New Bikes - News
October 2006
Press release for the announcement of the Corsaro Veloce at the Cologne Show
"Moto Morini will be participating at the Cologne Trade Fair and during the event will be presenting a world premiere preview of the special version:
Corsaro 1200 Veloce.
A name which is inspired by our best traditions that, in the early sixties, gave the name Corsaro Veloce to a sporty version of the Corsaro 125 which was blessed with success at the time.
The press preview on October 10th will present a motorbike fitted with extremely high-standard components, and aggressive graphics for bikers who love Italian motorbikes.
A naked motorbike which can live up to the expectations of the most expert motorcyclists who expect the ultimate riding experience on the road and on the track. The Corsaro 1200 Veloce is a “standard produced special bike”, a motorcycle designed to provide total enjoyment and performance worthy of a true racing machine. "
March 2006
A Yellow and Black version of the Corsaro 1200 will be available from March 2006. After receiving favourable comments at the Milan Show last year, the factory has decided to make this colour scheme an option.
According to the factory website, it's a special metallic pearl yellow with two-toned tank and headlight fairing in matte black (gloss black in the photo...webmaestro). The handlebars, forks and the wheel rims are black.
December 2005
Three Cross motorcycles have been chosen as the Official Sole Moto Morini Importer and Distributor for the UK.
The Moto Morini model range for 2006 will consist of two machines, the Corsaro 1200 priced at £8699 on-the-road, and the 9 1/2 with a lower retail price, which will be confirmed shortly.
http://www.3xmotorcycles.net
December 2004
A year on from the announcement of the rebirth of Moto Morini, the Bolognese firm has kept it's promise. At the Motor Show of Bologna they will show two new large capacity bikes.
They are called "Corsaro 1200" and "Moto Morini 9 1/2", an aggressive naked with 140 Horsepower and a modern scrambler with 105 Horsepower.
Available from next spring will be the Corsaro, at the year end, the 9 1/2. With competitive pricing, the naked will cost less than 12,000 euro.
Moto Morini presents to the Bologna Motor Show the product of the intense labor of the last few months. The debut motorbike is called Corsaro (Pirate) 1200, a name very dear to the Morinisti, mainly those who lived during the 70's. Naked, compact and powerful the Corsaro 1200 is intended to show visitors the result of the relaunching of the brand and the synthesis of the spirit that has driven the management of the Bolognese firm in their creation.
It is powered by the twin cylinder, longitudinal 87° V engine, named Bialbero CorsaCorta (Twin Cam Short Stroke, but the Italian sounds much sexier) , designed by Franco Lambertini. And the large capacity of this engine fortells a range of capacity from 750cc to 1200cc. The 87° block has allowed for a compact motor housed in a frame with a wheelbase of 1,440mm.
The maximum power is declared at 140 Horsepower at 8,500rpm, with a peak torque of 12.5 kgm at 6500rpm.
The ladder frame is made of varying thickness tube that deliberately leaves the Bialbero CorsaCorta on view.
At the rear end we find a cast aluminum alloy swingarm of original and curving form, to which is fixed the rear suspension with progressive linkage.
The exhaust system keeps the emissions of the Corsaro 1200 within the limits of the Euro 3 legislation. The exhausts are made from 70mm diameter tubing with the catalyst on show and two underseat silencers, stumpy, bi-conical but at the same time slender.
The lines of the Corsaro 1200 are the handiwork of Marabese Design. The sporting look results from a mix of round and straight lines blended together. The aggressive styled fairing leaves the twin headlights on show. The tank, whose shape mimics the open wing of an eagle, is shaped with a respectful eye to the ergonomics and the bicolored paint scheme, in the best Morini tradition.
The rider and passenger seats are on different levels and the very slender tail piece has two aggressively shaped air intakes.
Manufactured in the new factory at Casalecchio di Reno, the new naked Morini will be on sale from spring / summer 2005 at a price below 12,000 euro.
Technical data:
Engine: Moto Morini - Bialbero CorsaCorta, 87° longitudinal V-Twin
Cooling: liquid
Valve train: a mixture of gears / chain, 4 valves per cylinder
Bore x stroke: 107 x 66 mm
Capacity: 1187 cc
Compression ratio: 11.8:1 (± 0.3)
Power: 140hp at 8500rpm
Torque: 12.5 Kgm at 6500rpm
Carburation: Indirect electronic injection by Magneti Marelli with 54 mm throttle bodies
Ignition: electronic
Starting: electric
Lubrication: forced by trocoidal pump
Gears: 6 permanently engaged gears
Ratios:
First 13/36
second 17/32
third 20/30
fourth 22/28
fifth 23/26
sixth 24/25
Clutch: multidisc in oil bath
Primary transmission: gears in ratio 55:31
Final transmission: chain
Exhaust: Twin silencers with 3 way catalyst and lambda sensor
Emissions: within the Euro 3 limits
The 9 1/ 2 is a large capacity road motorbike, equipped with the twin cylinder Bialbero CorsaCorta engine in 998cc form, which develops 105hp at 9000rpm.
