Aprilia Tuareg 660 (2022+) Maintenance Schedule
This is the maintenance schedule for the 2022+ Aprilia Tuareg 660, Aprilia’s middleweight adventure bike.
The Aprilia Tuareg 660 uses a 659cc liquid-cooled DOHC parallel twin engine with a 270/450-degree firing order, giving it a bit of bark off idle. It’s the same engine as used in the Aprilia RS 660, but tuned more for mid-range torque rather than top-end power. It still makes a respectable 80 hp (59 kW) at 9250 rpm, with torque arriving lower than on its siblings, with 52 ft-lb (70 Nm) peaking at 6500 rpm.
The Tuareg 660 is quite different to its siblings the RS 660 and Tuono 660 — more than just in engine tuning and riding position. The frame is designed to carry heavier loads and withstand larger shocks, the suspension is longer travel, and the wheels are off-road sized with a 21-inch front wheel.
Nonetheless, the core maintenance schedule is the same as for its siblings and many parts are shared.
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Aprilia Tuareg 660 Service Intervals
Overall the Aprilia Tuareg 660 has 6200 mile / 10000 km or annual service intervals at which you have to change the oil, the oil filter, and do a series of checks on the motorcycle.
The major service interval for the Tuareg 660 is every 12400 miles / 20000 km, at which point you should change the spark plugs and air filter, and inspect the valve clearances.
If you’re riding your Tuareg 660 off-road a lot (which is what it’s made for! At least partly) then you should service many things more frequently, including the chain at least and also the air filter, oil, and components that might be degraded by dust, wet conditions, or just hard usage.
Aprilia also recommends replacing the fork oil regularly. See the maintenance schedule for more details.
What you need to service your Aprilia Tuareg 660
Below are the recommended products and some common alternatives. This is from the service manual for the 660 bikes (screenshot below).
| Product | Aprilia recommendation |
|---|---|
| Engine oil | Synthetic motorcycle oil, 10W-50, API SL, JASO MA2, e.g. Castrol Power 1 10W-50. |
| Oil filter | Same oil filter as many Aprilia motorcycles — OEM part 857187, Hiflofiltro HF138RC. |
| Spark plugs | NGK IR MR9DI-7 (gap 0.7-0.7mm) |
| Air filter | DNA air filter P-AP6S22-01. OEM is part 2B008925 |
| Grease | Lithium-calcium soap based grease |
| Coolant | Ethylene glycol-based coolant with organic inhibition additives, Red, ready to use. E.g. Motorex M3.0 Coolant |
| Brake fluid | Synthetic DOT 4 brake fluid, e.g. Castrol DOT 4 |
| Fork oil | SAE 7.5W fork oil. Aprilia motorcycles generally recommend a distance or time interval for fork oil. |
| Battery | Yuasa YTZ10S or BS Battery BSLi-04 |
Tuareg 660 — Pre-ride checks
A number of things are mentioned in the service schedule that are really pre-ride checks you should do before every ride (or every day if you ride it every day).
Aside from the first few items, you check most controls and moving parts of the bike by inspecting them as you pull away.
| Aprilia Tuareg 660 Pre-ride checks |
|---|
| Brake discs & brake pads (front and rear) — Check wear |
| Tyres – Check pressure/wear. Remove any foreign objects from treads. |
| Engine oil — Check and/or top-up. |
| Controls (throttle, brake lever, clutch lever) — Check that they function correctly |
| Steering — Check that the steering turns freely and is smooth with no play or slackening |
| Side stand — Check that it snaps back into position smoothly |
| Fuel tank — Check level, and check circuit for leaks |
| All lights and switches — check function |
Maintenance schedule for the Aprilia Tuareg 660
Below is the maintenance schedule for the Aprilia Tuareg 660.
The service manual has the items in an unintuitive order. The order below makes more sense intuitively, e.g. with things grouped together, and “things to replace” more up the top.
Generally speaking, the Tuareg 660 has 10000 km (6200 mi) service intervals at which you have to change the oil, lubricate some parts, and check a bunch of things. Every two services (20000 km / 12400 mi) you check the valve clearances and change the spark plugs.
