News

My thoughts on the Aprilia RS457: How does it fare against 390 Duke?

12th August 2024, 18:06 by Brij Gawde

I might have got the duke but the RS457 was my first choice. It is everything I wanted, a sportsbike that does not let in too much wind noise, bars that are not too high causing my shoulders to shrug and a riding position that felt natural to me.

BHPian hikozaru recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

I might have got the duke but the RS457 was my first choice. It is everything I wanted, a sportsbike that does not let in too much wind noise, bars that are not too high causing my shoulders to shrug, and a riding position that felt natural to me. RC390 was also an option but in the end, I fell for the spec sheet and just could not justify buying a bike with the 'older engine', and older everything else, with not even adjustable suspension from the international spec model. Aprilia also did not work. They took much time to get their sales sorted and without much information about the cost of spares and lead times for the inevitable crashes, I could not buy it in good conscience. Seeing how I was not getting any younger, and with the RS457 and RC390 out of contention,I decided I could not wait and bought the duke 390, which I thought was certainly good at the time. Recently, I got a chance to ride the RS457, so I decided to check out the 'one that got away' in more detail.

The bike is HEAVY. It is only 7kg more than the Duke but it feels so much heavier getting it off the side stand. The weight feels much lower down and as a self-proclaimed, multiple-time world champion at dropping bikes in the parking lot, this one held itself upright very well. More about the weight later.
The clutch and brake levers are almost horizontal. It was stupid of KTM to sell me the Duke like that, but it is utter lunacy to sell a sports bike that spends most of its time on the road, with this setup. My left wrist was completely broken by the time I came home. I got an 8mm spanner from my Duke toolkit to angle it downward so that it is in line with my wrist. I left the brake lever alone thinking I would ride it a bit more before deciding and god did it bite me back.
The yellow marks won't go away. Honestly, ew. They should consider getting some UV light kind of ink or paint that is visible only under certain lighting or liquids.
The dash itself is quite good but the menu is garbage. You will need a master's degree in history and need to take the optional elective, Scientific Methods in 4000BC, to understand the menu. Resetting the trip meter is such a trip through time.
The first screen has a temp gauge. The temps read like ambient but it goes anywhere from 21c to 40c in the span of a single day in Bangalore. I am not sure if it really means that gridlocked traffic is a good 5-7c hotter than standing 2 streets away but big if true.
It has got proper sportsbike ergos. Parallel twins when coupled with appropriate tanks (looking at your Continental GT650) I feel are the perfect width to hug with your legs. Singles are anorexic and make you feel like you've got knock knees when you hug the tank
Biting point is probably the same as my duke but it feels farther still because of the longer reach to the bars. In traffic with a relaxed posture, I was gassing it quite a bit before letting the clutch go, but if I properly sat on it, I could do a clean and polite pull.
The throttle is super light which I really appreciate as this one does not have cruise control. It is lighter than the duke.
Indicators do not self-cancel. But not all is good, for the indicator light is the same for both left and right turns. The indicator switch itself is slightly stiff and I have never had a pair of gloves where the thumb fit me right, so there was always a nagging doubt if I updated the indicators correctly when doing quick lefts and rights. Quite annoying in grid-like areas like HSR or at offset intersections that run as two quick T-junctions. It is 2024 and we still have not managed to get impeccable road manners on our bikes, bit of a shame really
Mirrors are quite goo
The bike is extremely loud, even with earplugs. 77db at idle, 3.4m away from the back of the bike, and 94db at 7k rpm, which it turns out is completely normal. So why was it so loud to my ears? Part of it is I suspect it revs a bit faster than the Duke being a twin and hits the loud rpm (>5k) quicker than the Duke. I do not know why it needs to be so loud at idle though.
The signature bark from around 4k sort of fades away near the redline. Interestingly enough, the duke also has a similar bark around 5-7k. I asked my friend about it and they said an aftermarket air filter will do the trick and since then I've noticed even 411 Himalayas make that kind of noise. It might not match the RS457 1:1 but it is close enough.
Sounds underwhelming off the throttle. It whistles and pops but has none of the characteristics of a CB300R when whistling or a RE350 for the pops.
The pegs vibrate quite a bit from 5k and it increases as the revs go up. Weirdly enough, the right peg vibrated more than the left. The bars and the tank have a very mild constant vibration that is constant throughout the rev range (still smoother than any single and many Japanese 180 twins). That said the bike is an absolute doddle under 5k and can carry quite a bit of speed under 5k.
The gear lever is extremely stiff. Probably works well with boots but is a massive faff to operate with shoes.
I really like the gearing. 20-90kmph in second is all you need for the city and I dare say for highways too if the police insist that bikes are second-class citizens who should not ride faster than 80kmph. The third gear knocks on FIR territory and the fourth onward is jail.
The throttle response is quite muted in the 6th. It barely has any pull at 5k. 5th is a similar story, although I did not spend much time in those gears. 100kmph comes at around 5k and is quite smooth and more importantly around half the tacho. The duke does it at 6k around 2/3rds. I think half the rev range is the perfect spot between too much power that is just useless most of the time in the city and too little for overtaking on highways. The duke simply does not have long legs
It has enough ground clearance to clear the trapezium-frustum-shaped speed breakers at 40kmph. Some of the other kinds do make a scratchy sound but I think it has more to do with body position than speed in those cases
The bike runs very hot. The engine temp itself is not that much higher than the duke but a lot of heat comes out of the fairings and into the leg. My bum also felt warm as I inched closer to the tank after for a more relaxed reach to the bars.
Braking was hard. There is too much weight on the wrists even at 0.5g. Not adjusting the brake lever is definitely a reason but overall braking on a sports bike seems to be a different skill set.
The bike pulls hard even with a pillion. Bit of a squeeze with 2 adults and a backpack in between.
The swingarm heel plate is probably great for track dudes to feel the flex, but for a noob like me, it's a nice fun gimmick. It is like a fidget spinner on a bike and is a nice massage as long as the roads are not bad enough to throw your foot off the heel plate.
Aprilia app is fantastic. KTM might be ready to race, but it does not look like they are ready to win. The only missing thing in data collection I can think of is the lean angle. There is a data point every 1s and it is coupled with location data so you know exactly where you did what. Great visualisation tool. A bit finicky to get it connected but works well. It does not even drain too much battery. I'd like to see KTM do something like this with data collection and visualisation. It is something I did not know I wanted and fits a ready-to-race brand. And the current KTM app is horrible.
12kmpl in the city, 18kmpl after a good-spirited ride

