2024 Aprilia RS457 review | Light, powerful, fast and fun, the Italian pocket rocket is easy to ride and delivers big bike thrills

Aprilia has made the RS457 as light and powerful as is can be within the A2 licence regulations: 175kg wet and the new 457cc parallel twin cylinder engine makes 47bhp. This breezy power-to-weight ratio (the best in class, Aprilia says) makes it huge fun to ride, here at its world launch at the Autodromo di Modena in Italy.

This 50-something road tester might be light years away from RS457’s intended audience and most owners won’t go anywhere near a track, but the RS457 still impresses. It’s easy to ride fast and teaches you everything you need to know about carrying corner speed, which is what small capacity sportsbikes have always been about.

On track the RS457 never puts a foot wrong, but that said, the standard Eurogrip Protorq Extreme (no, me neither) tyres have been replaced with sticky Pirelli Diablo Super Corsa SP V4 rubber and Aprilia have fitted sportier brake pads from the accessory catalogue.

An aluminium frame helps keep the weight down and the way it handles is textbook RS660 or RSV4. Aprilia don’t know how to make a bad handling bike and the RS457 is no wishy-washy superbike look-a-like. It glides precisely through corners, has lots of ground clearance and with its narrow 110-section front tyre and racy chassis geometry, steers through chicanes with minimum effort.

The front end can sometimes feel too light with a lack of bite from the tyre into corners, but that’s being picky in an irrelevant track environment. Balancing ride height with preload could improve things, but it won’t be a problem for normal riding. There’s plenty of feel on the way out of corners before its time to duck under the low screen and hammer down the next straight.

A low seat will let smaller riders to get feet flat on the floor, but its roomy riding position with clip-ons placed above the top yoke, makes it easy for taller riders to move around.

All-new 457cc 270-degree crank parallel twin has a load-bearing crankcase on to which the swingarm is bolted. The motor weighs 6kg less than the RS660’s. It might make ‘only’ 47bhp, but the lightweight RS457 feels quick, even on the open expenses of a racetrack and it’ll feel faster still on the road.

Aprilia claims a 118mph top whack. The new motor has a smooth and friendly spread of power, a deep, booming soundtrack and enough grunt for swift acceleration out of corners, even from low revs. The gearbox is precise, too, ably helped by an accessory quick shifter.

Ride-by-wire electronics are controlled by the same Marelli 11MP ECU you’ll find in the RS6650 and RSV4, facilitating riding modes, traction control and ABS. We’re using maximum power, the least TC and ABS with the rear disabled. There’s only ever the slightest hint of electronic intrusion hard on the throttle and impressive brakes, despite being a single disc set-up.

Although the RS457 is too new to pass comment on reliability, we hope it fares better than Aprilia’s last new sportsbike: the RS660. While many of our online reviews for that machine are positive, there are number of major faults, which are a cause for concern. We hope they’re addressed for the RS457.

It may be premium, but Aprilia have priced it in the ballpark of its closest race rep A2 rivals, like the £6499 CFMoto 450SR, £6699 Honda CBR500R, £5999 Kawasaki Ninja 500, £5899 KTM RC390 and £6505 Yamaha R3.

Not only does it go and handle like an Aprilia sportsbike, it looks like one, too. There’s lots of lovely attention to detail in the bodywork, with aero slots, vents and scoops and the paint finishes are superb, especially the black version with metallic flecks that glow green and pink in sunlight.

It comes with LEDs, a 5in colour dash and a 13-litre tank, which with a claimed 69mpg should give a handy 197-mile range…although not today on track. A 5in colour display is operated by backlit switchgear and there are three riding modes (Eco, Sport, Rain), three stage TC (plus ‘off) and option to disable rear ABS.

There are a huge range of performance, comfort and cosmetic accessories available and Aprilia branded Alpinestars clothing.