Legend for the maintenance schedule
- I = check and clean, adjust, lubricate, or replace, if necessary
- C = clean
- R = replace
- A = adjust
- L = lubricate
| km x 1000 | 1 | 10 | 20 | 30 | 40 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| mi x 1000 | 0.6 | 6.2 | 12.4 | 18.6 | 24.9 | Every |
| Motorcycle set up | I | I | I | I | I | |
| Vehicle general operation | I | I | I | I | I | Check every year |
| Engine oil (Castrol Power 1 10W-50) | R | R | R | R | R | Replace every year |
| Engine oil filter (HF138RC) | R | R | R | R | R | Replace every year |
| Engine oil discharge plug aluminium gasket | R | R | R | R | R | Replace every year |
| Air filter (P-AP6S22-01) | I | R | I | R | Check more often if riding off-road | |
| Spark plugs (MR9DI-7) | R | R | ||||
| Valve clearance | A | A | ||||
| Head cover gasket | I | I | ||||
| Clutch cable (Protect all cable life) | L | L | L | L | L | Lubricate every year. Check more often if riding off-road |
| Front sprocket – rear sprocket – chain slider – chain tensioner roller | I | I | I | I | ||
| Steering bearings and steering play | I | I | I | I | I | Check every year |
| Rear shock absorber (bearings – linkage mechanisms) | I | I | Check every year, or more often if riding off-road. | |||
| Fork oil | R | Replace at the earlier of 40000 km (25000 mi) or 4 years, or earlier if riding off-road | ||||
| Fork oil seals | I | I | ||||
| Brake systems | I | I | I | I | I | Check brake discs and pads every year, regardless of distance. |
| Brake fluid | I | I | I | I | I | Inspect every year. Replace every two years. |
| Engine oil filler plug o-ring | I | I | I | I | I | Inspect every year |
| Flywheel cover cap o-ring | I | I | ||||
| Fork plug o-ring | I | |||||
| Wheel bearings – wheels | I | I | I | I | I | Check every year, or more often if riding off-road. |
| Cooling system | I | I | I | I | ||
| Coolant | I | I | I | I | I | Inspect every year. Replace every two years. |
| Coolant drain screw aluminium gasket | Replace every two years. | |||||
| Safety switches (stand, stop, clutch, extra negative stroke, gas control) | I | I | I | I | I | |
| Headlight aiming | I | I | I | I | ||
| Nut/bolt tightness | I | I | I | I | I | Check more often if riding off-road. |
| [D] Diagnosis by tool | I | I | I | I | I | Check every year. |
Chain maintenance on the Aprilia Tuareg 660
Check and clean, adjust, or replace (if necessary) the Tuareg 660’s chain, every 1000 km (600 mi).
Service the chain more often if riding it in the wet, in dirt, or off-road — i.e. if you’re using the Tuareg 660 as an adventure bike. Aprilia recommends you halve the maintenance intervals if riding your bike off-road.
To measure the chain slack of the Tuareg 660, measure the total vertical deflection of the bottom section of the chain, from 320mm / 12.6 inches from the centre of the rear axle.
Aprilia Tuareg 660 Target Chain Slack: 48 mm (1.89 inches)
Aprilia recommends that you take the motorcycle to the dealer to adjust the chain, but it’s something that any competent home mechanic can do. To adjust the clearance, follow this procedure:
- Loosen the rear axle and the lock nuts. (For the axle you need a 26mm socket)
- Adjust the lock nuts evenly (paying attention to the markers) until the target chain slack is met.
- Tighten the lock nuts (moderately tight) and the axle nuts (120 Nm / 88 lb-ft)
Wheels and tire sizes for the Aprilia Tuareg 660
Below are the rim and tire sizes, as well as recommended tire pressures for the Tuareg 660.
The Tuareg 660 runs an adventure-ready 21-18 front-rear tire setup.
| Wheel | Wheel size | Tire size | Recommended tire pressure |
|---|---|---|---|
| Front | 2.15 x 21 spoked | 90/90-21 M/C 54V | Rider only: 2 bar / 200 kPa / 29 psi Rider + passenger: 2.2 bar / 200 kPa / 32 psi Off-road: 2 bar / 200 kPa / 29 psi |
| Rear | 4.25 x 18 spoked | 150/70-R18 M/C 70V | Rider only: 2.5 bar / 250 kPa / 36 psi Rider + passenger: 2.7 bar / 270 kPa / 39 psi Off-road: 2 bar / 200 kPa / 29 psi |
Tightening Torque specs
Below are torque specs that are publicly available. These come from the service manual.
| Item | Nm | lb-ft |
|---|---|---|
| Engine oil drain bolt | 20 | 15 |
| Front axle nut | 65 | 48 |
| Front wheel safety pin screws | 10 | 7 |
| Front brake calipers | 50 | 37 |
| Rear axle nut | 120 | 88 |
About the Aprilia Tuareg 660
The Aprilia Tuareg 660 is a Aprilia’s entrant into the super hot “light middleweight” adventure bike market. There have been middleweight adventure bikes for a long time (e.g. the KLR650, which also has been reinvigorated with fuel injection), but there have been a recent crop of decent-performance ones from a number of manufacturers.
The Aprilia Tuareg 660 is based on the same engine platform as the other 660 bikes from Aprilia, including the Aprilia Tuono 660. The base engine is a 659 cc liquid-cooled parallel twin with four valves per cylinder and dual overhead camshafts.