Finally, we can stop debating how preload does not actually make suspension harder or softer. We can see the height difference between the two settings, set at max and min preload.

Both forks are at the lowest setting. Honestly, I was scared at the thought of not getting the preload equal on both forks seeing as how this is not step-clickable but an infinite level of adjustment. I set it to approximately 5 turns from lowest on both sides.

Cheap thrills. I don't mean the RS457 in particular but the Duke is also capable of braking at 1.2Gs

Do you really need more power? The speed in the app is the same as Odo (10% error probably). I assume the acceleration figures might also be similarly exaggerated.

I saw a light near the ABS light flash a lot of the time on bad roads when exiting a bump. Perhaps that is TC doing its job. I set it to 3 hoping it was the least intrusive

This one should be great for racer dudes

Who knew stopping on the outside side of the road when its mucky slipped their wheels by 12%

Now, how does it fare against the duke

The Duke ergos are still an enigma to me really after a little over 3k km and most of it comes from the handlebars being absurdly close. It is hilarious that I reach out to the splayed-out handlebars on the RS457 but hold the duke almost at the bar end weights. Traditionally, nakeds have wider bars, so I do not need to do that on the Duke but I still do it despite the bar end weights being noticeably vibey on both bikes. This is partly because I find it nicer to grab the levers by their ends but moreso because I cannot push the bars normally. Combined with how twitchy the duke is I have to gently nudge it forward from the side. I find it easier said than done and with how tingly it leaves my hands from holding the bar end weights, I cannot say I enjoy it. On the RS457 I can finally at least practice trail brake on right turns. yay
The duke turns on a dime but I have never been able to feel it at lower speeds. On the RS457. it was insane just how much feel I got when I pushed the bars on the bars accidentally during braking. I later deliberately did that at a constant speed and it was there. Perhaps the vibey bars on the Duke mar the road feel to a degree, perhaps it is because the suspension is much taller and the bars higher on the Duke, I don't know but it certainly does not feel right.
The front wheel stays down all the time with TC and rear ABS on. The Duke rides like a pogo stick in comparison, again with TC and rear ABS on. The Duke is probably softer than the RS457 as a whole but I think the front is quite comparable. It is the rear that is significantly different and worse on the Duke for my 65kg-ish ready-to-race weight. I have my preload set to 2 from 5 (never changed it) and have played with different rebound damping (it is currently at its softest setting) and it is pretty awful. I would appreciate some pointers on a better setup. I think it could be the tyres as well.
On the duke I would need to shift between 2-3-4 and I've had moments where I've run out of revs on the road in the middle of a turn and it is frustrating waiting for the turn to end. I am not good enough to risk losing traction to upshift. It is not bad on a track where you know what gear you would carry on a turn but on unknown roads, I much prefer the wide band of the RS457. Though you cannot deny how legal-friendly duke's gearing is
It was not as silent as I expected in terms of wind noise. It is comparable to the Duke. The Duke still remains the only bike I've ridden so far to change its sound when I sit on it with my earplugs on
Standing up at a signal to take the weight off the bum is easier on the duke. The width and the shape of the seat on the RS457 did not make me feel like I was fully stood up. The seat itself on the RS457 is relentless. The shape of the seat makes it a punishing ride when sitting next to the tank for a more relaxed upper body position. The narrow part of the seat put a lot of pressure on my lower bum, going to the inside thigh. The same contour also sort of digs into the same parts when leaning and after a ride's worth of riding, it hurts. As someone who defended the stock KTM seat on the duke, never thought I'd see the day when I complained about a seat.
The ride might not be committed but for an out-of-shape person like me, it was a very physical ride. I could really feel the weight during side-to-side transitions. The duke is so much easier to turn and the straight bars mean a comfy ride on boring straights.
The low rpm is a lot easier on the RS457. Whether it is down to me applying more throttle intuitively due to the seating position because the twin cylinders put out power twice as frequently as the Duke or because it 'runs rich', I don't know. All I know is, that I did not stall the RS457 once and I stalled my Duke 7 times on my 10km ride back home.
The lack of vibes, wind protection from fairing and the excellent suspension mask speed so well and give it some great touring chops.

