Aprilia’s brand-new 4-stroke 250cc parallel-twin engine is in the works

Aprilia is set to revive its RS250 with a new four-stroke platform.

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The history of the Aprilia RS250 motorcycle has been quite impressive since its introduction from 1994 to 2004. However, the two-stroke engine is rather old technology and is not cleared for the current market due to not passing global emission standards.

Despite that, sources confirm that Aprilia will bring back the RS250 model but with a new engine. The engine is a parallel-twin 250cc 4-stroke (4-stroke) platform.

This CAD sketch shows the all-new 250cc DOHC 4-stroke parallel-twin engine that Aprilia is developing. Interestingly, this engine places a ‘central-cam drive’ between the cylinders instead of on one side only.

This configuration is rarely applied but Honda has also used the same concept on the Honda CBX 1000 and VFR400R.

There are several factors that contribute to this configuration including producing a more compact ‘cylinder head’ while reducing the flexibility of the ‘camshaft’ and ‘crankshaft’. What is certain is that this 250cc parallel-twin engine developed by Aprilia has never been made by another manufacturer.

For the record, the engine has been registered by Zongshen-Piaggio in China and will be at the heart of the all-new RS250 for the European and US markets. Meanwhile, for the Asian market, Aprilia will use the name GPR250RR.

Zongshen was also previously responsible for producing the Aprilia RS125 and GPR250R for the Chinese market which is powered by a single-cylinder engine. The GPR250R is also the platform for the RS250 SP which is marketed as a circuit machine in the United States in 2020.

The development of this new model indirectly marks Aprilia’s new step and competes with the 250cc ‘sportsbike’ segment which is currently led by the Yamaha R25, Honda CBR250RR and Kawasaki Ninja 250.