Aprilia RS 457 Racing Kit Will Be Put to the Test in New Single-Make Racing Series

The RS 457 is the newest and perhaps the hottest sports bike to be born on the Peninsula. Cooked in the stables of a bike maker that doesn’t treat us with novelties all that often, the ride was presented in September 2023 as a "new technological and stylistic benchmark" dedicated to young riders.

The company has been actively targeting this segment ever since it introduced the RS 660 back in 2020. In Aprilia’s own words, this model has become Europe's best-selling sports bike in the time that has passed since, and that prompted the Italians to come up with a sort of follow-up.

That would be the RS 457, naturally. Slotted between the 125cc Aprilias and the RS 600, it draws inspiration from the way the bikes of the SBK and MotoGP competitions are made. But until now, the new ride had few opportunities to show its track prowess.

That will change this fall, as the bike maker announced it will establish a single-make racing competition dedicated to the bike. It is called, how else, Aprilia RS 457 Trophy, and for this year it will comprise just a couple of races.

The first one will be held at the Cremona circuit on September 8, alongside the FMI Cup, and the second on October 6 at the Misano World Circuit, where the Italian Cup takes place. The stated goal of these first two races in the new series is to “promote young talents.”

And now comes the interesting part. Although even in stock form, the RS 457 is pretty capable of holding its ground on the track, a special racing kit has been developed for the bikes taking part in the series.

In stock form, the RS 457 is built around an aluminum frame. Inside it sits a liquid-cooled parallel twin-cylinder engine, which breathes out a 2-in-1 exhaust system. A total of 47 horsepower, the maximum allowed for a motorcycle with an A2 license, are unleashed to spin the 17-inch wheels the ride is equipped with, moving the 386-pound (175-kg, wet) machine to racing speeds.

Speaking of weight, Aprilia advertises the RS 457 as the bike with the “best power-to-weight ratio possible for a motorcycle suitable for an A2 license,” and as far as we can tell, that’s very much so.

The motorcycle's suspension system is what you’d expect from a project of this caliber. A 41 mm fork with 120 mm of travel holds the wheel up front, while the same task falls to the rear on a combination between a mono shock and a swingarm, capable of 130 mm of travel.

As said, all of the above is the stock configuration, but Aprilia’s racing kit should make the bikes even better suited to taking on twists and bends at high speeds, even if it doesn’t modify them all that much overall.

The kit tampers with the exhaust system, replacing the original one with a piece of hardware developed by SC Project, the same group that backs Aprilia in MotoGP. There will be a complete fiberglass fairing and tail as well, made by Plastic Bike, but also special footpegs and handlebars.

Undisclosed tuning will be performed on the engine and suspension system, and more performance-oriented components will also be included. The kit adds a Sprint Filter racing air filter and an electronic control unit specifically developed for racing purposes. Last but not least, the switches and buttons are now track-bred, and made by Jet Prime.

The kit, although technically developed for racing, will be at some point available for everyone, according to Aprilia, “allowing young riders to approach the world of racing in the easiest way and at the lowest cost.”

We can find out more on how you can get in possesion of the Aprilia RS 457 racing kit by following this link. The same link will give you information on the ways to get yourself into the two races of the Aprilia RS 457 Trophy scheduled for this year.

As for the series itself, the Italian bike maker has big plans for it. It hinted at moving in this direction ever since it announced the motorcycle, and the two races planned for this year are not some hastily put together marketing gimmicks, but the precursor of something more.

We’re told the event, which this year is organized by Eventi 2 Ruote, used to putting together races for amateurs, will expand in 2025 to a much broader calendar. We’ll keep an eye out for more on this as we too are curious to see exactly how many races there will be, or whether the series will expand outside Italy as well.