABS. I don't know if it's the fastest way for
07:09 me around the track, but I can feel the rear kind of sliding and
07:13 skidding on the rear brake.
07:17 Definitely not the fastest guy out here, so not worried about my lap times, but
07:23 makes it a lot of fun. It's so playful, but still
07:28 so capable.
07:31 You know, they're really targeting a younger
07:36 demographic with a little bit less experience.
07:39 Kind of someone like me, but there's a lot of good, fast, experienced guys out here,
07:45 and I think they're having just as much fun.
07:49 For experienced guys that are looking for maybe a little lightweight
07:54 track bike, I think they'll really appreciate this bike.
07:59 All right, we're all done here riding the RS457 at the circuit in Modena, Italy.
08:03 Amazing motorcycle, super racy, super agile chassis, a lot of great front-end
08:10 feel, really stiff suspension. You got adjustable
08:12 preload on the fork, as well as on the shock. 41 millimeter
08:16 fork, and man, this thing just clearly is an RS.
08:20 It's got that RS Aprilia racy DNA. This thing was amazing on the
08:25 racetrack. Super agile, you can really push the bike hard.
08:29 Great front-end feel, switchable ride modes,
08:32 switchable traction control. You can turn traction control off, turn off rear ABS,
08:37 really back the thing into a corner, and man,
08:40 dude, I have no complaints about this bike. This is just an
08:44 amazing lightweight street bike. Maybe the best in class. We can't say that yet
08:48 until we get them all together on the same day and ride them, but for
08:52 sure this is a contender. This bike retails for right around $6,700
08:57 in this colorway right here. $200 more for the sort of racy-inspired
09:02 livery, the GP-inspired livery, but I mean, there's no complaint. Lightweight,
09:08 agile, great front-end feel, super torquey motor.
09:11 You get roughly around 80% of the torque at 3,000 rpm,
09:15 and man, coming off corners in third gear, even
09:18 tight slow speed corners, the thing just hooks up, pulls away.
09:22 We had the optional quick shifter today. I mean,
09:26 man, this was just an amazing experience on a racetrack with this
09:30 super racy lightweight sport bike. So that's going to wrap up this onboard
09:35 review. Of course, check out the link in the description.
09:37 Go more in-depth, really break down the technical details of this bike as well
09:42 as the riding impressions, and of course, if you enjoyed this video,
09:45 consider subscribing. Hit the like button and let me know
09:48 in the comments what sport bike in the lightweight category are you looking at.