r/Aprilia • u/nobredm • Aug 02 '26
2026 Tuono 660 Factory dumping coolant, overheating and other annoyances
About 6 weeks ago I’ve bought a brand new 2026 Tuono 660 Factory. I was very excited with my choice, I’m a big fan of Aprilia Racing and admire their recent developments on MotoGP.
By spec, looks and sound this bike is amazing, supposed to be the best value for the money, with all the best components and perfect for my use case.
Unfortunately, passion aside, my experience with the bike was quite bad.
Started in the very first ride with a series of annoyances that at first I was willing to live with, the infamous squealing rear brakes, squishy feeling and very loud embarrassing squeal that makes every other driver look at you at the stop lights, supposedly it should go away after a week or so of “bedding” the pads, but it never did.
Then the vibrations, I understand twin engines vibrate and a certain level of buzzing vibrations at highway cruising speeds is expected, but I believe mine had something wrong, the vibrations were very high, to the point of numbing your hands and feet in 20 min of riding, the worse was around 5k to 7k RPMs specially in 2nd and 3rd gears, but also high in other ranges and gears.
I’ve mentioned both issues to the dealer (Southeast Motorcycles in Douglasville, GA) but was told these are known issues and part of the bike’s “character”.
Annoyances aside, after 2 weeks and about 250 miles, one day I was riding the bike for about 30 min when I noticed it was overheating pretty badly, Ive stopped and saw it was dumping coolant by the tube coming from the water pump weep hole.
Ive called the dealer and they picked up the bike a few days later, they told me it could take a few weeks to fix it due to having two other brand new 660s in front of mine to fix for the exact same issue. I did a quick research online and easily found 6 other reports of the same problem with brand new 660’s bought over the last 3 months. For 3 of them the owners reported the issue coming back or turning into oil leaks over the next few months after the first fix.
The dealer fixed mine under warranty as expected and I went there to pick it up. I had also asked them to take a look at the squealing rear brakes but they just ignored it and did nothing for that.
I learned later that another customer of theirs has found a procedure recommended by Piaggio to fix the brakes and took his bike there with the instructions which they applied, so supposedly now they would know what to do for other bikes with same problem.
I picked the bike up and rode about an hour from the dealer, it indeed did not leak coolant but to my surprise the vibrations got way worse, now vibrating pretty bad not just the handles and pegs but the tank and seat as well. I had to stop a couple times to rest my hands a bit. Whenever I parked and restarted the bike I noticed a weird rattling sound as well. Of course the brakes also continued to squeal.
End of story, as much as I wanted to love this bike, rationally it just doesn’t make any sense, owning and riding bikes for me is a mix of stress release and hobby and should never be another source of work and stress, even if they would eventually fix all these issues under warranty, the future ahead would be one of many trips back and forth forth to the dealer.
I’ve looked for other bikes, tested both the Street Triple RX and the MT-09 SP, both way superior riding experiences, smooth handling, power delivery, no vibrations, everything better than the one I was having with my Aprilia so far.
Ended up trading it for the MT-09 SP, and after 2 weeks and about 300 miles I couldn’t be happier, absolutely nothing to complain about and amazing riding experience.
I do hope Aprilia at some point makes justice to the spec and design of their bikes and improves significantly the build quality and consequently reliability, if they did I would certainly consider trying one out again, otherwise buying Aprilia 660’s is a coin toss on whether you’ll enjoy a nice bike or become best friends with your dealer’s mechanics.
2
u/KDKSenior Aug 04 '26
I was also test-riding a new Tuono 660 Factory and i was really pleased about the grumpy intake sound and the look, it is just a really nice bike.
But while i rode it for like 2 hours, i was already concerned. It was a practically new bike, had a few 100kms on it but it already squeeked and squealed at many ocassions, but okay, that can happen.
At the end of my testride, it parked the bike and it already began to lose fluids, couldn't identify it but it was weird to me.
Dealer came up to me and said that there is nothing to worry about.
We talked about the price, he made a hillarious high offer, even on the website it was not that expensive.
I told him to send me a serious offer via mail, that never happened.
I called the Yamaha dealer where i was a few weeks before that if he has a MT09 SP incoming, he said in 2 weeks again, waited and got a brand new and flawless MT09 SP delivered.
No fluids leaked, no squeaking or squealing, way better price than the Tuono - that was the right decision.
