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Moto Morini

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A brand we often don’t hear too much about, Moto Morini is showing some interesting prospects that are set to debut at the upcoming EICMA show in Milan.

The biggest comes in the form of this teaser concept sketch (see above), which outlines the lines of an adventure-touring model from the Italian brand.

Now under Chinese ownership, Moto Morini is actually looking like it will have robust set of bikes debuting for the 2020 model year, with this ADV machine joined by both a scrambler and naked model.

Just over a week ago, we broke the news that a massive recall was coming to motorcycles equipped with a particular Brembo master cylinder. Since then, we have seen recall notices from Aprilia and Ducati (affecting roughly 10,000 motorcycles in the USA) with more recalls expected from other brands.

Because recalls in the United States typically come from the motorcycle manufacturer and not the part supplier, mum was the word from the folks at Brembo, though there were a number of questions regarding these recalls that weren’t answered in the NHTSA documents.

Today, Brembo has finally decided to speak about the recalls that are underway in the United States, and presumably will be occurring in other markets as well.

Though not discussing the cause of the issue, or any particulars, from Brembo’s terse statement we at least now know what other brands have been affected by this master cylinder recall. You can read Brembo’s statement, after the jump.

It is no secret that the financial collapse of a few years had devastating effects on the motorcycle industry as a whole, and few markets have been hit worse than the Italian motorcycle market. Coming through a painful bankruptcy process, and re-emerging into a still devastated Italian economy, Moto Morini has perhaps had the worst luck of the Italian brands in dealing with this economic chaos.

Needing to sell bikes, and operating really only in its home market, Moto Morini is getting creative with putting Bologna’s other brand into the garages of motorcyclists. With necessity being the mother of all invention, Moto Morini has a clever scheme to help cash-strapped Europeans get a new ride: pay for only half of the motorbike.

After a tumultuous bankruptcy, Moto Morini is alive an kicking in 2013, albeit with a very familiar model lineup. Touching some new paint to its models, and adding some “human components” accessory pieces, Moto Morini has created three special offerings so far for the new year.

Calling its new pieces the 2013 Moto Morini Scrambler 1200 Military Green, 2013 Moto Morini Scrambler 1200 White Queen, and 2013 Moto Morini Granpasso 1200 Travel Yellow, Moto Morini is obviously trying to move some bikes and clear out its inventory with some factory specials.

While you will either love or hate what Moto Morini has going on with the aesthetics of its Scrambler and Granpasso bikes, the bevy of free gear (both for the bike and the rider), along with the new lower price points (€12,500 for the Granpasso and €10,900 for the Scramblers), are two points that are certainly going to be attractive to would-be owners.

Will the fresh paint and low prices help get Moto Morini back in black? Only time will tell. However, leave a note in the comments if you think the Italian brand should bring its wares across the pond.

It looks like Moto Morini gave up on its month-long teasing of the new Moto Morini Rebello 1200 Giubileo, with the company’s latest bike breaking cover today — two weeks ahead of schedule. That is just fine by us, since we had already forgotten about the Rebello 1200 Giubileo and its painful jigsaw puzzle reveal strategy, and the move is even better for the motorcycle public because Moto Morini has quite an interesting bike to show here.

A street-standard with some café racer touches, the Moto Morini Rebello 1200 Giubileo looks like quite an elegant bike with some very nice finishing touches being shown in the company’s limited photo set.

Easily our favorite detail is the unique “electric moveable saddle” that takes the Rebello 1200 Giubileo from monoposto to biposto with a simple flick of switch, while maintaing the bike’s rear-cowling look. It would seem gone are the days of having to remove a rear seat cover, or swapping out a rear cowl for a padded seat. Molto bene.

The story of Moto Morini could be straight out of a Monty Python sketch, as the Italian brand has proven, several times now, that it’s not dead yet. Going into receivership back in late 2009, the brand was finally bought in July 2011 for the tidy sum of €1.96 million by entrepreneurs Sandro Capotosti and Ruggeromassimo Jannuzzelli. With production expected to resume in January of this year, the Italian company is teasing its first new bike: the Moto Morini Rebello 1200 Giubileo.

The Moto Morini emblem may be an eagle, but today it might be more fitting if the Bologna-based company used a phoenix instead. Coming out of the ashes of bankruptcy, Moto Morini was auctioned off for €1.96 million earlier this year. Now the company says it will be going back into production in the new year, almost a year after its purchase. Initially offering the 9 ½, Corsaro 1200, Granpasso, and the Scrambler models, Moto Morini says it is poised to release a fifth new model in the spring of 2012.

Finally finding a purchaser at its second auction, Moto Morini has seemingly been given a new lease on life after finding a pair of investors willing to back the Italian brand. Buying the company’s assets, but not the property where it resides, entrepreneurs Sandro Capotosti and Ruggeromassimo Jannuzzelli paid €1.96 million for the Moto Morini name, IP, and other proprietary assets.

With both investors saying they have an emotional tie to Moto Morini motorcycles, they also both come with some serious business acumen. For instance, Capotosti is the former chairman of the Banca Profilo and Jannuzzelli was the former VP and Group CEO of Camuzzi, an Italian energy group.

If Moto Morini was a household dog, someone would have taken it out to the backwoods and put the damn thing down already. Yet, Administrators in charge of handling the bankrupt company’s assets are gearing up for yet another attempt to auction the brand, building, anything in order to get some euros back for Moto Morini’s creditors. Set to take place on July 19th, the auction aims to sell the company and its premises for €4.65 million (down from €5.5 million), but will strike a deal on the assets for a cool €1.95 million (also down from €2.6 million). Will this make a difference? Probably not.

In case you haven’t notice, we really like the work of Luca Bar. The young Italian designer has an eye for motorcycles we like to own, so it seemed fitting that we show off one of Bar-Design’s older works, the Moto Morini Corsaro Veloce.

With the fabled Italian company set to go up on the auction block again this summer, we thought perhaps some inspiration from Maestro Bar would help pull some buyers out of the woodwork. At the very least, it’s an excuse to show off some more drool-worthy motorcycle eyecandy.

Zero. Nada. None. That’s the number of offers made on Moto Morni and its facilities during today’s bankruptcy auction proceedings. The beleaguered Italian motorcycle manufacturer has had a rough time of things, since its closure hit the newswires back in December 2009. Several suitors have come to the company’s door, trying to woo it into acquisition. First it was Paolo Berlusconi, who came close to finalizing a purchase of Moto Morini, before the unionized labor put the kibosh on the transaction, and Berlusconi walked from the business deal.

Perhaps unsurprisingly was the failure of any offer from Thomas Bleiner to materialize, despite the Austrain businessman’s great lengths to publicize his intentions of purchasing Moto Morini. Bleiner’s plan involved supplementing the motorcycle company’s income with a bank of solar panels, made by Bleiner’s other venture, that would be affixed to the Bologna factory’s rooftop. As was thought at the time, this announcement appears to be just a move to drum up some publicity for the photovoltic enterprise, and not a serious interest in Moto Morini.