The launch of the little Aprilia supersport seems imminent. After the motorcycle was spotted in India early this year in camouflage clothing, our man spotted the RS 440 in Italy in less concealing clothing during test work together with the new Stelvio.
It is now an open secret that Aprilia is working on a smaller version of the RS 660, the new mid-range Supersport that has benefited Aprilia in terms of sales.
In terms of absolute sales numbers it may be a fraction of what was given to mid-range supersport in its heyday, but in the context of that market today and Aprilia’s market share in general, it’s definitely a winner.
And we get that. The RS 660 looks like two drops of water on the RSV4 in terms of design, and that alone makes it incredibly desirable, not to mention the fact that you wear it much more on the street and on the track than the RSV4, which is overkill in every way. As if you want to exterminate a mosquito with a hand grenade. Otherwise, review our man Ron’s findings on Mettet.
After the launch of the 660 platform, which now consists of an RS 660, Tuono 660 and Tuareg 660, rumors quickly spread that Noala was working on a smaller step-up model, specifically intended for the A2 driving licence. All they had to do was downsize the 660.
That is exactly what they have done at Piaggio’s R&D department, where all development of the brands under the Piaggio umbrella takes place. A vague spy photo from the beginning of this year confirmed this, but these most recent photos are even clearer.
Not only do the photos give a very good impression of the RS 440, but judging by the finish, the prototype seems to be in a very advanced stage. To mislead bystanders, the RS 660 logo has been applied to the fairing, but the single disc in the front wheel reveals that it is its smaller brother.
Not only does the RS 440 have many similarities with the RS 660 in terms of design, the chassis also seems to have the same basis, with an aluminum twin-spar frame and a bolted-on lattice tube subframe, but with a ‘straightforward’ steel swingarm. The single writing in the front wheel also reveals that this is the smaller brother.
It remains to be guessed at the technical specifications. Italian media is talking about a parallel twin with a displacement of about 440cc, which is expected to spit out a power of around 45 hp. At most 47.6 hp because that is the upper limit for the A2 driving license.
According to our man, the RS 440 will make its appearance at the end of this year, we are betting on the EIMCA in Milan as a 2024 model. Wondering if Aprilia will also homologate it for the Supersport 300 World Cup, that would be super cool.
Photography: Baldauf
– Thanks for information from Motorfreaks.