[Sebring]

Bengaluru has two dealerships offering this bike. Rest of Karnataka should have two more, Im guessing

Originally Posted by BikerSuz

To be honest, I wouldn't be surprised if that's the case. Not sure if he was mentioning the overall India bookings.

[b16h22]

This is what Autocar India says about the deliveries

https://www.autocarindia.com/bike-ne...s-month-430970

[AtheK]

Another poorly executed launch of a competent product. One side dealers are saying that they have 1000+ bookings just in one state (probably overselling), other side manufacturer is ready to deliver only 100 bikes in a month with 31 dealers. So a dealer can sell maximum 3 bikes in this month which is utterly stupid if you are a dealer, and even worse if you are consumer who has a booking number of let us say 300 with no clarity when will you get your bike.

Aprilia really needs to get it's act together I am already worried about people who will need to go to service centre shortly for anything outside of a basic service needs, with no spares availability and long wait times in workshop this is going to be one sad ownership experience.

Pricing the bike right is the only good thing Aprilia did till now, everything else is just a joke at this point of time.

I visited the Aprilia Showroom in Marathalli last week to see the bike, I was told to go to Forum to see the bike and they had no clue when bike will be in showroom. The SA did not even bother asking me for my details and having basic courtesy to say that we will call you once bike is on display. Well thanks but no thanks Aprilia you can keep your bike with you (In the mall)

[aniruddha_98]

Originally Posted by AtheK

Aprilia really needs to get it's act together I am already worried about people who will need to go to service centre shortly for anything outside of a basic service needs, with no spares availability and long wait times in workshop this is going to be one sad ownership experience.

Originally Posted by AtheK

I visited the Aprilia Showroom in Marathalli last week to see the bike, I was told to go to Forum to see the bike and they had no clue when bike will be in showroom. The SA did not even bother asking me for my details and having basic courtesy to say that we will call you once bike is on display. Well thanks but no thanks Aprilia you can keep your bike with you (In the mall)

I had a discussion with one of the dealers here in Pune. And I expressed my concerned about availability of parts, service quality, along with test ride and delivery dates, pricing of quickshifter and service intervals.

Got these answers -

Regarding service and parts availability -
'For the 457 company has setup a different set of rules to be followed for everyone. People faced issues for V4s or 660s because parts are ordered from Italy and hence the delay and pricing issues'

Service interval and costs -
"Average service cost is not clear yet, it is being updated in the background. Regarding the intervals - 3 services in 1st year,
1st after a month
2nd after 6 months
3rd after 12
Post that about 1 service every year
Oil change mandatory in all.
Would require about 1800ml of oil in general working and about 2100ml of oil in empty engine"


Test ride and delivery dates?
'Deliveries of 1st phase of full payment to happen this month...followed by about 44 customers next month and so on...
Test ride bikes will arrive in next few days
Roughly estimated wait time would be about 3 months if you book now'

On road pricing in Pune?
'"it would be 494038 sir"

Cost of quickshifter?
"Not yet released but would be about 25k I guess...my manager was in the training session and they had some discussion...but this is not fixed yet"

I'd suggest to take these statements with a pinch of salt due to the track record of Aprilia's communication. Pune's dealership looks good from initial conversations at least. Increasing my confidence with every conversation.

[AtheK]

Those are just speculations from dealer and trying to make you/customers happy, at least dealer is speaking and trying something. Imagine they are only able to get 100 bikes out after a launch which feels like it was ages ago, and I understand as time goes on production will ramp up but to what extent is an unknown. My major concern though is spare parts, let's say in case of a minor crash person needs a headlight assembly, now with all focus on production, that part to get out of inventory will take time.

This will be a good bike to own at least a year down the lane with all these issues sorted, yes the price might go up by 10 or 20 thousand, but the peace of mind will be priceless.

[2nd_gear_7krpm]

Originally Posted by AtheK

So a dealer can sell maximum 3 bikes in this month which is utterly stupid if you are a dealer, and even worse if you are consumer who has a booking number of let us say 300 with no clarity when will you get your bike.

That's an incorrect information given to you by the dealer I suppose. Aprilia Banashankari told me that they have scheduled 3 deliveries in March and starting from 1 April, they will be delivering 3 motorcycles per day. Also they told me that motorcycles come in metal caged boxes and they'll open it infront of us!

[AtheK]

Originally Posted by 2nd_gear_7krpm

That's an incorrect information given to you by the dealer I suppose. Aprilia Banashankari told me that they have scheduled 3 deliveries in March and starting from 1 April, they will be delivering 3 motorcycles per day. Also they told me that motorcycles come in metal caged boxes and they'll open it infront of us!