Good bike, good ride

So yes, the RS457 is a better bike for the track than the Duke. It is a better touring bike than the Duke. It is not loud and thrashy and banging on its limiter all the time when going fast. It is the quintessential big bike experience with none of the downsides of owning an actual big bike. It is a proper bike. What is not to like about it? Well, it turns out there is a market for improper bikes. That is the reason why this 3000-word Aprilia opinion post is actually a KTM post in disguise and is on the Duke thread. What the duke lacks in track and sports touring prowess, it more than makes up for it in versatility and imagination.

RS457 looks like a normal sports bike. It looks like an Aprilia sports bike. It is probably the best-looking Aprilia yet (I prefer underbelly exhausts over big cans like on the RSV4), the top yoke is more stylish than the RS660, and the swingarm gets a proper heel plate to avoid scratches but at the end of the day it is just another sports bike. And the decals on the nonblack colours are awful. An 'a' on the side really? What is this, an ad for Amazon? Are we teaching the alphabet to school kids? The Duke 390 on the other hand, especially in orange is a proper punk at heart. That inspired design is just art.
As good as the RS457 sounds (and it is a very good song, I admit), it is quite one note (yes the idle and top-end sounds are different and so is the off-throttle sound but it is not the sound because they do not sound intentional). I mean the RS457 does not even sound broken like a good European bike should. S1000RR, MV Agusta triples, and Ducatis with dry clutches all sound broken. The duke aces this euro bike test. It sounds broken at idle, vibes like an RE in the lower middle has a similar bark in the midrange, and revs like a Japanese single up top. It sounds like a whirring dirt bike when it is moping around in the lower middle rpm. Talk about character.
Aprilia made a lot of noise about hitting the A2 power-to-weight limit. Well, KTM did that a decade ago. While I've always preferred the Aprilia way of targeting 47hp first and 175kg next, at the time when the 400s were 300s, it made sense for KTM to approach it around lightweight first and engine power next. This has remained the same even for the current dukes. It has the same power-to-weight ratio as the RS457. People say the duke wants to be ridden hard because the engine is scratchy and blotchy as hell at lower revs. It is true but that is not the full picture. The duke feels hollow like there is nothing and it is freewheeling in neutral unless you ride it hard. The low rpms do not have the intentional drive of an RE350s. The Duke is also the only bike I've ridden that sways at a standstill at signals. Surely there are no crosswinds in traffic. But the fact that the bike sways with even the slightest adjustment of my leg, while not necessarily positive, really is something.

The engine itself has no sense of weight either. RS457's engine feels heavier, the bike is longer, and power is put down on the road twice as frequently. It feels like it is moving the bike fast and you are controlling the bike. The duke's engine feels like it is not moving the bike, but straight up moving you because the duke itself is such a hollow shell of a bike. RS457 might be a proper bike, but the Duke is a proper motor in a cycle.

The RS457 is great at doing what you want but the pogo stick dynamics on the duke will show you what you did not know you wanted.

We might not have proper 4 seasons like Japan but we certainly have two for these two here

A reminder that this is actually a post about duke 390

I think the next-gen RC390 has some serious work cut out for it. No matter how good it is in the corners I simply cannot imagine a world where a single has more top-end than a twin or has a smoother ride for touring. At the same time, I also cannot imagine a world where a tuono 457 is better than a Duke 390. I mean, Aprilia still has not figured out that they cannot put out a front fairing and a massive belly pan the size of a fairing to their tunes and call it naked. With more speed limit enforcement, and rising costs of tracking bikes, it makes little sense to buy anything more than an A2 bike in many parts of the world and it is great to see this level of bike specialisation and sophistication in this segment. If I had to buy an A2 bike sometime in Christmas next year, giving one year for both models to settle in, I still would not be able to make a decisive choice. In fact, it might be harder for me once Aprilia's delivery and spare timelines become better.

So far Bajaj KTM has managed to sell 390s because of lack of competition but with cannibalisation from Triumphs, NS400 on one end and Aprilia on the other, I am interested in seeing if the Indian market can buy bikes beyond their spreadsheet and refinement and also how KTM manages to sell bikes solely on their merit because Bajaj-KTM has sat on its laurels for too long, that we never got any power parts or its dirtbikes and supermotos.

TLDR:

Get the RS457 if yo