Bergamaschi

Bergamaschi to distribute Magneti Marelli products Europe-wide

Milan based distributor E. Bergamaschi & Figlio SpA has reached an agreement with Marelli Aftermarket Italy SpA to distribute its Magneti Marelli branded aftermarket motorcycle products on a Europe-wide basis.

Finalised at EICMA in November last year, Bergamaschi made the announcement at the end of March 2024. After months of development and severe tests, the marketing of the new two-wheel spare parts under the Magneti Marelli Parts & Service brand has kicked off and will be distributed, thanks to selected partners, throughout Europe. 

It is a growing range that, over the next few months, will be published in a specific catalogue which will cover several families of Magneti Marelli branded product lines - from electrical and motorcycle body parts to engine components, consumables, repair kits and much more.

"The entire two-wheel repair and maintenance world will benefit from this," said CEO Bruno Bergamaschi. "The parts are already in inventory and the plan is going into action now. 

"These spare parts, which are original or equivalent to original in quality, come with guaranteed quality and reliability." The list of spare parts offered is huge: brake and clutch levers, mirrors, transmission cables, water pump overhaul kits, injectors and valves. 

The electrical parts category includes items such as ignition coils, voltage regulators, stators, pickups, electronic control units, starter motors, stop light switches, clutches, fuel pumps. 

"Not forgetting the big news of engine parts: cylinders, fuel injectors, crankshafts, transmission and variator rollers," said Bruno.

"This first step of development makes us very happy, and we therefore look forward to a positive market response. We are confident that with this collaboration we will be able to further affirm our role as a distributor of premium spare parts, with only premium brands."

Franco Ortelli, Head of EMEA at Magneti Marelli Parts & Services, commented: "We are extremely pleased with this agreement. The great reliability of the Magneti Marelli brand, combined with Bergamaschi's unquestionable expertise in the distribution of two-wheel products, makes us sure that it will enable further growth for both companies in the motorcycle sector."

Franco Ortelli, Head of EMEA at Magneti Marelli Parts & Services and CEO Bruno Bergamaschi

Bergamaschi is thought to be the oldest parts and accessory distributor in the international motorcycle industry. Founded in 1919 (coincidentally the same year as Magneti Marelli), its facility is a familiar landmark on the A4 in northern Milan. Bergamaschi's numbers are impressive. At any one time it carries more than 80,000 active items in 4,500 sq m of covered warehouse, with space for 9,200 pallets in four vertical warehouses equipped with radio frequency terminals for RFID inventory management, 1,200 sq m of office space, more than 2,300 customers, three outsourced logistics hubs, and more than 45,000 shipments per year.

Magneti Marelli needs little introduction. Its foundational role in the development of the global Powered Two-Wheeler industry makes it a natural partner for any motorcycle dealer. 

Its Parts & Services division is a leading global independent aftermarket company, distributing parts, automotive components and know-how to workshops through a network of distributors. It provides original and equivalent products and support services to the automotive as well as the motorcycle industry through Magneti Marelli 'Checkstar's' network of workshops and body shops.

In its role as master distributor, Bergamaschi says it has already made progress defining the distributor network for Magneti Marelli aftermarket products here in Europe, but that there are still opportunities in selected markets. 

www.bergamaschi.com

UK motorcycle registrations

UK February motorcycle registrations +5.73%

The latest data available from the Motorcycle Industry Association (MCIA) in the UK show new motorcycle registrations up by +5.73% YTD at 10,450 units, with January +5.11% (5,656 units) and February +6.46% (4,794 units). This was the second-best UK motorcycle market performance for the first two months of the year since before the 2008 financial crisis.

Total new PTW registrations were +5.28 YTD at 11,065 - reflecting the very small size of the UK moped market.

Total scooter sales in the UK were 3,630 units YTD, up by +10.1%. The fastest growing sector in the UK motorcycle market is the ADV segment, which is up by +22.4% YTD (1,962 units). 'Electrics' were -4.0% YTD, with just 404 units registered during the first two months of the year.

