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It is easy to peg the Aprilia Tuono 660 as simply the “naked version” of the fully faired Aprilia RS 660 sport bike, but the more and more I think about this Italian middleweight-twin, I feel that distinction is a misleading way to regarding the smaller Tuono.

The better way to think about the Aprilia Tuono 660 is to regard it as Aprilia’s road-focused 660 offering, whereas the RS 660 is geared more towards track enthusiasts.

As one can see, the Aprilia Tuono 660 doesn’t really have a lack of fairing, just more of a bikini approach, in contrast to the RS 660’s one-piece design.

The internet is rife right now with rumors of a Kawasaki Ninja 700 in the works, to compete better in the budding middleweight-twin class.

According to the rumors, the bike would be an evolution of the current Kawasaki Ninja 650, with an obvious displacement bump to help it compete against the likes of the Yamaha MT-07 and even the higher-spec Aprilia RS 660.

The veracity of this rumor is up for grabs, but there is some logic to the idea – should it pan out to be true.

When we first saw the Aprilia RS 660, we knew that the parallel-twin platform would be used on a variety of bikes, one of which being a “naked” Tuono 660 model (as well as an ADV-styled Tuareg 660).

While the RS 660 took a little longer than expected to go into production, thanks largely to the coronavirus outbreak, the Italians in Noale have caught back up with things, and today we see the Aprilia Tuono 660 debuting as a 2021 model – ready in dealerships in just a couple months.

Announcing deliveries of the bike for the “end of Q1 2021”, the Aprilia Tuono 660 is a model that we have been eagerly awaiting for this year.

Pricing starts at $10,499 in the USA ($12,795 for our Canadian readers), and you can tack on another $200 if you want it in the “Acid Gold” color scheme (Canadians are looking at $13,095 for this Mountain Dew green livery).

It was just a handful of days ago that we got to see the Triumph Trident 660 motorcycle make its world debut – with the value-focused three-cylinder roadster looking like a very strong candidate for the middleweight category.

Now, news out of India sees the British brand is set to follow-up the Trident 660 with two adventure-styled models. One is a more off-road focused, while the other fits better in the adventure-sport category.

After a teaser campaign that left little to the imagination, the Triumph Trident 660 is finally here, and we we like what we see.

For those not in the know, the Trident 660 is a budget-focused middleweight from Triumph, with an emphasis on value – and we like what we see.

As the name implies, the bike features an 660cc three-cylinder engine (loosely based on the old 675cc triple, with over 60 new parts) that makes 80hp (60 kW) and 47 lbs•ft (64 Nm) of torque.

Boasting true linear power, 90% of that torque is available starting at 3,000 rpm, mind you. The Triumph Trident 660 also has a slip-assist clutch installed.

Almost two-and-a-half years ago, Asphalt & Rubber broke the story that Aprilia was working on a twin-cylinder sport bike, which would be a more affordable and approachable option than the company’s flagship RSV4 superbike offering.

After teasing us at EICMA with the prototype in 2018, and then with the production model a year later, we were set for the Aprilia RS 660 to debut as a 2020 model…but then, the coronavirus outbreak changed all that.

With Italy no longer under lockdown, this bike is finally ready to take the stage, and of course the 2021 Aprilia RS 660 is headed stateside, with the first examples of it landing at dealerships in time for Christmas (and what a present that would be under the tree).

It has been a long wait for this eagerly anticipated motorcycle, and last week the American motorcycle press got their first miles on this middleweight-twin.

Riding the canyon roads near Santa Barbara, we put the Aprilia RS 660 through its paces on some of the best roads California has to offer (in this author’s opinion, at least), to see how this unique creation from Noale stacked up.

Would it live up to the hype? Is this the new twins class killer? Does Aprilia have another opus on its hands? That is what we aim to explain to you in this review.

I wasn’t going to double-dip on stories for the Aprilia RS 660 concept this week, but well…these photos were too good not to share ASAP. If you haven’t read our report that the Aprilia RS 660 will be showing up for the 2020 model year, well then…started getting excited party-people.

Ahead of our ride time on the new Aprilia RSV4 1100 Factory, the folks from Noale invited us to their “Aprilia All Stars” event at the Mugello circuit last week, which is where we spotted the RS 660 on display.

The bike hasn’t changed from its debut in Milan late last year, which is fine by us, as it looks like it could roll right onto the showroom floor already…and apparently from yesterday’s news, that is the point.

Still, spending some time up-close with the Aprilia RS 660 concept provides us with some interesting insights to this machine.

When the Aprilia RS 660 concept was debuted at last year’s EICMA show, what we saw was actually three thing. One was a new engine platform, based around a parallel-twin engine that is basically an RSV4 motor cut in half. Another was a middleweight supersport model based on that new twin-cylinder engine, and the third was an active aerodynamics concept.

Our Bothan spies tell us that the active aerodynamics package is destined for the next generation of the Aprilia RSV4 superbike, which we expect to see in 2021 when the Euro5 regulations first come into affect. They also told us that the Aprilia RS 660 was the first model of a new platform, which we would see debut for the 2020 model year.

Now with Aprilia talking to our colleagues at Moto-Station in France, we get confirmation that the Aprilia RS 660 will debut as a production model later this year, at the EICMA show in Milan, which is held in November.

As we predicted in our EICMA round-up on the Noale brand, it looks like we won’t have to wait long to see the production version of the Aprilia RS 660 sport bike, as  photos on Facebook show that the Italians have been caught testing the machine at the track.

With two bikes spotted, one in street trim and one in race trim, the Aprilia RS 660 looks surprisingly production-ready, which tips a debut at next year’s EICMA show, and the bike being a 2020 model year machine.

Last week, we showed you two new motorcycles from Norton, the Atlas Ranger and the Atlas Nomad. Today, we bring you a third bike from this 650cc parallel-twin platform from the British brand, the Norton Superlight.

Based off the same road-going platform as the Atlas, the Superlight is really a race bike in disguise.

This is because the Norton Superlight takes the mild-mannered engine from the Atlas bikes, which makes 84hp and 47 lbs•ft of torque, and cranks them up to “11” for an engine that produces 105hp (78 kW) of peak power and 55 lbs•ft (75 Nm) of torque.