Moto Morini 1200 Corsaro Veloce

Well version one is the previous post, but you might see the following version published in print shortly. If not then nevermind, but so it gets a fair airing here's the second version, a bit more visceral perhaps.

The main reason being. I like to have a bit of criticism, constructive naturally. The consensus of opinion at UKBike where most of the material is placed is that other than being a windbag who tends to go on and on, the quality of writing is good its just bring presentation issues.

Most people it would seem (online anyway) appear to have a very short and finite attention span, and whilst theuy might happily read a bike review in for instance Bike magazine that is 2,000 words long, online they won't. (Quite what the difference is I don't know if the copy is the same)so attempting to be a little less prosaic than usual I penned the first piece to be a bit more informative and structured it with sub headers etc so that it was easier to navigate between sections without trawling through the whole piece to find out the relevant information required.

I always send the finished article to a few alternative places, one of them being the Riders Digest magazine, who are a great bunch of people and down to earth with it as well, not parading themselves as egotistical big shots, which unfortunately (in my opinion) a number of UK magazine journalists tend to do. Anyway, the editor there gave me the completely different opinion, preferring the more prosaic and visceral road trip style of review. So that meant another bottle of wine and here it is. If you've read the first one, skip to para 6 and read on. It's all true (honest, Its just that I didn't include it in the first one because thats what I thought was required, and I didn't want to go on at length. which I appear to be doing here so read on mes braves......


2008 Moto Morini 1200 Corsaro Veloce



Predatory and purposeful in its look and build the new Moto Morini 1200 Corsaro 1200 veloce (in effect the SP version of the existing Corsaro) is a street fighter to be reckoned with. Equipped with all the attributes and necessary equipment to make it a bike you don’t really want to get off.

The newly revived still wholly family owned factory at Marabese in Italy has drawn on its heritage and produced a thoroughly modern V- twin motorcycle that is such a grin to ride it’s almost painful.

The Corsaro is the fifth Model in a small but perfectly formed factory line up which after investment started producing motorcycles again in 2005.

A quick straw poll of bikers I came into contact with over the Corsaro weekend either hadn’t heard of Moto Morini at all, or, only remembered the seemingly legendary 3-half sport and that was the extent of their knowledge. A case of out of sight out of mind.
Unlike Triumph for instance that is enjoying a remarkable renaissance, Moto |Morini only ever made its mark in the minds of the few and though still lovingly remembered by the cognoscenti, their numbers are dwindling and the modern motorcycle audience has grown up without the brand presence over the last 20 odd years

It didn’t stop all and sundry admiring the revival though , in fact whilst at a rather large auto jumble that weekend it drew a sizeable audience, attracted no doubt by the purposeful profile but probably more by the exhaust note produced by the under seat mufflers.
3X motorcycles who had supplied the bike thoughtfully equipped their demonstrator with un baffled Termignoni’s and the accompanying dedicated ECU produced a ‘well proper’ motorcycle noise.
This played a large part in my affection for the machine over the weekend, popping and blarting sound across the Romney Marsh area of the Kent countryside.
It wasn’t intrusive (to me anyway), and it really enhanced the delivery from the 1200cc V-twin motor.
If I was looking for a street fighter with bags of character I could easily be cajoled into purchasing this black devil of a motorcycle.

The standard items on the standard Corsaro are fat organ pipes of quiet harmony conforming to the usual euro nonsense and aesthetically in the eye of this beholder detracted from the overall profile.
The Veloce at £9,900 new would have to be worth digging a little deeper into the bank managers pocket to gain these performance pipes, not to mention a fine Ohlins rear suspension unit, which replaces the standard Sachs unit, slipper clutch, and Brembo brakes allied to a radial clutch master cylinder .

