Aprilia Tuono 457 Test 2025

Well hello there, the Tuono 457 surprised us at the presentation in the hinterland of Venice. The few testers who had already ridden the RS 457 last year had some idea of what was coming, but the vast majority of the crew were simply gobsmacked at how sporty the naked counterpart was to ride. The 457 is far more than a gap-filler, which is how it's often viewed pragmatically: Aprilia now has a Tuono for every RS (125, 457, 660, 1100). The question frequently asked beforehand, why an A2 Tuono is even needed when you can just throttle the 660 anyway, was nowhere to be heard after the test. The 457 has simply been developed so brilliantly for the 48 hp class that no bigger bike with a restrictor kit can gain anything on it. And on top of that, it's noticeably cheaper.

In sporting terms, the twin is of course superior to any single, because by design it's revvier and less rough. So the engine brings no unrest into the chassis and stokes the hunger for a fast ride. What was perhaps surprising was that the small engine had no trouble gliding through town in sixth gear at 2,000 rpm, completely unfussed and jerk-free, and then, leaving town, took the throttle without hesitation and unleashed its full power. Only from around 9,000 rpm did vibrations become noticeable that you wouldn't want to experience for hours on end. Anyone doing a thousand kilometers flat out to the coast might eventually find those vibrations wearing on their nerves, but for all other uses it's a non-issue. What is very much a topic, though, is the engine's zippiness combined with the quickshifter. Good lord, the Tuono 457 could be fired through the mountains in a way that made you roar with joy inside your helmet. The eager engine, the perfectly stepped gearbox, the sporty raw soundtrack, and the quickshifter, which worked brilliantly under hard acceleration, combined into a cocktail that sent euphoria surging through your body. That the quickshifter lost some of its brilliance at slow speeds, mainly on upshifts, and worked a bit notchily, can be forgiven, since its essential job is to take the load off the rider during hard riding and keep shifts short, whereas when cruising and pottering around, the auto-blipper really just has to paper over the rider's laziness.

The chassis also played a major part in the Tuono 457's sporty performance. The bike is compactly built and not heavy (175 kg fueled up). The swingarm is mounted in the engine casing. The suspension components may not be the comfiest on the planet, but they respond with sufficient sensitivity, absorb hard hits well, and deliver surprisingly good feedback and, above all, stability. Here I'll happily quote Grammer Klausi: "Only a stable bike is a fast bike." And since the brakes also worked very well both in terms of modulation and bite, attacking the twisties was simply a joy, as they say. We had two American racers along who let it fly to such a degree that as a bystander you could hardly believe the Tuono 457 is an A2 machine. The class-related power deficit was only noticeable when you ran a bit short of steam uphill on the connecting straights. Coming out of a corner everything was still rosy, but then you could feel that the engine's power was finite. Fair enough. There has to be a difference between a 457 and a 1100.

All in all, the Tuono 457 is a genuine asset to the sporty A2 segment, and I'd dare say Aprilia has nothing to fear from any rival in this class and will climb to the top step of the podium in comparison tests. It'll be exciting to see.