From Yamaha R15 to Aprilia RS 457: What I love, like and dislike

I wanted to upgrade to something “significant” and the motorcycles I considered included the Triumph Street Triple R, Trident 660 and a used Ducati Monster 821.

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May 20th, 2024 is a day that’s going to be etched in my memory forever. This is the day I got the first sportsbike that I purchased with my own hard-earned money. Bhpians and bhpiettes, presenting my Baramati Bellissima, the Aprilia RS 457.

It’s been a decade-long dream to talk about my story and commence a thread on this forum. I am including the detailed first-hand ownership report on this post but request you all to please bear with me through a tiny bit of redundant storytelling about me and how my world has revolved around automobiles since I was a 5-year-old.

Sometime in 2001, the tale commences

I was born into a regular middle-class family and we didn’t own a car for a long time simply because we could never afford one. My diligent government employee mother worked extra hard pulling all available strings to get me admission into Delhi Public School, Vasant Vihar in New Delhi which is considered to be one of the best in the country. I was surrounded by a cornucopia of rich kids who not only had cars but some of the most premium cars in the market at that time. My fascination with them had started then itself. While coming back home in the school bus, I’d mostly just be staring out the window, keenly glancing at the names of each model and brand through that 30-minute journey home. By the time I was in the 4th grade, I could identify almost every car that roamed India’s streets (domestic and imported) just by a single glance at the taillight. My parents were also very supportive of this hobby and bought me every new domestic car scale model that would arrive at the neighbourhood stationary shop’s window display. I would also be taken to every Auto Expo from 2000 till 2016 without fail.

2 wheels less by 2010

My fascination with cars was slowly stagnating 9 years hence. Parallelly, my fascination with motorcycles was on the rise. This was mostly courtesy of my neighbour who purchased an ‘02 Bullet Machismo 350. He was a guitarist in a heavy metal band and the sight of him riding away with his tall hair escaping the helmet and a guitar strapped to his back just screamed to me “That is so coooool!”.

The real catalysation of this fascination took place around 2010 when my parents just happened to go for a random morning walk and stumbled across a Hayabusa and an R1 that came to refuel at a nearby petrol pump. As luck would have it, the Shanti Path Bharat Petroleum was one of the handful of pumps in the city that sold 97 RON fuel at that time. After seeing the pictures they took, my eyes were wide open in disbelief.

I would later find out that they were a part of one of the most popular riding groups in the country, G.O.D.S. and I would religiously go to the pump every Sunday just to see the bikes and bikers for the next two years. I befriended a lot of their members, learnt a lot from them and this really laid the permanent foundation for motorcycles to become a part of my existence. They called me to join them as a pillion rider, because of which I had a jacket, helmet and pair of gloves when I was just 17 before I had my license or even knew how to properly ride a motorcycle.

The first steed - Yamaha YZF-R15 v2.0 WGP Anniversary Edition

I badly wanted the Ninja 250 to be my first bike. The pre-requisite condition put by my parents was that 90+ in boards and the green goblin would be standing outside the house the very next moment. The Ninja 300 was announced globally in 2012 and I was even more psyched. However, let’s just say that I was far off the expected lower limit when it came to my exam results in 2013. I was deeply devastated that I won’t be getting any Ninja or even a motorcycle for that matter.

I guess my mother just gave into my constant pestering and mewling that she decided to set an upper expense limit of 1 lakh to get me a two-wheeler. I got to know through some mutual acquaintance about a used R15 v2 that had done just 1300km and the owner wanted to get rid of it since it had no space to park his 2 Hayabusas, numerous project bikes and the new D390 that he was about to order. This was a no-brainer decision and at 95k the bike was a total steal.

What was originally supposed to be a temporary purchase back then, turned out to be the most vital component of me for the next 10 years. City commuting, weekend rides, touring, track days, I had done it all on this bike. I owe it big time to the R15 because it meticulously constructed every bit of the rider I am today. I was deeply gutted when I had to let go of her in September, last year.

The upgrade plans?

By 2015, I was on the slowest bike in my group. Everyone else was pretty much my age and they were all on much more powerful motorcycles. A few CBR250s, a plethora of Duke/RC 390s, one Daytona, one Ninja 650R and me on my R15 struggling to keep up with them every Sunday. Again, these notions sound retarded to me today but made a lot of sense back then. I had honed my skills to a point where I was going faster than a lot of them but I was still down on power by at least 8-10 bhp. This factor would keep giving me a major itch at constant intervals.

