Image via Bikes and Beards/YouTube
If you’ve never heard of Italian motorcycle brand Moto Morini, you’re in good company because we have to keep stopping to check the spelling, having never heard of it either. We would feel bad, but ultra popular motorcycle YouTube channel Bikes and Beards is also unfamiliar with the company, so they bought one to check it out.
Electric motorcycles have a growing presence in the military.
We decided to look up Moto Morini and do some research. It turns out the company was founded in Bologna back in 1937, right at the beginning of the fascist uprising. Before you get any ideas about the company working for dictator Mussolini, let’s just say the company’s factory was making airplane parts when the Allies bombed it in 1943.
Hey, Volkswagen had an even sketchier beginning, so can you really judge this brand for what happened 80-plus years ago?
Well, maybe, considering a video produced by the company about its history mentions its founding in 1937, then directly skips to 1945 after WWII was over. We get that past is uncomfortable, but Volkswagen was roasted for doing something similar in a Super Bowl commercial not too long ago.
Today, Moto Morini motorcycles are apparently still proudly designed in Italy, but they’re manufactured in an authoritarian communist country known as China. A lot of people probably just blow that off because we’ve all become far too comfortable with too many of our products being built in the Middle Kingdom, possibly by literal slave labor, all to save a buck.
But does that mean the company’s motorcycles are of inferior quality? For that answer, we turn to the Bikes and Beards review, which is both entertaining and informative. First of all, as they note, the motorcycle is good-looking and why not? After all, it was designed by Italians.
The particular model they purchased is an X-Cape, which is an adventure/dual-sport bike. It’s fairly cheap at just $8,000 brand new. Maybe you’re expecting garbage for that price point? They found it has plenty of power and runs smoothly on pavement, plus it’s comfortable to ride.
When it comes to trail rides, Craig was impressed and that doesn’t happen easily. While he admitted the Moto Morini isn’t nearly as good as his BMW, he notes it costs a fraction as much as the German, so for the money it did quite well and was fun.
Maybe this is the budget-friendly adventure bike you need in your life? We’re certainly intrigued.
Image via Bikes and Beards/YouTube
