Aprilia developing a twin-cylinder supersport for 2019?

Bruno Gomes

August 1, 2018

With everyone already focused on the new generation of the acclaimed RSV4, set to be showed during EICMA, Milan, in November, Aprilia might have a small surprise for us since reports coming from Italy talk about the possibility that the Italian manufacturer is working on a new project.

That new project is in fact a twin-cylinder supersport bike, and it’s a real possibility that we might see this new Aprilia on the road late 2019.

According to sources, the design of the new supersport from Noale will be loosely based on the current RSV4, but as for the engine, opinions point to two possibilities: either Aprilia engineers pick the V4 engine of the RSV4 removing the rear cylinders making a parallel-twin, or they take another approach, still cutting it in half, but making what will be a V2.

Either way, Aprilia won’t just chop two cylinders off the V4 engine and use it on this new supersport, and we can expect the displacement to be between 600 and 800 cc.

There’s also the chance they opt to use the V-twin engine from the Dorsoduro and Shiver 900 models, but it still means they’ll need to do heavy work on that engine to make it able to suit the needs of a supersport machine.

If the engine is still unknown at this point, what we can expect Aprilia to use is a lightweight chassis similar to the one used on the RSV4, while the electronic package should use an IMU unit to allow the rider to suit the bike to their needs, adjusting traction control, anti-wheelie, ABS, engine brake level, and many other riding aids.

Don’t expect to see this new Aprilia supersport bike in EICMA this year, or even a concept, because the project is still in the middle of its development stage and the bike is expected to be available late 2019 or even early 2020.