Hopefully, you have fond memories of your first 'real' bike, the step up from your 125 of FS1-E. For those of us north of 40 years old, this was usually a sporty lightweight with demon handling (at the time, that is) and styling that mirrored its bigger siblings or even race bikes of the era. Depending on your exact age, it may have been Yamaha's legendary RD250LC or 350LC, or Kawasaki's KH250 and 350. For my generation, it was Suzuki's RGV250 or Kawasaki's KR-1S, and later, Aprilia's GPlookalike RS250. I bought a KR-1S, and loved it.
For young riders of my generation there was also an abundance of small-capacity grey imports such as Honda's VFR400 and CBR400. Kawasaki officially imported the ZXR400 to the UK, as did Yamaha, briefly, the delectable FZR400. Even Suzuki had the GSX-R400. And if you wanted to really stand out, there were specialist, high-revving 250 four-stroke machines, as well as exotic and very trick Japanese-market 250cc two-stokes like Honda's NSR250. We were truly spoilt for choice.
These beautiful, jewel-like rockets were all affordable, fun to ride, looked great, and mirrored bigger or race bikes. Then the market fell out of love with small-capacity sportsbikes, and we moved on. That is, until now.
Thankfully, several manufacturers have spotted a gap in the market and introduced a new wave of small-capacity, aspirational, sporty and affordable bikes. Aprilia has the sexy RS660, KTM the RC390, and Yamaha the twin-cylinder 700cc R7. Suddenly, it's like the 1990s all over again, but with electronic rider aids! We thought it was time to take a closer look.
APRILIA RS660
Light, trick and lots of fun
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