It’s instinctive (and the influence of good marketing) for us to want the biggest, most powerful, most feature-rich product available today. But to be honest, 99 percent of consumers don’t need it. Sure, there is satisfaction in having what you know to be the best product, but if you’re the kind who would rather make a practical decision, then the biggest and baddest will more often than not be a bad decision.
This holds especially true for adventure motorcycles. The marketing material advertises them as go-anywhere machines, and they aren’t wrong. It’s just that it takes years of dedication to the gym and the art of riding on dirt to get to the level where you can wrestle a beast that size in the way you see in the ads. A smaller ADV will make more sense. And no matter how good you are with a motorcycle, a smaller motorcycle will always be better to ride in the city. Here is the case for one such middleweight ADV that works everywhere.
Why The Full-Size ADVs Don’t Make Sense
Full-size ADVs are obligated to have all the bells and whistles that a premium product should have. There is no doubt that out on the highway, the massive engine and endless performance, coupled with all-day comfort and the confidence to deal with bad roads, will make you feel like God. However, getting to the highway – or your destination – usually means a slog through traffic at either end of the journey. And a big, fully-loaded ADV simply isn’t cut out for that bit.
Where Will You Spend Most Of Your Time Riding?
Let’s be realistic: if you own one of the behemoths like the BMW R 1300 GS or Ducati Multistrada V4, you’re living the good life. But the good life also means you work hard and don’t have much time to take two-wheeled vacations. Given those limitations, you’ll end up spending most of your time on short weekend trips, or maybe even commuting if the weather is nice. The big ADVs are murder on fuel consumption, and they heat up a lot on a hot day in traffic, all of which means that they’re not truly usable a lot of the time for the regular Joe.
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Why The Aprilia Tuareg 660 Makes So Much Sense
Aprilias have always focused on performance, and this is proven time and again from the marque’s sport bikes and naked bikes. It has applied the same principles to its middleweight adventure bike: the Tuareg 660. The package is lightweight, and the performance is validated through motorsport. The result is an extremely usable motorcycle, not just out on the highway, but in the city and off tarmac as well.
Where It Sits In Today’s Adventure Bike Market
The Tuareg 660 sits at the premium end of the middleweight adventure bike segment, alongside other stalwarts like the BMW F 900 GS and Triumph Tiger 900. The regular Tuareg is priced at $12,499, while there is a more off-road-focused version called the Tuareg Rally that adds that prowess for a price of $13,799. This pricing is just under the most affordable of the full-size ADVs from the known manufacturers, the $14,799 Honda Africa Twin.
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Low Weight = More Performance Everywhere
Aprilia usually uses aluminum for its chassis to save on weight, but the Tuareg prioritizes strength over weight saving, so it gets a steel trellis frame. It still manages to weigh in at under 450 pounds wet, which is significantly lighter than competition like the BMW F 900 GS (482 pounds) and Ducati Multistrada V2 (440 pounds without fuel). Aprilia has equipped it with fully adjustable suspension from Kayaba with just under 10 inches of travel, so it can deal with anything you throw at it. A six-axis IMU and switchable ABS give it extra ability on dirt.
The Trusty 660cc Engine Is Present
A 659 cc, 270-degree parallel twin powers the Tuareg. It generates 80 horsepower at 9,250 RPM and 51.6 pound-feet at 6,500 RPM, and it is backed up by the APRC electronics suite tuned for off-road work. That means a by-wire throttle, ride modes, traction control, and cruise control. You can customize the engine map and engine brake as well with the Tuareg, which isn’t something you can do even with full-size premium ADVs.
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The Tuareg Is An ADV That Works Everywhere
The Tuareg has been around for three years now, so its reliability is quite well established. The low weight is coupled with a reasonable seat height of 33.9 inches for the type of motorcycle it is. It also has, as standard, an assist and slipper clutch and a two-way quickshifter, which should make riding it around town a lot easier than you’d expect. Two user-configurable ride modes are available, so you can go to town (so to speak), setting it up just the way you like it.
Ride Quality And Road Manners
The fully adjustable KYB suspension consists of a 43 mm inverted front fork and a linkage-type rear single shock. It is equipped with a 21/18 enduro-type tubeless spoke wheel rim size. In addition, there are Brembo brakes (300 mm twin discs at the front, and a single 260 mm rear disc) with metal braided lines.
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A Word About The Tuareg Rally
There is a more extreme version of the Tuareg, called the Tuareg Rally, that is also on sale. It looks different thanks to a different decal set, harder suspension that is more conducive to landing jumps, different wheels and knobby tires with tubes that are more suited to off-road work, and a new engine map. There is quite a long list of smaller changes as well, but suffice it to say that it is definitely better suited to off-road conditions without sacrificing too much of its daily usability.
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TopSpeed’s Take: The Tuareg Is The Ideal ADV For Most Riders
As an absolute, this statement makes no sense. But given that most full-size adventure bikes are ridden to the local coffee shop over the weekend for an overwhelming majority of their life, it makes sense to scale back and reduce weight and complexity in your adventure bike. It helps that the Tuareg looks fantastic, and is backed by great performance and world-class electronics that allow you to customize it seven ways from Sunday in all variants.
Sources: Aprilia USA