Obviously all this branded stuff is not worth a jot if you’ve got a flat and lifeless motor farting away beneath you. Returning from 3X motorcycles down the A27 is not much of a test either. Other than keeping a steady pace all the while from Bournemouth to Chichester weaving in and out of bloody traffic jams it was no test at all, any bike labelled 1200cc could do it No, the true test was through the twisties and some unpopulated A roads

Weaving an artful web of semi lies and thin deceit, ’It’s work dear’ I exited the house Saturday afternoon leaving miserable DIY duties to sink a few brown beers and watch a local rock outfit power chord their senses away across the border in East Kent at the invite of a very good friend who was helping to organize the Ham Street Auto jumble on Sunday, he thought I might like to ‘network’ which was the perfect excuse to spank the Morini to Rye via the landgate in Winchelsea, (loosened a bit of mouldering mortar in a momentary down shift blip frenzy).

I was starting to enjoy the feel of Franco Lambertini’s Bialbera Corsacorta engine, not sure what the hell it exactly means other than ex-Ferrari man Franco Lambertini who has been responsible for most of the lumps for Morini. Apparently he took his inspiration from a ‘famous’ serial race winning 250cc machine way back before I were a lad. (Please address all letters decrying my ignorance to the esteemed Mr. Gurman for the next issue, whereupon I can weakly protestate my innocence due to an inevitably breached word count and a computer that’s absolutely feckin’ rubbish when it comes to connecting to the net, attention spans and all that, or possibly to quote Rodney Stewart, I could ‘blame it on the wine.’

Any way, Pill Box corner despatched, liking it a lot by now, loosened a few window panes ‘blarting’ through Rye and then onto the Camber rode, seven o clock and mercifully empty roads, completely uncalled for wheelie over the little Rother Bridge, Nice! Liking it even more, the chassis and front Marzocchi’s took the ham fisted landing in their stride with hardly a murmur or gut wrenching twist of the bars to speak of, same for the unkempt surface and railway crossing at East Guldeford, God be praised this was fast becoming the largest grin in Christendom.

I barely noticed the new wind farm being built out on the marsh road between East Guldeford and Brenzett, concentrating on the almost laser sharp pin point accuracy of the steering, the wide bars should have a crosshair sight mounted on them, seriously I found it that good, to be honest everything else other than the pummelling sound of the Termi’s and the fixed concentration on the next bend, scrutinizing the surface ahead was extraneous’
Anybody who knows that road will know about the corner just outside the Woolpack Inn just before the Phillipino village (in fact not even sure if the Phillipino village still exists, concentrating on stringing the two corners together before the long nearly mile straight).

I have to confess I approached Woolpack corner about Forty miles an hour quicker than I should, It was an ‘Oh shit’ moment, this is where the labelling and nomenclature comes into its own and you realise why such a bike has such a price, because I stamped through the firm and precise gearbox rapidly but methodically whilst applying the brakes, It’s moments like this when you realise what an idiot you’ve been and the apex is mere picoseconds away. (Images of myself vainly trying to the explain hideous and engraven facts of destruction and reckless hooliganism ran past my head like a dying person’s broadcast to themselves), but no, luck and superb engineering once more saved my face, I had to let the clutch out (sixth to second very rapidly) or spear myself and the black devil across the road into an unforgiving looking five bar gate. (I know its unforgiving because a pal on a 2 day old Fireblade did exactly that years before. It was a bloody mess I can tell you), let the brakes off and tipped it in, stuck my knee out like |I knew what I was doing and Witham style put as much weight over the front as possible.
The slipper clutch shrugged off the manic stamping and frenzied clutch action with almost a nonchalant shrug, ‘It is my job you see, you stupid Engleesh pig’ The Brembos and massive 320mm discs did all the work before I had to let go and hope for the best.
Next thing I know I’m short shifting into third and rolling round the Phillipino village corner and out home free onto the Brenzett straight.

Oh yes my friends Marabese be praised! Franco you are the man!!

My mate wasn’t at the auto jumble, there was no sign of beer or rock band, so on the old blower to be greeted with ‘be there in half an hour.’
Well, to be honest after the ride I’d just had, I wasn’t going to wait half an hour smoking roll ups and wishing I was still on the road, so I buggered off for an hour out through the back lanes of Ham Street, Warehorne and Kingsnorth to a mate in nearby Woodchurch, said hi, gulped a cup of tea, felt guilty for not really hanging around and jumped back on the bike, (apparently waking the baby up), then back again to the Auto Jumble to greet Mr. Polnud.

