Aprilia’s Upcoming Sub-500cc Supersport Is Coming REAL Soon!

If you thought launches of the Karizma XMR and the 2023 Royal Enfield Bullet 350 made this week action-packed, wait till you hear that Aprilia has finally given us the first official teaser about its upcoming supersport, the RS440 and we’re mighty excited. 

 

 

 

 

 

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The teaser put up on social media shows a bike with a sharp front end, muscular middle section and a super sleek rear, similar to what we’ve seen in spy shots. The silhouette does make it look like a scaled-down RS660. Interestingly, while the teaser doesn’t give away a lot, the tread pattern of the tyres makes us think that the bike could get TVS Eurogrip Protorq Extreme tyres. 

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Image credit goes to the respective owners

What we do know about the bike is that its 400-440cc liquid-cooled parallel-twin engine will likely be a high-revving mill with enough performance to take the fight to the KTM RC 390 and Kawasaki Ninja 400. Along with that, expect the RS 440 to come equipped with a TFT console and fancy electronics including ride-by-wire, traction control, cornering ABS and maybe even a quickshifter. Aprilia will not skimp out on hardware too and spy shots have shown that there’s a chunky USD fork and a monoshock with aluminium swingarm. Head here to know more about the bike.

The teaser says September 7 and that’s when we think the bike could be unveiled. As for its India launch, it’s likely that it could be between September 22 and 24, for that’s when the Bharat GP (Indian MotoGP) race is. All the premium componentry will not be cheap and we think Aprilia could price the little RS at around Rs 4.50 lakh, ex-showroom. Yes, that is expensive but we expect its riding experience to be just as rich and thrilling as high its price could be. For perspective, the KTM RC 390 costs Rs 3,18,173, while the Ninja 400 costs Rs 5.19 lakh, ex-showroom.