[moto] Aprilia Tuareg 660: The anti-Teneré 700?

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Aprilia organised the presentation of the Tuareg 660 on the island of Sardinia, a great place to ride on curvy roads, between mountain and sea, and on off-road tracks, something that is never lacking on the Italian island. 

The Aprilia Tuareg has a design that quickly conveys its off-road trail philosophy. It is a light trail, with good suspension, narrow, with a clear raid aesthetic, reminiscent of the Aprilia Tuareg Wind 600, with which Aprilia participated in the 1989 Paris-Dakar.
 

Like the first Tuareg, the new 660 adopts a raid bike image, almost enduro-like, with a strong focus on off-road use. Stefano Passeri, one of the most important Italian enduro riders in history, was involved in its development.
 

Its styling is very similar to that of its direct rival, the Yamaha Ténéré 700 (link to Yamaha Ténéré 700 video test). It also fights against the KTM 890 Adventure (link to KTM 890 Adventure video test) and in some ways comes close to what a Honda Africa Twin has to offer. 
 

Like all of them, the new Aprilia Tuareg 660 is an adventure bike, designed for long rides on and off road. Everything about it is functional, there is nothing superfluous, nothing superfluous, nothing superfluous, nothing superfluous, nothing superfluous, nothing superfluous, nothing superfluous. It is very balanced in its design and features.
 

It is easily recognisable by its front end with the typical three Aprilia eyes, which we have already seen on the Tuono family. But in this case, the optics are smaller, similar in size to an enduro bike face shield. 

The screen, which is completely transparent, also contributes to this visual lightness and gives it the expected Dakar look. It is made of reinforced plastic, and serves as a support for the instrumentation, which is a colour TFT screen, also similar to that of the Tuono. No spider or subframe-like structure has been used to hold this instrumentation, also with the aim of reducing weight. This could be a drawback, or not. I mention this because my test unit had a dome loosened at one of the mounting points. Although to be fair, it was the only one in the whole group to which this happened. 

And the obsession with weight is something very present on this bike. As an anecdotal detail, the tank cap is made of plastic, which saves 200 grams.