The distinctive characteristic of the 9 1/ 2 project is the combination of performance/ accessibility that results in a classical style and "reassuring" performances of a powerful and nimble motorbike, characterised by a comforting arrangement and by using high quality, all Italian components.
With bodywork reduced to the bone the 9 1/ 2 shows off it's mechanical parts nicely entrusted into the care of the frame: made with variable thickness steel tubing combined with the large diameter, oval section,swing arm and inverted large diameter forks, round headlamp, capacious tank, roomy and comfortable dual saddle, high quality alloy rimmed spoked wheels, single side mounted suspension damper, Euro 3 compliant exhaust with single side mounted high level silencer.
A superior motorbike but with a well defined personality, in looks half way between a naked and a scrambler combining the best of both worlds
The 9 1/ 2 will enter production at the end of 2005 and it will be priced below 11,000 euro.
Technical data:
Engine: Moto Morini - Bialbero CorsaCorta, 87° longitudinal V-Twin
Cooling: liquid
Valve train: a mixture of gears / chain, 4 valves per cylinder
Bore x stroke: 107 x 55.5 mm
Capacity: 998 cc
Compression ratio: 12:1
Power: 105hp at 9000rpm
Torque: 10 Kgm at 6200rpm
Carburation: Indirect electronic injection by Magneti Marelli with 54 mm throttle bodies
Ignition: electronic
Starting: electric
Lubrication: forced by trocoidal pump
Gears: 6 permanently engaged gears
first 13/36
second 17/32
third 20/30
fourth 22/28
fifth 23/26
sixth 24/25
Clutch: multidisc in oil bath
Primary transmission: gears in ratio 55:31
Final transmission: chain
Exhaust: With 3 way catalyst and lambda sensor
Emissions: within the Euro 3 limits
April 2004
From MotorcycleNews 14 April 2004
Morini's new 998cc V-twin engine on the dyno. It uses an unusual 87 degree angle between the cylinders, to make it more compact than conventional 90 degree twins, and when developed should make around 130bhp.
The firm has also announced that the new range of bike will be styled by Luciano Marabese whose past machines include the futuristic Gilera CX125 of the early '90s, the award winning Gilera Ice scooter and the Aprilia Atlantic 500. More recently he styled the Moto Guzzi Breva and the Griso conceptbike.
February 2004
From MotorcycleNews 25 Feb 2004
This artist's impression is the first glimpse of the machine set to revive the famous Moto Morini brand later this year.
The machines are wholly modern, but with the retro cafe racer style of classic Morinis. So instead of a fully faired sports bike, the first version will be half-faired but with superbike-style low clip-ons.
The first bikes will be powered by a new 1000cc anf 750cc V-twin. The 1000cc version will appear first at the Munich show in September.
According to MCN's sources, the frame will be made from a combination of steel and alloy, like that of the MV Agusta's F4 and Brutale, and the suspension and brakes will be all-Italian - probably Brembo and Paioli components.
December 2003
PRESS RELEASE
MOTO MORINI TURN THEIR ENGINES ON AGAIN
Today at the Motor Show in Bologna Moto Morini SpA, a company which has shown itself to be a unique historic motorcycling name, will be represented.
This company originated from an understanding between two well-known families from Bologna:the Morini family, shareholders of the Morini Franco Motori SpA, a company which since 1954 has dealt with the design and assembly of motorcycle engines, and the Berti family, manufacturers in the electronic sector with the brand name of Sinudyne since 1946. The intention of the two shareholding families, which
have an equal share of the capital, is to re-launch a brand name which is already well-known in Italy and abroad for its success which it achieved in the past.
The presence of the Morini family within this new company represents a line of continuity throughout the history of this brand name. For those who know about italian motorcycling, their history is well-known; we will briefly remind you of it.
Moto Morini was founded in Bologna after the second world war by Alfonso Morini, and it began with the production of a touristic-utilitarian line which met with the needs of that time. In respect to the many other competitors then, Morini chose a philosophy of production based on quality, economy and performance which soon brought success to the company. They chose 125 and 175 cc’s, at that time very popular in Italy; therefore there was a natural passage towards motorcycling
racing, including the participation in the World Championships.
