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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00:00This is Aprilia's RS457, their newest entry into their sport bike lineup.
00:05Features a 457cc parallel twin with a 270 degree crank.
00:09Makes the claim 49 horsepower, 32 pound-feet of torque.
00:13Weighs right around 386 pounds.
00:15It's got three ride modes, sport, eco, rain, three levels of traction control, as well as you can disable traction control.
00:22You got two levels of ABS.
00:23You can disable ABS at the rear wheel.
00:25You can switch modes on the fly, switch traction control on the fly.
00:28Super sport bike DNA in this bike.
00:31You got a 320 millimeter single rotor up front with a four-piston bi-breed caliper, dual-piston bi-breed caliper at the rear,
00:39aluminum frame with a steel swingarm, all mounting to the engine, as well as exhaust and the foot pegs.
00:46This is all an effort to keep the bike light and nimble.
00:48All right, here we are at Autodroma Modena in Italy.
00:56This thing has a really agile chassis.
00:58Gives you a lot of good front-end feel.
01:01This is a really good track bike.
01:06And they really worked hard on making sure they achieved that.
01:09But, as much as they did make sure it's good as a street bike.
01:17But, riding on the roads and stuff, it's really important to them to make sure this bike performs well on the racetrack or the Pista, as they say.
01:35This engine, you can really ride a gear high, third gear right through there.
01:41Makes it really nice.
01:43You got this good torque curve right off the bottom.
01:46There's a really planted chassis.
01:48You look like no fork dive, just razor-sharp handling.
01:54See?
01:55I tried second gear right there earlier, but found that you got to really grab that shift early.
02:02And prefer just staying in a gear high on this tighter track at my speed, I'm fine.
02:10And I'm mostly using third through almost the whole course, and then get up into fourth and fifth on the straights.
02:22See, fourth gear, fifth gear, got rear ABS deactivated, the accessories quick shifter coming in, good feel on the front, kind of missed my apex.
02:42This is a really agile bike, which for me, with not a whole lot of track experience, really good and confidence-inspiring.
02:51I like it on the brakes pretty hard into this corner.
02:55Really good feel from the front brake.
03:00And that fork, they talked about it.
03:02They really wanted a stiff fork and just a stiff chassis in general for that track performance.
03:10They realized to a certain extent you're going to have to compromise road performance.
03:17See, like, just flicking it from one corner to the next.
03:20It's really nice, kind of ran that thing wide.
03:26Got off the brake, kind of ruining my lines here, but nonetheless, really good feel.
03:33I feel like I can push this bike, and for me, this is a bike that would be really good to get into track days.
03:41I'm just getting eager here, cutting in a little too early, but nonetheless, this bike is really a lot of fun.
03:51Super confidence-inspiring.
03:53Just a lot of good front-end feel.
03:55Like, I just, even though I'm not hitting my, oh, I've got missed the shift.
04:01Got that quick shifter.
04:03Even though I'm missing my lines and kind of struggling as far as where to be on the racetrack a little bit.
04:08As much as it is a stiff chassis, it's so planted that it's actually pretty forgiving because you just have really good feel, really good grip levels.
04:23And you've got this nice, torquey engine.
04:27That has a really strong mid-range.
04:30Got to wait on that corner a bit more.
04:33Same with this one.
04:35I just love that torque feel.
04:37You just crack the throttle, and you have so much response, and you have the classic parallel twin engine pulses.
04:47And, man, I'm already getting more and more, even though I'm, I've limited track experience, with each lap, each corner, each section, it's gaining so much confidence.
05:02Price point, under $7,000.
05:05Pretty good, man.
05:09And the, the ride-by-wire system, which Aprilia was a pioneer in, really good on this bike.
05:17I've spent a little bit of time on a Tuono, the Touareg, some of their other models, the RS660, and I remember, it wasn't terrible, but I remember having a little bit of sort of a big feel right at the crack of the throttle.
05:35This one does not have that same sensation.
05:40It's really good.
05:42We're in the lowest traction control setting right now.
05:47With rear ABS-C activated, sport mode, most aggressive engine mapping and throttle response.
06:01We also have,
06:01we also have,
06:05you also have a,
06:06rain mode,
06:08and eco,
06:09with dedicated TC,
06:12and ABS settings.
06:14There's only, there's two ABS settings, one and two.
06:17One is going to be a street,
06:21and there's going to be a track ABS.
06:23Good brake feel out of these Vibri,
06:26Vibri.
06:27It's got us out of the Vibri caliper,
06:30four piston caliper up front,
06:32two in the rear.
06:33You got a single,
06:35320 millimeter disc,
06:37up front.
06:38It's getting right up to the rev limiter right there in third.
06:43Wow, it's really good on the front end.
06:48It's amazing.
06:49On the brake,
06:50trail braking into the corner.
06:52It's such a good feel.
06:54I mean, man,
06:55it seems like a little race bike.
06:57I like,
07:03how you can turn off rear ABS.
07:06I don't know,
07:07that's the fastest way for me around the track,
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