There’s a new Italian motorcycle manufacturer in town and it’s looking to put the magic back into motorcycling!
I wouldn’t blame you if you haven’t heard of the name Moto Morini before now. Neither had I before I got asked to go ride their motorcycles, albeit for one day, but one very fun day I must say. To get the basics out of the way, Moto Morini is an Italian motorcycle manufacturer with a chequered past that has its own highs and lows, but the important bit now is, that it has come to India. Fundamentally, the Moto Morini name is owned by Zongheng Vehicle Group of China, and it is being brought to India by Adishwar Auto Ride India. This is the same group that brought Benelli and Keeway to India, but the Moto Morini brand has been brought in under the Moto Vault name, which also has the Zontes brand under it. So without wasting any more words, let’s get to it!
Moto Morini X-Cape 650X
We had five motorcycles to ride in one day, and the first one I sat on was the longest and tallest motorcycle there was - the X-Cape 650X. Now at 5’7”, I am not the shortest or the tallest person around, and I enjoy that middle ground where I don’t fall into any one category, but when I first looked at the behemoth I was about to ride (a very good looking behemoth I must add), I firmly put myself in the category of shorter people. The X-Cape just dwarfs over you, and if you are shorter than me, it will probably even strike the fear of falling into your hearts, but with my head held high, I swung a leg over it and got on with it.
If you are sitting, you are sitting inside the motorcycle, as the seat has been scooped out quite a bit to make the ground that much more accessible, and once I was on the motorcycle, I didn’t really have a problem reaching the ground on either side. However, standing up is where I enjoyed the X-Cape 650X the most. It allows you to latch onto the tank with your knees and the off-road course I had ahead of me suddenly started looking like a playground. The fact that the X-Cape allows you to switch off the ABS at the rear only increased its fun quotient, because even if I couldn’t carry enough speed ( lack of courage!) around a corner to power-slide it, I could just use the rear brake to achieve a similar effect, and put a smile on my face! The X-Cape also took all the jumps in its stride, and the only negative I’d say is the fact that it weighs a lot while standing still, so moving it around without using engine power feels cumbersome.
The X-Cape is also packing a lot of impressive hardware such as adjustable suspension, a big screen, and other bits, but for me, it's the Pirelli Scorpion tyres on both ends that really seal the deal, when it comes to the riding experience.
Moto Morini Seiemmezzo 6 ½ Scrambler
First of all, the name of this particular motorcycle is very difficult to pronounce or type for that matter, and therefore, I am just going to refer to it as the Scrambler. Compared to the X-Cape, the Scrambler looks a lot more inviting to ride. But don’t let that fool you, as it might be easy to swing a leg over, but it’s heavy to move around and the clutch pull is a bit too heavy. And for me, that’s where the negatives ended. Off-road, the Scrambler just had one thing on its mind, and that was going fast. It wasn’t the most fulfilling motorcycle when it came to jumping over obstacles or going over small hills, but give the over-excited throttle a whack and it immediately obliges you by letting that rear slide.
For me, there was no looking back after that. I hardly paid attention to other motorcycles as the Scrambler allowed me to dunk it into corners at insane speeds (for my level of riding skills) and then power out of them. Now I don’t spend all of my days riding on dirt, but it is something I enjoy. My body positioning for off-road riding is not the best, and the on-site instructor told me that if could correct that, I would be able to unlock a lot more speed from the Scrambler. Alas, not everything can happen in one day, and that’s a story for another time. As for the Scrambler, it had a road-going cousin too, which I did ride for a bit, but not enough to form an opinion, but whatever little I rode, I found acceleration to be brisk and dare I say, fun!
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