The Yamaha MY-07 ABS Naked was the best-selling motorcycle in the UK in March (62 units), followed by the BMW R 1300 GS (61 units).

The Beta RR 2T 300, Royal Enfield Meteor 350, Triumph Speed 400 and Suzuki GSX 800 R headed-up their respective market segments in the UK in March.

For the record - the UK motorcycle market was down by -1.20% in 2023, at 107,215 units. Total PTW registrations were down further by -2.53% (112,748 units). Despite these statistics likely reflecting that the UK entered a small but definite technical recession in the second half of 2023, the numbers were actually the third best for the UK motorcycle market since before the 2007/2008 financial crisis. 

Husqvarna

KTM-based Husqvarna Svartpilen 801 By Ben Purvis

It's been nearly a decade since Husqvarna - then freshly bought from BMW ownership into the KTM family by Stefan Pierer - showed its first modern Svartpilen and Vitpilen concept bikes. They've since become a mainstay of the brand in a variety of sizes, all using engines and frames borrowed from KTM's Duke range.

With the Svartpilen 801, Husqvarna's neo-retro street scrambler enters a new market segment by becoming the first two-cylinder bike in the Svartpilen line. 

The formula is unchanged. As with previous Svartpilen models in the modern era, Husqvarna has plucked a model from the KTM range - in this instance the 790 Duke - and wrapped it in distinctive styling including the signature oversized, circular headlight to create a bike with a very different appeal to the angular Duke it's based on. On previous Svartpilen and Vitpilen models (the Vitpilen being a more street-biased, café racer-style version of the same styling theme), Husqvarna's tweaks to the riding position - with new tanks, seats, bars and pegs - have given them distinctly different characters to the KTMs they're based on, and the Svartpilen 801 is likely to be no exception.

The engine is the 799 cc version of KTM's LC8c parallel twin, as used in the 790 Duke and 790 Adventure. KTM has also created 889 cc '890' variants and, for 2024, introduced a completely redesigned '990' twin, but Husqvarna is sticking with the tried and tested original. It's putting out 77 kW (103 hp) at 9,250 rpm and 87 Nm (64 lb-ft) at 8,000 rpm, exactly matching the current 790 Duke, which was reintroduced by KTM last year in Chinese-made form as a lower-cost alternative to the new 990 Duke.

The engine might be shared, but the Svartpilen has higher-spec suspension and equipment than the 790 Duke. Its forks are fully adjustable WP Apex 43 mm upside-down units similar to those on the 890 Duke R, paired with a compression and preload-adjustable rear shock, and there's a WP steering damper to tame the front end. The brakes, meanwhile, are the same J.Juan four-piston front calipers used by KTM, but wearing Husqvarna branding. Like KTM's Duke models, there's cornering ABS from Bosch with a switchable Supermoto mode that allows the rear wheel to be intentionally skidded. An 'Easy Shift' bidirectional quickshifter is standard, too, along with up to four riding modes. 

Without fuel, the Svartpilen 801 comes in at 181 kg. Pricing sits it directly between the Chinese-made 790 Duke and the new, much faster 990 Duke, making it a direct rival to Ducati's Scrambler Icon and Full Throttle models, though with a substantial performance advantage.­

QJMotor

QJMotor electric roadster on the way By Ben Purvis

China's QJMotor has been growing at a phenomenal rate in the last couple of years with a fast-expanding model range that's soon to extend all the way up to a 1078 cc, MV Agusta-powered, four-cylinder superbike. But QJMotor also has an eye on the electric motorcycle market. 

While several of QJMotor's most recent ICE-powered bikes have been attractive, and the upcoming 'Ten78' superbike has been designed with the help of former Benelli and MV design boss Adrian Morton, recently filed registrations show a new electric model that couldn't be described as beautiful. Undeniably distinctive, perhaps, but its shapes are not aligned to the kind of styling that we are accustomed to seeing. 