I am referring to this link, three a day from 1st April sounds like an April fool joke at this time, but will be extremely happy to be proven wrong.

[TusharK]

Aprilia RS 457 deliveries to commence in April

Aprilia launched the RS 457 last year at the India Bike Week. Since then, there has been a lot of excitement, especially among bike enthusiasts. Aprilia had initially planned to start handing over the bikes to customers this month, but deliveries have now been delayed.



Reports suggest that the Aprilia RS 457 is expected to reach showrooms across India in the next few days, while customer deliveries will commence in April.

The RS 457 is powered by a 457cc twin-cylinder liquid-cooled engine that makes 47 BHP and 43.5 Nm. The engine is mated with a 6-speed gearbox. The bike gets a ride-by-wire system and an optional quick shifter.

The RS 457 features a 41 mm upside-down front fork with a mono-shock at the rear. Braking is handled by a 320 mm disc paired with a 4-piston caliper and a 220 mm disc at the rear, supported by dual-channel ABS.

The Aprilia RS 457 competes with the KTM RC 390 and Kawasaki Ninja 400 in the Indian market.

Source: Bikewale

Link to Team-BHP News

[Swap_Abarth]

Received a call from Sumukha Italia (Bhandup) on arrival of display bike yesterday.

I went this afternoon for a test ride. It turned out to be miserable dealership experience. As I have pre-booked the bike in Dec, they agreed to give me short test ride. It was just 1.5 km one with dealership person as pillion.

Below are my preliminary observations :-

1) Bike is looker (looks gorgeous to me), it grabs attention of people walking by.
2) You get the feeling of riding a bigger machine (my current ride is 390 duke for reference).
3) It was extremely easy to ride and shockingly easy to maneuver on narrow street.
4) It was a smooth ride, 3rd gear @ 30 kmph no issues at all. You have lot of torque at your disposal lower down the rev range.
5) It does sound great. At low revs (that what I could manage with 1 Km test ride) it sounded well.
6) It is put together rather well. I couldn't find any rough edges or loose wires hanging near the fairing.
7) Horn is acceptable, not too loud.


Now the bad part - dealership experience. They have no clue about deliveries. Sales executive didn't bother to talk about the capabilities and features of the bike. Neither he was bothered about the booking procedure. They asked me not to go ahead with full payment as they still don't have delivery schedules from Aprilia. On road price is INR 491500/- I lost my cool after a brief discussion on possibility of delivery in April. They were reluctant to confirm anything.
I do love this bike and I do want to own it. But I have my doubts about after sales service now. This is the only authorized dealership in entire western Maharashtra region for delivery and service. How on earth, they can pull this off with one dealership? I am really disappointed.
I left the showroom with a hope that, they will prove me wrong. And improve their customer service in near future.

[SR1602]

Originally Posted by Swap_Abarth

I went this afternoon for a test ride.

Congratulations on being one of the first non-journalists to actually be able to ride the bike

Word is that they don't have the RTO approvals yet for this motorcycle which I don't understand at all since it's been spotted testing in the country since April 2023. I suppose that's why they're not giving proper full fledged test rides to everyone. Test rides in Karnataka have been delayed because of the same reason. The fact that Aprilia isn't communicating anything on their social channels or through mail is pure appalling. I am guessing the dealerships have been given strict instructions to just stay shut to hide the incompetence of the management and brand in executing a product delivery properly. It's a real shame since the actual motorcycle seems flawless.

[doga]

Originally Posted by Swap_Abarth

Received a call from Sumukha Italia (Bhandup) on arrival of display bike yesterday.
I do love this bike and I do want to own it. But I have my doubts about after sales service now. This is the only authorized dealership in entire western Maharashtra region for delivery and service. How on earth, they can pull this off with one dealership? I am really disappointed.

Aprilia obviously knows this is not a mass market product like the KTMs so there is no point opening many dealerships which then have unmoved inventory and staff just hanging about. Piaggio group is not cash rich with money to burn. In fact, the India experience is not too different from even the western countries. Bikes there also wait many weeks/months for parts to arrive. What I have noticed is that people actually rely more on other entities than the dealerships themselves. AF1 in the US, Gabro racing in Italy and AP workshops in Birmingham UK are the renowned guys who specialize in Aprilia bikes and are what customers turn to for anything and everything. Sadly, India lacks this support and for this reason most would think twice before touching the brand with a bargepole. Sadly, this is like a vicious circle wherein brand may be is not investing much in after sales as demand is low and demand stays low due to brand not investing much

[aniruddha_98]

Originally Posted by Swap_Abarth

This is the only authorized dealership in entire western Maharashtra region for delivery and service. How on earth, they can pull this off with one dealership? I am really disappointed.
I left the showroom with a hope that, they will prove me wrong. And improve their customer service in near future.