The RC390 was the most ideal for my requirement based on the performance-to-price ratio but considering how many were already there in the group, I wasn’t tempted to go for it. What I really wanted was something “significant”. The years kept piling on but my savings to purchase power gap was decreasing at a snail’s pace. I still patiently worked bit by bit towards what I deemed was “significant”, fundamentally a 100 Bhp+ sporty middleweight naked.

The options I was considering were very few:

1. Triumph Street Triple R (or used RS): I had ridden the Daytona in my group several times and I was in complete awe of how spectacular a machine it was. The Street Triple is pretty much the same but with more practicality. I knew the extra expense of an RS would be quite a bit so I would just hunt for one from the used bike market where there were plenty.

2. Used Monster 821: Similar logic to the above. New would be quite a few bucks extra and these had pretty bad resale value so you could get a somewhat decent one for around 7.5-8.5 lakh. The cons I found were the existence of a thing known as “Desmo service” and the generic stereotype that Ducatis are expensive and complicated to maintain.

3. Triumph Trident: Of all the options in my consideration list, this one had the most promise. This was also the only one I was able to test ride properly. But alas, the test ride left me quite disappointed. It didn’t feel as exciting as I expected it to be. The throttle input was a little weird, the brakes were okay, and everything felt just okayish to good. Nothing blew me away the way I was expecting it to. Spending nearly 5 years of meticulous savings on something that would leave me wanting for more wasn’t something I was ready for.

So, I called it a day and decided the course of action to take is Street Triple and I would have to just bide my time till 2022, save up a little more and pull the trigger, easy peasy. But life had other plans in store for me. To sum up the next two years of curveballs as briefly as possible: I unexpectedly got shortlisted for IIT Madras’ EMBA programme (which meant 90% of my savings was about to vanish), dad passed away, got laid off towards the end of 2022, the longest relationship ended in 2023, put my papers in due to extreme workplace toxicity at the start of 2024.

First acquaintance with the 457

It was one day after my break-up that I came across the news of the RS 457’s international reveal teaser. I was least concerned because I had already rejected the idea of 43bhp so there was no way I would be tempted for something slightly more. This was all about to change on the 7th of September when I laid my eyes on this opalescent light beauty of a bike. I had never felt this kind of urge to own a motorcycle so badly in the previous decade or so. More than anything, I wouldn’t even have to think of loans or worry about the burden of EMIs even if they price at 6-7 lakhs on-road which I knew it would definitely undercut. In a matter of just 24 hours, the entire course of direction had changed, I knew then and then that this was the motorcycle to get.

I already spoke about my ordeal through the waiting period in detail on another thread. To sum it up Aprilia tortured me for nearly 5 months with delay after delay and truckloads of unkept promises. On the 20th of May, 2024, the stage was set and I finally took delivery of my first proper upgrade in 10 long years. The delivery was rather uneventful as half the showroom staff wasn’t present due to some other work and my entire family was in Kanchipuram. It was a very low-key event which bodes well for a predominant introvert like me.

Took a short video of the ride from the showroom to the temple next to my house

The ownership experience thus far

I am going to split this into three sections, things that I loved, things that I liked and the things that I didn’t like.

Love:

1. Appearance: I mean hey looks are subjective but I doubt there would be anyone out there who’d have the slightest problem with this motorcycle’s appearance. It’s exponentially more gorgeous in person than it appears in pictures. Aprilia has done a fantastic job of downsizing the RSV4’s and RS 660’s visual genetics into this 457. The Italian flair with sharp angles, aerodynamic cutouts on the fairing, below the headlight and the headlight design itself, dang! What a stellar-looking motorcycle! I was getting very paranoid on Day 1 with regard to the kind of attention it was getting because this was something I wasn’t used to at all.

2. Engine: Goddamit what a powerplant! I was really worried if I would find this enough when I discovered it was only 5 Bhp and 5 Nm of torque more than the 390s I was reluctant to get. When I went for a test ride on the 26th of April, before I got the delivery, all my doubts were cleared. The performance was strong enough to slap a continuous wide grin on your face. It doesn’t seem like a lot on paper but the way Aprilia have programmed it seems to have really done the trick. It has a very Jekyll and Hyde character, composed and relaxed at slow speeds but turns into a monster once the revs climb.

I also love that you can stay a gear or two higher in most situations and the engine complies as soon as you yank the throttle without hesitation. The sound has so much character with a very audible induction whine when you let go of the throttle coupled with some delicious pops and bangs. Loads of character! The biggest surprise is that it doesn’t heat as much as I expected it to since I knew the plight of my 390 friends. I would actually go on to say that the engine is the highlight of this motorcycle more than the appearance.

