The Italian-designed, Chinese-built adventure bike, the Moto Morini X-Cape 650 was first unveiled in EICMA 2019. With the Italian company now outsourcing the production of its motorcycles to China, it was now able to offer its machines at more competitive price points to better rival its international competitors.
There’s no denying that new entrants into the middleweight ADV segment are stirring the pot quite a bit. Bikes like the Yamaha Ténéré 700 and the upcoming Aprilia Tuareg 660 have breathed new life into an otherwise stagnating segment which consisted of decent, albeit boring 180-degree crankshaft-equipped parallel-twins and 90-degree V-twin offerings. Noticing the gradual increase in popularity of middleweight ADVs brought about by these new bikes, Moto Morini was quick to hop on the bandwagon, and is expected to launch its own ADV bike, the X-Cape, in the European market very soon.
In May of this year, Moto Morini held a launch event and showcased the X-Cape 650. During the launch, the tech features and specs of the bike were revealed. While it is well and truly within the middleweight ADV segment, its performance figures leave a lot to be desired. With a 650cc parallel-twin motor in between your legs, the X-Cape pumps out a rather lackluster 60 horsepower. Moto Morini seems to have taken the budget approach for the engine, and has used the Zhejiang Chunfeng-sourced powerplant equipped with a Bosch EFI system.
Based on videos circulating online, it’s pretty clear, based on the bike’s exhaust note, that the engine sports a 180-degree crankshaft similar to what we find in the Versys 650–not exactly the punchy, spirited motor we find in the Ténéré 700. That said, the X-Cape does get a full-color TFT display, Bluetooth connectivity, and a built-in tire pressure monitoring system. A restricted variant applicable for A2 license holders will also be made available.
The new Moto Morini X-Cape 650 will begin hitting the showroom floors across Europe in October of this year. In fact, reservations for the bike are already open in Italian dealerships. Priced at 7,290 Euros, or around $8,600 USD for the standard version, Moto Morini will also be launching a more street-focused version equipped with alloy wheels for a cheaper 7,090 Euros, or $8,366 USD. Given the bike’s price point, it’s definitely a bargain option in the ADV segment, so we can’t really fault it for its lackluster performance figures.
Sources: Motociclismo, InMoto