One of the most underrated platforms of the sport touring set is the Aprilia RST Futura. Built only across the years 2001-2004, the Futura should really be considered a serious sport bike with hard bags – and a bargain. Today’s example is a mere $3,995 or best offer. That is a very short stack of cash for something motivated by essentially the same powerplant as the RSV Mille (with DNA from Troy Corser’s WSBK entry), and includes all you would expect of a sport bike plus comfort amenities you might not have known you needed. Poor sales and overall softening of the Aprilia business led to it’s (early) demise.
2001 Aprilia RST Futura for sale on eBay
To build a Futura you start with the same 60-degree, fuel injected, liquid cooled Rotax v-twin displacing a nominal 1000cc. Different throttle bodies provide a flatter torque curve for the touring side of the sport tourer, but with 113 reported ponies on tap, little has been given away on the top end. The high-mounted, under seat exhaust both makes the bag mounting easier as much as highlighting the sporting intent. A stout Showa upside down fork takes care of the nose, while rear single-sided suspension – like with nearly all the Aprilia models – is provided by Sachs. This is bolted to an aluminum twin-spar frame, and halted by excellent Brembo 320mm disks up front (255mm in the rear). Wrap it all up in bodywork that mimics the future Tesla Cyber Truck, and you pretty much have the complete package.
From the seller:
Stock #:U000100
Exterior Color:GREY
Interior Color:GREY
Mileage:17,541
Title Condition:Clear
Dry weight on this beast is a relatively svelte 465-ish pounds. That made it competitive with the Honda, BMW and Triumph peers of the day – and none of them looked like this! The Futura design can be very polarizing (much like the Ducati 999), which likely did not help with sales. Today this bike continues to stand out, and it is difficult to imagine that this bike is 19 years old already!
The seller (a dealer located in Las Vegas, NV) provides very little information about this particular example, but does provide a number of decent pictures. I think that this bike look awesome in silver, and from the photos it looks reasonably unscathed. With only 17k on the clock there are a lot of miles remaining in this future-retro beast, so if you are looking for something different that also has a bit more protection from the elements, you might what to check this out. View all of the details here, stay safe and good luck!!
MI
I picked up one of these two years ago and love it. Prior, I had a Tuono (twin) and set myself up to be disappointed with the performance drop going to the Futura (i bought the bike on EBay without being able to test ride this model as they were never sold here in Canada). Turns out, not a problem. Suspension is on the soft side, but that’s an easy fix. Looks great with the bags off, and it has far more character then a VFR!
Agreed, what an underrated bargain this thing is.
This dealer has some pretty interesting other bikes for sale as well.
Weird. I was selling a 2002 Aprilia Falco a few years ago and this site turned me down for a paid advert. Said “I don’t feel this is a good match for our audience and wouldn’t want to push a $59 ad that wouldn’t be well received.”
Except for the swing arm they are mechanically identical (Falco had soft sided saddle bags) I replied they featured many Aprilias oif that vintage but was told no again.Weird. These are great bikes and the fact you can still grab these for under 4K is awesome. Funny side note, my 2015 Caponord uses the exact same hard bags
That is interesting. And yet I have seen Buell’s listed on here. The Falco is 100 times better than any early year Buell, and would still rather have one in the garage then even a later model with the Rotax motor.
Thanks for all of the comments. To be sure, the Falco is a great bike that we have posted on this site several times (https://evu.hhv.mybluehost.me/raresportsbikesforsale/?s=falco&submit=Search). It is a seriously underrated bike, as is this Futura. And the RSBFS staff love Aprilias as a whole.
There is also the whole consideration of what is available for sale at any given time; there are definitely selling seasons, and when super rare and super cool auctions dry up (like during winter), we revert to the less rare but still cool. That might explain why even the occasional unlikely Buell slips into our pages. But when supply is very high, only the coolest of the cool (and rare) make the cut. I hope that helps!
-Mike