In 1954 the Rebello was designed, one of the great italian motorcycling racing classics in those years, which successfully took part in the Motorcycling Sports Championship of that category.
In 1958 another masterpiece left its mark on motorcycling history: the 250 Bialbero, which became known by the press worldwide as “the fastest monocylinder in the world”. With this motorbike, Tarquinio Provini gained the title of World Champion in 1963 in an apparently unequal challenge against the multicylinders of the japanese.
Giacomo Agostini, the greatest rider of all time - and this gives you an idea of the sporting value of Morini - made his first appearance in competitions on the seat of a Settebello “Aste Corte”, making his first leap towards a career worth 15 World Titles. The 60’s and the 70’s are full of sporting and commercial success: The road version of the Corsaro and Regolarità (todays Enduro) and Corsarino, 48 cc’s with a four stroke engine and the incredible dual cylinder 3 1/2 and 500 leave their mark on motorcycling history of that time, within the Moto Morini line, made up of great technical content and performance. Motorbikes made to be ridden with maximum satisfaction, the result of careful planning and always with an innovative technique.
The re-launching of Moto Morini represents the first step to carrying this fantastic brand name towards the success which it achieved in the golden age of italian motorcycling.
Claudio Cannarella
Bologna, 2003 december 4th
Press Office: META srl – 40125 Bologna Strada Maggiore, 46 – tel. +39.051.6569092 fax +39.051.6569028
From Motonline.com
It is official: The rebirth of Moto Morini. The firm founded in 1937 by Alfonso Morini, Bolognese rider and builder, and closed at the end of the 1980s after having surrendered to the Cagiva Group and from them to Ducati Motor Holding, Starts from scratch, but with the tranquility which comes from being returned to the family.
In 1999 the name was acquired by Morini Franco Motori, a branch of the Morini family, Alfonso Morini was the uncle of the founder of the firm which came within a hairs breadth, in 1963, of snatching the world 250 title from the Honda 4 cylinder 250 with a single cylinder machine.
That's why this ambitious project, Moto Morini Spa, has been started in partnership, shared equally between two Bolognese industrial families The Morini family, main shareholder of Morini Franco Motori, and the Berti family, owners of the Sinudyne brand, who have operated in the consumer electronis sector since 1946.
It is still too early to speak about production plans and of investments, which will naturally amount to several million Euro, but two firm points exist already: the designer, Franco Lambertini, who was the last designer at Moto Morini, already has rolls of technical drawings on the table, and the new Moto Morini factory, which is rising at Casalecchio di Reno next to the Morini Franco Motori factory.
Two other firm points were made at Bologna during the presentation of the enterprise and concerning the production strategy: it is not anticipated that they will construct scooters and scooter engines, thus all the main components of the motorbike will be original Moto Morini projects.
That is all for the moment. The enterprise is certainly praiseworthy, but we are certain that the organizers aim to gain much more of the gratitude of the fans of the glorious marque, and the difficulties in starting afresh will not be few. But also the advantages: starting from a blank sheet of paper, guarantees ample freedom of action and it at times produces amazing results.
October 2003
Reproduced by kind permission of Motorcycle Sport & Leisure
Though it's certainly not due to restart production until the 2005 model year at the earliest, it's more than likely that another of Italy's born-again trophy marques will be present at Milan in reborn guise - Moto Morini.
Founded in 1937 by Alfonso Morini and based in the same suburb of Bologna as Ducati, Moto Morini was always even by Italian standards a small though prestigious family concern, but with a sporting flair to its products. The most famous of these was the legendary bike reputed in the classic era of Grand Prix racing to be the world's fastest four-stroke single - the 12,000 rpm dohc 250cc GP racer with which in 1963 Tarquinio Provini came within an ace of wresting the World Championship from the phalanx of four-cylinder Hondas led by Jim Redman. By then, Morini had established a loyal following for its small-capacity 125/175cc street singles, like the Settebello and Corsaro, and indeed one Giacomo Agostini began his racing career on a Morini, attracting the attention of Count Agusta by winning the 1964 Italian 250 title on one, before switching to the far wealthier MV team. By the time he died in 1969, Alfonso Morini could be well satisfied with a lifetime of two-wheeled achievement.