Under the skin, the new model is based on the existing QJMotor OAO Pro, a 7 kW electric sports bike that's been under development for some time, but it takes a radically new approach to the aesthetic elements of the design. While fully faired electric bikes can easily follow existing design traditions, with their bodywork hiding the unconventional mechanical parts, making an electric roadster is a more challenging task. One option is to stick to conventions, using a dummy 'fuel tank' and packing the batteries into a block that sits where the engine would normally be found. But QJMotor's designers are opting for another route by creating a machine that embraces its novel powertrain and moves away from the norm.

The high 'tank' section seen here is actually a cover over the batteries and electronics, and by rising higher than normal, it means there's more space for those parts. Rising above the height of the bars, it is extended forwards, over the top yoke to provide a mount for the instruments, which again breaks with convention. The small touchscreen dashboard appears to be designed to be able to fold down into the bodywork when the bike is parked, protecting its screen and giving a cleaner look to the machine.

The rest of the bodywork adopts an angular look, resulting in something that could easily come from the pages of a comic book.

The bike's internal codename is 7000D-A, showing it's closely related to the OAO Pro, which is coded as 7000D. The '7000' relates to the wattage of the bike, equating to 7 kW or 9.4 hp, and for the 164 kg OAO Pro, QJMotor claims a top speed of 105 km/h (65 mph) and a 0-50 km/h time of 2.5 seconds. The 7000D-A, with the same mechanical parts, is likely to have similar performance. 

Brixton

Brixton Storr 500 ADV By Ben Purvis

Shown as a concept model back in November 2022, the Brixton Storr 500 is finally heading to production, with the mass-made version having now been awarded type-approval in China.

Like other Brixton models, including the Crossfire 500 and the range-topping Cromwell 1200, the Storr is to be manufactured in China by Gaokin, which also sells the Crossfire as the GK500 and the Cromwell 1200 as the GK1200 in its homeland. The production Storr 500 shown in the type-approval document is a bit of both, wearing the Brixton name across its headlight, but Gaokin branding on the engine. 

While heavily based on the existing Crossfire 500, sharing the same parallel twin engine and a similar steel tube chassis, the Storr - named after a rugged rock formation on the Isle of Skye in Scotland - has a distinctive look of its own as the first ADV model to come from the Brixton brand. The production model is near-identical to the 2022 concept in terms of appearance.

Like the Crossfire 500, power comes from a 486 cc parallel twin putting out 47 hp (35 kW), placing it neatly into the A2 licence category in Europe, and putting it into direct competition with machines like Honda's NX500. It sits in a steel frame, again similar to that of the Crossfire, with KYB suspension borrowed from the Crossfire 500 XC scrambler, along with the same J.Juan brakes, Bosch ABS system and the XC's wire spoked wheels, 19 inches at the front and a 17-inch rear. 

The big differences come in the styling, with a larger fuel tank and a fixed front cowl and headlight, as well as a longer, stronger seat subframe to add more lugging ability. Black plastic frames on either side of the fairing add protection and can be used as mounting points for luggage, along with a similar element on top of the fuel tank. On the 2022 concept version, the side frames were used to house a first aid kit, for example. The approval document confirms a 1,441 mm wheelbase and a relatively light curb weight of 209 kg.

Being approved in China suggests Gaokin is gearing up for the Storr's production, and a showroom version of the Brixton-branded variant is likely to be revealed later this year. 

Voge

Voge RR660S four-cylinder Supersport bike By Ben Purvis

The four-cylinder 600 cc Supersport class dominated the European motorcycle market throughout the 1990s, before the dawn of the adventure bike boom, and while the Japanese machines that ruled the category 30 years ago have moved upmarket and become less practical - with diminishing sales as a result - the Chinese industry is now stepping in to exploit that market space.

We've seen several Chinese four-cylinder machines in the circa-600 cc class over the last few months, and now Voge - the luxury, export-targeted arm of Loncin - has type-approved its RR660S, which is on the verge of production.

