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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.

Another bike on our list of “must-rides” for 2020, we are about to swing a leg over the Aprilia RS 660. This middleweight-twin has been a long time coming, especially in its full-fairing aesthetic.

On the spec sheet, the Aprilia RS 660 looks set to upend the segment, but of course the proof is in the pudding on how this parallel-twin motor runs, how its twin-spar aluminum chassis handles, and how refined its APRC electronics package truly is on the open road.

Today’s test takes us to the curvy pavement near Santa Barbara, California, where our 200-mile route through canyons and highways promises to give us a glimpse at this bike’s potential.

All good things must come to an end, and so too must this Broventure. Our travels have forged our buttocks into iron, impervious now to the long days in the saddle; our minds have been steeled against the lonely nature of navigating the back roads of America; and our road beards prevent us from stopping within 500 feet of an elementary school — talking to members of the opposite sex has been proven to be difficult as well.

Our bodies show that we have gone to Moab and back, and along the way we took in many of the breath-taking sights that the Southwest has to offer. We traded in our track leathers for some ADV gear, and tipped our toe into the off-roading waters — there is a reason this site is called Asphalt & Rubber, but this whole dirt thing is starting to look appealing as well.

It’s closing in on 1am on Wednesday, the actual date of our departure for our 2,000 mile round-trip ride to Moab, Utah and back…and needless to say, I should be in bed asleep (like Tim is now), instead of writing a damn blog post — it’s been a busy day though, so like the good blogger I am, getting a post out before bed is the last “to do” item on my list.

However, it’s hard to imagine that in nine hours or so we will finally be on our bikes (2013 Yamaha Super Ténéré and 2013 BMW R1200GS) and headed to our first waypoint in Las Vegas.

But then again, considering the 200 miles or so we did in my car toady alone, picking up the Yamaha, getting Tim fitted with Dainese riding gear and an AGV helmet, not to mention spending countless dollars at REI and other venues for last-minute items, I guess it is reasonable to foresee this trip-of-many-miles getting underway shortly.

Dubbed the Best Motorcycle of the 2009 EICMA show, the 2010 Ducati Multistrada 1200 S Touring has a lofty title that we’ve been itching to test since we saw the bike debut in Milan last year. While the new Multistrada 1200 comes in many flavors, we somehow managed to get our hands on the Multistrada 1200 S Touring version, or as we like to call it: “King Duc”. The Multistrada line has been Ducati’s attempt to be more than a sportbike-driven brand, and with this latest incarnation we can see that the Bologna-based company has taken a serious stab at making a go-anywhere GS-killer, with Italian style of course.

We were anxious to bring the Multistrada 1200 to our happy hunting grounds in Santa Barbara, CA where we had just recently test ridden the groundbreaking Honda VFR1200F a month back. Our adventures with the new Multi actually began with a very long and boring two-hour drive into Brea, CA on four wheels. Traveling on four wheels in Los Angeles is the stuff suicide notes are made of, and naturally the return trip from Brea was a more pleasurable experience for a certain test rider, than it was for one editor stuck in LA gridlock. Of course that didn’t stop me from having the pleasurable experience of becoming acquainted with the Multistrada 1200 in its natural territory, the open road.

Knowing the sporty nature of Ducati motorcycles (and the seemingly inverse relationship between sportiness and comfort), we were skeptical of how enjoyable the 150-mile ride back from Brea would be on the Ducati Multistrada 1200 S Touring. Suffering through the almost endless miles of parked cars on the highway that laid between Los Angeles and Santa Barbara, I pulled over and sent the first text message back about the bike, “So much fun!!!!” it read, along with a picture of the Multistrada sitting on the side of dead-end road.