Aprilia Tuareg visits the desert

[advrider]

Aprilia wants you to know the new Tuareg 660 adventure bike isn’t just another made-in-Italy adventure bike that’s aimed at pavement princess duty. It’s made for the dirt; that’s Aprilia’s story, and they’re sticking to it.  And, they’ve got this video to show it.

Now, this is no BMW G450X, or anything along those lines. The new Aprilia Tuareg 660 is still going to be bigger and beefier than a small enduro-oriented thumper, considering it has Aprilia’s latest-gen 660 parallel twin powerplant.

However, that’s the way the moto industry is heading. In the 1970s through the 1990s, OEMs would develop a trim single-cylinder engine for a dual sport bike, and then perhaps use that engine for street bikes in its lineup (Yamaha XT500, Suzuki DR650, etc.). Now, it goes the other way. The manufacturers design a budget-friendly twin for their street bike lineup, and then stuff it into an ADV chassis (Honda CB500X, Suzuki V-Strom 650, Yamaha Tenere 700).

That’s the case with the Tuareg 660—it uses the same liquid-cooled parallel twin as the RS660 sportbike and Tuono 660 naked bike. Aprilia introduced this engine to provide an affordable option in its lineup. Although it’s going to cost you more than a made-in-Japan in the same displacement category, it is indeed more wallet-friendly than Aprilia’s other offerings, and unlike other Italian brands, this 660 is actually made in Italy, not an Asian factory.

The engine is supposed to put out 80 horsepower and 51 pound-feet of torque; the bike weighs 187 kilograms dry, and comes with 21-inch front wheel, 18-inch rear wheel (both with tubeless spoked design), an 860 millimetre seat height and an 18-litre fuel tank. LED lights and TFT screen are also standard, along with cruise control, switchable ABS, traction control, separate fueling maps, and other modern electronic features.

It looks like the Tuareg 660 could be a very good compromise bike then—offroad capability mixed with all the up-to-date electronics that today’s discerning customer wants. We’d expect to see it for sale at some point during the 2022 riding season with an MSRP higher than the Yamaha Tenere 700 and lower than the Honda CRF1100L Africa Twin.

 

 

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