Voge previewed the bike last year at the Beijing motorcycle show, wearing the name RR666S, but didn't reveal its specifications. The approval documents show a slightly toned-down production version, wearing less flamboyant paintwork and with a dual-sided swingarm instead of the show bike's single-sided version. More importantly, the documents fill in the gaps when it comes to the bike's key technical details.

The engine is confirmed to be built in-house by Loncin, wearing the codename LX467MT. Those numbers reflect its four-cylinder layout and 67 mm bore. The exact capacity is 663 cc, indicating that the stroke is 47 mm. The figures hint that the engine, like several other new Chinese-made fours, may be a reverse-engineered version of Honda's CBR650R design, which also has a 67 mm bore but 46 mm stroke for a 649 cc total capacity.

The Loncin-made engine is certified to make 74 kW (99 hp), which is the same figure claimed for the concept version shown last year. The type-approval shows that it's enough to power the bike to a top speed of 230 km/h (143 mph).

It's not just the engine that may owe a debt to Honda's designs. The bike's wheelbase is listed at 1,450 mm, the same as a CBR650R. The frame appears to be aluminium rather than the steel design used on the Japanese bike, but even so, the Voge comes in at 215 kg, which is six kilos more than the Honda.

At the moment, Honda's CBR650R is the only remaining four-cylinder Japanese sports bike that's designed as an all-rounder, competing in a growing market segment that also includes several twins - the Suzuki GSX-8R being the latest addition - and Triumph's new Daytona 660 triple. 

China, however, has several upcoming models that will compete in the same segment, including not only the Voge RR660S, but Zongshen's four-cylinder RC680R, QJMotor's SRK800RR and CFMoto's three-cylinder 675SR, which is due later this year.

Brabus

Brabus - more KTM based collector editions planned By Ben Purvis

The Brabus name might be most familiar from the tuned Mercedes cars that have worn the badge since the 1970s, but these days Brabus is diversifying the brand to include other luxury goods, including boats and motorcycles.

In cooperation with KTM in 2022, the first two-wheeler was the 154-unit limited run, restyled 1290 Super Duke R Evo. They sold out within minutes, so a second 'Edition 23' run of 290 bikes followed in 2023, as well as a further 50 'Masterpiece Edition' machines. 

Despite huge price tags, at least double those of the KTM Super Duke that the Brabus 1300 R was based on, and the same engines, frames, brakes and suspension parts that came on the standard Super Duke R Evo, they were a hit with collectors, so Brabus is now planning more bikes.

The next models will be derived from the new 2024 KTM 1390 Super Duke R, with more capacity and power than the older 1290 version. The 1390 Super Duke R has a 10 hp, 1,350 cc version of KTM's LC8 V-twin, equipped with a cam-shifting variable valve timing and lift system for the first time.

Brabus has filed trademark applications for three new names it hopes to use on the upcoming bikes. The trademarks are for 'Brabus 1400 R Rocket', 'Brabus 1400 R Signature' and 'Brabus 1400 R Tailor Made'. The implication is that, like the original 1300 R, there will be three limited-edition runs of the new 1400 R. 

It remains to be seen whether Brabus is granted the trademarks. It's not hard to imagine that Triumph might have objections to another company using the name 'Rocket' on a bike, for example. But regardless of whether these particular titles are adopted, it's clear that Brabus isn't finished with motorcycles yet. The company has used the 'Tailor Made' title on cars before, specifically its tuned version of the tiny Mercedes-made Smart ForTwo, and it currently applies the 'Signature' name to its high-end speedboats. 'Rocket' is used on some of its high-performance Mercedes.

The previous 1300 R (pictured) used styling that borrows more from Husqvarna than KTM, borrowing a large, circular headlight from Husqvarna's Vitpilen and Svartpilen models and adding it to carbon fibre bodywork that helps give a high-end look to the bikes. Wheels that mimic the designs used on Brabus cars, along with car-inspired paint schemes, mean that customers of the most expensive Brabus four-wheelers are likely to be tempted to buy a matching motorcycle - the same psychology that's made the Ducati Streetfighter V4 Lamborghini and Diavel for Bentley models such immediate sell-outs despite huge price tags.