Piaggio India had showcased the much-awaited Aprilia RS 457 fully-faired motorcycle at the Indian MotoGP in September 2023. The company is now ready to launch the motorcycle at the 2023 India Bike Week on December 8.
The Aprilia RS 457 will be the latest entrant in the twin-cylinder sub-500cc category, which has very limited offerings like Kawasaki Ninja 400 & Ninja 300, and the soon-to-be-launched Yamaha R3. Kawasaki has announced the new Ninja ZX-4R in the country, which will also challenge the Aprilia RS 457. The motorcycle shares the styling cues from the bigger RS range. It comes with the signature double front fairing, a sleek 2-in-2 exhaust, LED front headlight similar to the bigger Aprilia bikes, underbelly silencer, and a new 5-inch TFT colour instrument cluster.
Aprilia claims that the new fully-faired motorcycle inherits the sporty character of the RS 660. Based on the lightweight platform, the new Aprilia RS 457 motorcycle will offer ease of handling and has advanced technological features.
Powering the new sporty motorcycle is a liquid-cooled parallel twin-cylinder engine with double camshaft timing and four valves per cylinder. This new 457cc twin-cylinder engine churns out a maximum power output of 48bhp. The motorcycle comes with 41mm USD front fork and monoshock at the rear, both with preload adjustability. For braking duties, the fully-faired sports bike gets 320mm front disc and 220mm rear disc along with dual-channel ABS with a supermoto mode.
The motorcycle rides on 17-inch alloys shod with 110/70 front and 150/60 rear section tyres. The RS 457 has a kerb weight of just 175kgs, which is just 3kgs more than the KTM RC390. The bike is equipped with ride-by-wire tech with 3 riding modes, and 2 level of traction control. It features a 5-inch TFT display with Bluetooth connectivity as optional accessory. Quickshifter is also available as an optional accessory.
The Aprilia RS457 is the only sports bike in its class with an aluminium chassis and has multiple electonic riding assistance system. This twin motorcycle will be locally manufactured by Piaggio at its Baramati plant in India. It is expected to be priced somewhere between the Rs 3.5 lakh to Rs 4.25 lakh.