Moto Morini was taken over on Alfonso's death by his daughter Gabriella, who wisely diversified the company's model line upwards by introducing the family of bikes powered by the distinctive Heron-headed sohc 72-degree V-twin engine developed by chief engineer Franco Lambertini in 1973, first in 350cc form, then later in 500cc and 250cc guise. More than 85,000 of these individually-designed motorcycles were built over the next two decades, bringing Morini a loyal following around the world, and as the first production four-strokes from any manufacturer to be fitted with electronic ignition, toothed belt camshaft drive and a six-speed gearbox, also represent an engineering benchmark. Unfortunately, though profitable, Morini's small production volume (around 10,000 bikes a year in the company's heyday) wasn't capable of generating enough capital for the rising costs of developing a new range of bikes, and after an abortive attempt to produce a 500 Turbo version of the V-twin, Gabriella Morini sold the company to Cagiva in 1987.
As diehard race enthusiasts the Castiglioni brothers couldn't resist the chance to acquire such a historic marque, particularly after having bought its Ducati neighbours just two years earlier, and especially when it came with a prime piece of real estate attached, in the form of the Moto Morini factory in the midst of a prime Bologna residential area. After installing former Ducati manager Mario Scandellari to run the company, they commissioned their then newly-acquired design guru Massimo Tamburini to produce a modern sportbike addition to the V-twin Morini family, which duly arrived in 1988 in the form of the fully-faired Dart, closely modelled on the Ducati Paso and 125 Cagiva Freccia from the same designer. But though the Excalibur custom range continued to sell well, the Dart's pushrod air-cooled engine was too archaic-looking to appeal to the sportbike customer, and although Lambertini already had its successor up and running on the dyno in the form of a liquid-cooled 720cc 67-degree V-twin 'otto valvole' of advanced design, the rival Ducati faction in the Cagiva empire headed by Massimo Bordi ensured that all of the Cagiva development budget was directed towards their rival 'desmoquattro' design. Starved of funds, the new Morini V-twin motor died a death, Lambertini went off to Piaggio to work on scooter engines, the factory was sold for housing development (netting a tidy profit for Cagiva, which helped refuel Ducati's comeback!), Morini struggled on for a couple of years as Cagiva's notional custom bike division - and then production gradually petered out, with no new Morinis built since 1992.
TPG's acquisition of Ducati from Cagiva at the end of 1996 brought Morini with it, but in the wake of Ducati's public flotation the company's American management found a buyer for a marque they had ended up owning almost by default - and one moreover with a family connection. A key member of the roster of Bologna-based motorcycle-industry suppliers, Morini Franco Motori was founded in 1957 by Alfonso Morini's nephew Franco, who after working with his uncle for a couple of years split away to start his own engine supply company in partnership with his colleague Vittorio Minarelli. But in late '56 the two partners split up, since when their two companies have furnished millions of two-stroke engines for the large family of Italian scooter and moped manufacturers. MFM has an annual output approaching 100,000 engines, of late principally for use in Malaguti and Italjet products, and also worked with Bimota as a sub-contractor to manufacture the troubled 500 Vdue's direct-injection V-twin two-stroke engine. Benelli's three-cylinder Novecento engine is today produced for the Pesaro concern by Franco Morini, and completed its development under the direction of former Moto Morini chief engineer Franco Lambertini, who joined MFM from Piaggio in 1997....!
Having decided to become manufacturers in their own right rather than merely engine suppliers, it made sense for MFM management to use a historic name that's all but their own - hence the deal with Ducati announced in April 1999 to acquire the Moto Morini name. Since then, Lambertini has been hard at work developing a new range of Morini motorcycles - the first-ever complete two-wheelers that Morini Franco Motori has ever built. The prototypes of these are set to be displayed at the Milan Show, powered by a modular engine family which Lambertini has developed, understood to comprise a liquid-cooled sohc eight-valve 72-degree V-twin of 'typically Moto Morini architecture' and capacities ranging from 650cc to 1000cc, say Italian sources, as well as a spinoff single-cylinder project capable of scooter as well as motorcycle application. With the current healthy state of the Italian motorcycle market and the ongoing dip in scooter sales, as well as the current woes of MFM's prime customer Italjet, currently in receivership under the unique Italian 'amministrazione controllata'/Chapter 11 bankruptcy system, it's likely that the first Moto Morini models will be middleweight V-twin motorcycles, rather than scooters. Come September, we should find out, at Milan.
(Apart from a selection of scooter engines and a couple of examples of the big triple they make for Benelli, there was no sign of the rumoured new V-Twin on the Franco Morini stand at this years Milan show - webmaestro)