Yes. I’m weak, I was following the buzz, I couldn’t hang around. I felt like a teenage alcoholic who hadn’t had their cider fix for ten minutes Half an hour later I was back in the saddle doing it all over again, the only difference being the darkness (the lights are rubbish by the way Franco) the silence of the night acting like an echo chamber to the bombastic Termignoni’s and the spattering of multitudinous bodies on my visor.

Nipped out again on Sunday with riding pal and fellow UKBike member ‘The Coghurst Boy’ who remarked on the lack of illumination from the sculpted rear lens, querying an intermittent fault. (He should have seen me yesterday, spattering desperate red light all over the Woolpack).

Following on his beautiful KTM Supermotard it was noticeable how little I used the brakes apparently. We swapped bikes in order to gain a comparison, when we stopped roughly twenty miles down the route, he knew why.
His KTM felt soft and almost sports toury compared with the taut and sharp ride of the devil black Nastilini.
I pointed out the 320mm double discs, not your almost de rigueur mono block sports bike oriented calipers but standard four pot Brembo units, (mustn’t grumble) The skinny brake lines (probably Kevlar reinforced- couldn’t find the actual spec) probably helped.

The KTM had measured up on paper other than the capacity, Coggy boy had Akrapovics, WP up front and at the rear adjusted to take into account lightweight Dymags (to combat the triple clamped Marzocchi’s and rear Ohlins unit on the |Morini), slipper clutch, admittedly less acute rake and longer wheelbase, but what an amazing difference between the two bikes.

I could descend into an abyss of technical details now but suffice to say the trellis frame, (hard to find as a production preference outside of Italy, almost a mechanized two wheel national signature piece, the nation as a whole must have the worldwide patents for this design style).was brilliant, other than a bit of Sveedish the rest was pretty much home produced gear the combination of the parts totalling an absolutely brilliant motorcycle that was a scream to ride, Oh, other than the dash which I barely looked at all weekend, but it had a rev counter dial and an adjacent digi construct telling me everything I didn’t really need to know other than How fast I was actually going (best to behave in town unless really late at night), but it wasn’t easy to see

To recap the most important bits to concentrate on our yummy big bore 1200cc V-twin motor, |Termignoni’s, Brembo stuff everywhere, slipper clutch, wide bars and sorted suspension settings from the factory .I personally think suspension is a bit of a black art, so fiddling with factory settings at one end usually affects the ride at the other, unless you are a guru in this department my view it to leave well alone and rate the factory settings. The factory settings are bloody good, firm but pliant at speed, I had no desire to feck about and fiddle with either the front or rear Ohlins suspension. It delivered most excellent performance right out of the crate.

Hone your neck muscles, wear out the stock tyres immediately and bung some very sticky numbers onboard. You can’t go wrong!!!

MPG? Hmm, errm, urrr, I spent about 60 quid for which I received close to 500miles Frankly though my dears I don’t give a damn about the mpg, the bike was a blast to ride and because I’m restricted to a word count, I merely implore you to consider this bike in your next purchasing process, don’t be put off by the relatively obscure name, it comes with a wealth of heritage a three year warranty, bristles with top kit that you’d only have to shell out for extra generally on a cheaper bike, and has the added kudos of exclusivity. And that absolutely perfect Termignoni aural signature…. The Cagiva group/ Texas venture capitalists must be gutted.

Wanna try one? 3X Motorcycles Italian centre, is where they’re at. They can supply in black, the red (looks well flash) and |I believe they do a yellow, very similar to the |Triumph gold sort of livery.
If your recession proof pound can stretch to a non Japanese street fighter - Ducati Monster (which I believe are in very short supply at present), KTM Duke, Triumph Speed Triple, Buell etc do yourself a favour, don’t buy until you’ve spread your wings on a Moto Morini Corsaro Veloce 1200

Doby Trutcenden 30..7.08