When Fagan threw himself off an SV 650 and onto the tarmac at Castle Combe, pulling his poor shoulder out of its socket in the process, he quickly rendered himself unable to fly to Italy to test the all-new, ever-so-fancy Aprilia RS 660 ? what a bastard! But his loss, on this occasion was my gain, so I packed up my troubles in my old kit bag, had the obligatory Covid 19 test (that, at the moment, the Italians won?t let you in without) and jumped on a half-empty BA fight to Italy. 

Details were fairly scarce about the RS 660 before we got to the launch – all we knew was that it had a parallel twin 100hp engine, and a bunch of fancy electronics. That was it, they didn?t even tell us the price, which I had estimated to be around the £13k mark. When we finally got hold of an official Aprilia press release, I was thrilled to see the new model sporting the much more slender price tag of £10,149, which considering it?s spec, didn?t seem completely out of the question ? I mean, let?s have a look at it for a second; it?s got 100hp, weighs 169kg (dry), it?s got Brembo brakes, a shifter and blipper, as well as a suite of electronics that a £20k + superbike would be proud of. I can?t think of another sportsbike, for that sort of money, that has half the electronic wizardry as the RS 660. We?re talking eight modes of traction control, wheelie control, cruise control, adjustable engine braking, adjustable engine maps, corn...