Like:

1. Tech: I am a sucker for technology and for some reason, the UX interface of the instrument cluster gains a lot of importance on my preference chart. Aprilia has done a really good job with it. Loads of information segregated into different screens, very intuitive UX and very good looking one in fact. I love how they’ve executed the turn-by-turn navigation. Of course, it’s not as good as a proper GPS-type navigation suite as offered on some of the big capacity tourers in the market or the latest gen MT-09 but it's far ahead of the conventional arrow and one line of text systems.

A small caveat here is HERE Maps which is nowhere as seamless as Google Maps. I am currently on the highest TCS setting on purpose to understand the limits of the bike better and it does intervene a lot. But I’d prefer having that rather than a wheelspin that leads to a mishap. The smartphone app also shows you the number of times TCS intervention has happened in the rides that you record.

2. Handling: I have yet to explore the handling at its limits so I might upgrade this aspect to the love category later. Till now it's really good, the bike feels light, very zippy across traffic and the suspension and chassis are very compliant with any turning input I give. I just didn’t find it to be as precise and razor-sharp as the RC390. But again, this could change once the tyres have set in a bit or I have gotten a little more accustomed to the steel belt radials which I am not used to.

3. Braking: This aspect had me very worried from the beginning since almost every Indian reviewer had complained about the crippling levels of brake fade at Kari Motor Speedway and I wanted to get this issue fixed as soon as I got the bike. However, after riding for the first 100km, I didn’t notice anything wrong with the brakes. The levers on my bike didn’t feel spongy at all unlike the test ride bike and dropped anchor with a good amount of strength.

I encountered a dicey situation where a doggo decided to cross my path without warning and despite the panic reaction to press both levers, ABS did its job very smoothly and the bike shed speed rapido. Again, the results could be very different on the track or during spirited riding but till now I found the braking to be pretty good.

4. Quality: Fit and finish is really good for about 90% of the bike. It’s not as good as a full-on CBU but pretty damn good considering it’s made in India. The switchgear feels very nice and tactile save for a few quirks which I’ll mention in the next section. The one major part which I don’t like in terms of quality is the black tank shroud covering the battery. It feels quite flimsy compared to the rest of the bike and I don’t think it's going to remain scratch-free for long.

Dislike:

1. Le quirks Italiane: Some of the small things on this bike make no sense whatsoever. The biggest of these small things is the omission of heel guards on the footpeg assembly. Instead, you have this weird skid plate-like thing on both sides of the swingarm. I don’t even understand the aesthetic purpose of this because I think the brushed steel finish on its own would have looked rather good. I didn’t have a major problem while it is moving up and down through road undulations transferring all the motion to my legs but it scuffed my brand-new boots which was quite irritating.

The high beam switch is so easy to toggle you almost end up hitting it unintentionally all the time but the indicator switch for some reason won’t toggle unless you put in more than the exact amount of minimal force required.

There is no under-seat storage but this vague plate that covers the seat. Yet to understand what the exact purpose of this is. It can’t be for luggage because the rear seat or cowl is needed to keep the front seat in place which also has no space to store anything, not even a folded insurance copy. If someone knows the reason behind this, please enlighten me.

Lastly, the console remembers your TCS and ABS settings but always resets the riding mode to Sport by default every time you turn off and turn on the bike again.

2. Headlights: As good as they look, the high beam is utterly useless. It points somewhere into the sky which does a wonderful job of illuminating overhead signs but not the road ahead. Luckily, the low beam alone is somewhat decent.

3. Horn: What a joke! I doubt anyone would take you seriously if you use it behind them. My previous R15 had a fantastic dual-tone horn and even my Ntorq despite being a single horn sounds so much better. Don't intend to upgrade this but come on Aprilia!

Conclusion

So, to sum it up, wow, what a motorcycle! Sure, it comes with its set of weirdness but that’s just how Italians do it, I guess. It’s really gotten the major components spot on and you’d be very tempted to just ignore those tiny shortcomings considering how good it is at the important things. All in all, I am extremely satisfied with this purchase. It initially felt like I was compromising for an R15 all over again but that is definitely not the case. This motorcycle is plenty enough and I really look forward to experiencing it for a while before the next upgrade.

Already got the first performance mod done. They say this sticker adds the same amount of bhp as the number on it

P.S. Apologies for all the dirt trapped in some of the pictures. It's been raining on and off here in Chennai and I'll be giving her a proper cleaning once the clouds have entirely vanished.

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