But there’s quite a bit that’s different about the Tuareg compared to the Tuono and RS — this isn’t just a re-skinning exercise.
For starters, the engine in the Tuareg 660 has been retuned, with a drop in peak power of around 10%. The goal of this is for more midrange torque. They did this by changing the camshaft lift, increasing the length of the intake ducts and changing the filter casing to facilitate removing the air filter. They also adjusted the exhaust system for low-rpm response. All this was of course done with an engine map to suit.
The result of those adjustments is that the Aprilia Tuareg 660 reaches peak torque of 52 ft-lb (70 Nm) at just 6500 rpm, with 75% of that peak being available at 3000 rpm and 85% at 4500 rpm. The Tuono / RS 660, by contrast, make a little less torque (49 ft-lb / 67 Nm), and higher up in the rev range (8500 rpm). But they’re not short on low-end torque (to be honest their torque curves aren’t that aggressive either), just not quite as optimised for it.
Aprilia also changed the gearing on the Tuareg 660. They shortened the first gear ratio, and changed the front sprocket to a 15-tooth one from 17 as on the other 660 bikes. The goal of both these was to increase low-speed control and to maximise throttle response.
Even if you changed the gearing on a Tuono 660 for example, it’d be a lot harder to change the first gear ratio — and one would wonder why you would… it’s not exactly made for rock-hopping.
The Aprilia Tuareg 660, being a dual-sport adventure motorcycle, has a very different suspension and wheel setup to its siblings.
The front suspension is a Kayaba 43mm upside-down fork that’s fully adjustable. That much is to be expected, but it also has a rather generous wheel travel of 240mm. The rear fully adjustable Kayaba monoshock also gives the wheel 240mm of travel.
And the wheels are a traditional spoked 21/18 adventure bike setup, but with tubeless tyres. Hooray!
To keep the engine cool with its high compression ratio of 13.5:1 there’s both a radiator AND a water-oil heat exchanger, interestingly (other motorcycles tend to skip on the latter, or to use a separate oil radiator).
Some of the tech that makes the Aprilia Tuareg 660 usable as an everyday bike include
- Ride modes
- A quickshifter (optional)
- Cornering lights
- Automatic high beams
- Self-cancelling turn signals
- Full LED lighting
- A colour TFT display
However, the Tuareg 660 lacks an IMU, so there’s no cornering ABS or TC. This is not a huge deal for a middleweight, but it’s an active omission given both the Tuono 660 and RS 660 have it. Given that the Tuareg 660 is not cheap despite its capacity, it does give buyers pause and wonder whether they should go for a more premium alternative like the Ducati DesertX.
The Aprilia Tuareg 660 sets a high bar for middleweight adventure bikes. But all that comes with a price to pay — it’s roughly double what you’d pay for a Kawasaki KLR650.
The Tuareg 660 has a TFT display, cruise control, and an optional (and frequently chosen) quickshifter.
There are three main buttons to use to control the Tuareg 660’s options
- The cruise control / TC button on the left handlebar
- The ride mode switch block on the right handlebar, and
- The menu switch block on the left handlebar
On the left handlebar, the button at the top is the cruise / TC button.
- To turn cruise control on, push the button to the left. Then push it to the left again to set your speed. (You can only use cruise in 3rd gear or above.)
- To turn speed up and down, bump the toggle up and down.
When cruise control is not on, that button changes your traction control settings (TC 1-4, or off). You can do this on the fly. To turn ATC off on the fly, you take it down to one, then hold the button down and it turns off on the display.
On the right hand side, the switch near your thumb area is the ride mode button. You can hit that button on the fly between off-road, individual, explore, and urban. (Off-road and individual are configurable.)
To de-activate ABS
- Use the right button to go into off-road mode.
- In off-road mode, hold the right button to deactivate ABS.
- Note that ABS is re-activated every time you turn the bike off and on, and every time you change mode.
Most of the complexity of the controls is in navigating the options on the screen using the left switch cluster.
You use the control buttons on the left handlebar to scroll between items, scrolling up and down. You have to be at a stop to use the menus.
Whatever mode your screen is in, you navigate through various meter modes (Trip A / B, Heated grip info, Tire pressure info, phone, media etc.) with the right button.
To reset any item (e.g. the trip meter), you hold the left button.
To go into settings, hold the right button when at a standstill. This is where you can change the user code, the display settings, service interval, shift light, emergency brake flasher (a European requirement), and other similar settings.
To change a setting, you use the right arrow on the item you’ve highlighted.
There’s a lot more detail, but the rest is better left for the manual.
Reference — Manual for the Aprilia Tuareg 660
The above maintenance schedule came from the service manual for the Aprilia Tuareg 660.
You can download the manual for your Tuareg from Aprilia’s site (but only if you have a motorcycle registered to your name).