I'm not sure if you are aware but Pune has 2 showrooms.

I had a call with A. K. motors and they asked me to come today for test ride. Obviously a short ride as they haven't finished with the registrations. But I managed to get the test ride twice.


In short, I'm happy with the bike and will be booking it soon.

Now for a longer explanation,

I come from Duke 390, and always related engine character with vibes as well as the pull that you feel. And hence it was a weird sensation on the RS457. It barely has any vibrations, but does pack a punch as revs climb. It is not a punch in the face like a 390, but still a punch indeed. Engine is free revving and you don't realise how fast it hits the redline. The power weirdly sheds off at around last 1-2k rpm near the redline.

Ergonomically, the bike is really comfortable. I had doubts about the aggressive seating posture. But happy to report that it is very comfortable thanks to raised clipons. Just how I wanted it to be.

I'm no expert when it comes to suspension, but I had no issues on rough road and potholes and the bike was stable on straights while accelerating aggressively. Chassis seemed very friendly and communicative.

Brakes also were really sharp. I did not have any issue while braking. It is definitely sharper than first generation Duke 390's. But they can be sharper. I will switch to sintered pads once the stock pads wear out, but that'll be more of a want than a need for the bike.

Overall, I'm really happy with the bike as well as showroom experience and will book it soon.

[apramey]

Got a call from Aprilia asking about if I wanted to book the motorcycle because I had shown interest earlier in Jan '24. I told them my concern of me being from Mysore and for every service and sales visit, I have to go to Bangalore inspite of having Piaggio/Vespa/Aprilia dealerships in Mysore. They said they would convey the same feedback to the company.

Funny part is that when I talked to one of the guys from Aprilia dealership from Mysore, he said the sales and basic service will be available at Mysore, but for anything other than engine oil change or brake pad change, I will have to go to Bangalore. This was maybe in the beginning of Feb.

Right now I am looking at Interceptor 650 just because D390 is too untidy in the headlight area.

[AtheK]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkEvLOdymzg

One of the first few real life reviews, guys sounds very excited but looking at the second gear pull, Aprilia seems to have a winner at hand.

[Ratan Prabhu]

My friend wanted to take a test ride. I was free today; so tagged along with him.

Showroom : Sumukha Italia (Bhandup, Mumbai)

As per the showroom person, this is the only showroom in entire Mumbai to have the Aprilia RS457.
He said they have so far received over 100 bookings. Deliveries will start from mid April as per the sales person.

The all inclusive on-road price in Mumbai is 4.91L

Test ride was only allowed with the showroom sales person sitting as pillion. No solo test ride allowed sadly.

Bike looks amazing and has a big bike feel. It is substantially bigger than my CBR250R and slightly bigger than Apache RR310 too but weight is not felt at all while moving the bike or even while riding in traffic.

5 Positives :
Very well built. Fairings and every panel is fitting felt solid. Nothing feels flimsy. No rattles at all.

Amazing power delivery. Did not push beyond 6k RPM due to some traffic. Pulls well even at 4k RPM.

Very smooth engine. No vibrations till 6k RPM. But not as smooth as the Ninja400.

Good suspension. Less travel in the front (evident from very little gap between bottom of number plate and the mudguard) but it didn't feel stiff going over potholes.

Comfortable. The bike looks like a proper sports bike but is as comfortable as a sports tourer. Riding position is slightly committed but not too aggressive. Bike is big but is nimble to ride even in traffic. Should be no problem for anyone between 5'3 and 6'3. The seating and ergos felt that accomodating. Seat cushion is also perfect. Neither too soft nor hard.

2 Negatives :
Front brake felt weak. This was mentioned in the track ride reviews but we expected it to be fine in regular riding conditions. But no, the front brake isn't powerful enough. Considering the test ride bike had only 90 KMs on the odo, the front brake pads would still be brand new and would need some run in. So maybe it will be better after a while ? Don't know.

Engine runs hot. It won't burn your thighs but even with jeans on, the heat is felt. This was after ~3 KMs of test ride in moderate traffic. There was another test ride taken before my friend so it is possible that he would have ridden harshly and it was more heated than we expected.

Final thoughts :
Awesome bike.
4.91L on road is a great value for money. No reason to go for a decade old Ninja300 with Aprilia costing just 55k more and offering so many features and being much more powerful. This should trigger Kawasaki to manufacture Ninja400 in India in stead of 300 and price it close to RS457.

I am too much in love with my bike so I don't feel like upgrading. But if I happen to upgrade in the next 2 years, this bike would be on top of my list.

My humble 12 year old CBR250R with RS457 test ride bike :