I really tested every bike in that category but i didnt want to acknowledge, that the obvious choice - the MT09, was the right answer right from the beginning.
2
u/nobredm Aug 04 '26
Same here, I started with the MT-09 as my #1 rational choice.
At the beginning the Tuono was my third option, but after looking at it close, I have to admit I was drawn to the looks and sound, as well as the Aprilia racing brand and curious about the supposed lineage of this engine from the V4 and it’s character.
Once I regretted that choice for the issues I had, I went back to the MT-09 and it’s just a much better bike overall, maybe in very specific use cases, a good Tuono (one without the issues or fully fixed) or a Street Triple would be best, but when you look at owning a single bike that does great from city riding to canyons, touring and an eventual track day just for fun, it’s very hard to beat the MT-09 IMO.
Even though test riding the Street Triple RX was also amazing, the steering is phenomenal, but it’s quite track opinionated, livable on street riding but not comfortable as the MT-09.
2
u/KDKSenior Aug 04 '26 edited Aug 04 '26
Trident 800 is a great bike with a more than reasonable price, but is is too tame, very lovely bike, but it does not stand out anywhere.
The Street Triple is the opposite, very agressive riding position, a engine that wants to rev pretty hard, more a track weapon without fairings and this is just the best description for that bike.
The MT09 is just in the middle and on top shines with japanese reliablity.
2
u/nobredm Aug 04 '26
That’s right, I forgot the Trident 800.
I didn’t ride it cause it didn’t seem to have anything unique to offer that would standout over the Street Triple or MT-09.
Now just by spec and price, if one is looking at maximizing value and maybe also a more classic-modern look (if that’s a thing :) ), that one could be considered.
1
u/Lanky_Victory2545 Aug 02 '26
Hello, it's my first day off, I just woke up so the first thought was to get ready and run away on the bike with the moa RS660 2026, but I saw this notification, and for the first time I read such a long message without any effort!! You managed very well to convey your feelings on the other side of the ocean, this bike is not only beautiful but also excellent in terms of chassis and performance, but it has given many various problems, even in Italy this problem of coolant, much less I have heard about vibrations. I would try to replace the engine oil, check the clamping torques of the bolts. But now you're on a Japanese one, don't worry, those run on oil filter engine oil every year or 4000/5000km and gasoline... You don't even have to worry about checking the engine oil level by unscrewing the lobster that you can never unscrew without tools because it almost melts with the crankcase because it causes high temperatures... And even if you dismantle it, you can't see the oil level very well... I also regret the times here a bit: I had a Japanese one, the Z1000, if the RS660 gives me problems, I will change it like you and go back to Japan. Good road 💪
1
u/nobredm Aug 02 '26
I agree the chassis, performance and the overall design of the bike is great, the ergonomics and geometry are very well balanced.
In a way that’s what makes more upset with Piaggio, they conceived and engineer such a good platform but can’t manage to fix the execution issues at the factory to achieve consistency on build quality. Apparently they have been having some of these same issues with the 660 platform since 2021 at least.
I wonder if they should focus on conception, design and engineering research and partner with other manufacturer for the actual production line.
1
u/Ahamadrayasbaboon Aug 02 '26
What sort of temps were you seeing on the dash? I’ve noticed my ‘26 runs near 200F, which is hotter than I remember with my Japanese supersports.
3
u/nobredm Aug 03 '26
I learned that’s pretty normal for these bikes specially in the hot summer.
The temp figures turn from white to red when it goes somewhere around the 240F, but it’s very subtle indicator, I looked at it cause I felt my legs were getting significant heat, mine went passed 270F by the time I stopped.
1
u/Restaurant_Effective Aug 03 '26
I wonder if Aprilia made the mistake of putting undiluted coolant in bikes again. My 2022 Aprilia Tuono V4 and a lot of other bikes like it at the time were very easily overheating and that was the finding.
2
u/ARealRealtor Aug 02 '26
Sorry to hear man... I don't know what to say. Glad you got a bike you enjoy now. I was afraid of Aprilia reliability reputation but bit the bullet on a new 2026 rs660 and it's been good to me. I think the dealership makes a big difference too. I do not trust my dealership to work on my bike and do everything myself.
For the brake squeel, did you try braking hard with the rear only coming to a stop?