Hard to pronounce, easy to fall for, and the right bike at just the right time for Moto Morini…
BMW’s upcoming entry-level twin-cylinder F 450 GS, manufactured and largely developed by TVS in India, is sure to grab headlines around the world later this year for its offering of dual-purpose capability at reasonable cost. But historic Italian brand Moto Morini has beaten its German rival to the punch by some margin, with the arrival in dealer showrooms in Italy from last October onwards, and elsewhere earlier this year, of its own contender in this increasingly crucial category: the curiously-monickered Alltrhike 450.
Its first smaller-displacement off-road model, like all Moto Morini products this was designed and engineered in Italy but is being manufactured in China. So, according to the Italian firm’s CEO Alberto Monni, while production of the Alltrhike is taking place in the People’s Republic, it was entirely designed and developed in Moto Morini’s factory at Trivolzio, near Pavia, in the risotto rice fields south of Milan.
THE 450 CONTENDER
Ever since its acquisition by Chinese manufacturer Zhongneng Vehicle Group/ZVG just over six years ago, Morini’s ride down the comeback trail has so far been exclusively based on five models, each using a 650/700cc parallel-twin engine sourced from its near neighbour CFMoto. With over 18,000 examples sold worldwide in the past four years of the distinctive-looking X-Cape 650 ADV model alone, Morini has now commenced production in China of the 96kW (129hp) X-Cape 1200, the first born again version of its trademark 1187cc eight-valve 87º V-twin family of models, suitably updated for Euro 5+ compliance.
But now, at a lower end of the capacity and performance scale, comes the 2026 Alltrhike 450, powered by yet another engine sourced from CFMoto. This is the same pretty compact liquid-cooled 449cc parallel-twin engine fitted to its manufacturer’s 450SR sportbike and, more importantly, to its own 450MT ADV model, which is thus in direct competition with the new Moto Morini.
In Alltrhike guise, the twin produces a claimed 36kW (48hp) at 8500rpm, with peak torque of 42Nm at 6500rpm. Measuring 72mm x 55.2mm, this eight-valve engine, with offset chain drive to the twin overhead cams, runs an 11.5:1 compression ratio, and carries lightweight forged pistons and split conrods mounted on the one-piece plain-bearing crank. Unusually for a smaller capacity twin – like the Ninja 400 and Yamaha R3 – CFMoto’s other parallel-twin engines all use evenly spaced 180° crank timing; this six-speed engine has a 270° crank, giving a comparable firing interval to a 90° V-twin. This gives consequent benefits in traction, especially offroad, plus a distinctive exhaust note sounding like a high-pitched Ducati. So for sure it’s a contradiction in terms!
Twin gear-driven counterbalancers are fitted to remove all traces of undue vibration en route to the hard 11,000rpm revlimiter, with a Bosch ECU taking care of engine management and fuelling. CFMoto claims to have subjected this engine to over 4000 hours of high-revving punishment on the engine dyno, so are confident in its reliability. In its high-revving 450SR form it’s redlined at 12,300rpm and acquired a keen reputation as a Kawasaki Ninja 400/Yamaha YZF-R3/KTM RC390 rival, with a three-year warranty to back that claim up. The Moto Morini Alltrhike 450, with the identical engine has the same unlimited mileage warranty.
HEART OF THE BEAST
In its Moto Morini application, the engine sits in a duplex steel frame with aluminium swingarm delivering a wheelbase of 1525mm. Up front there’s a 41mm Kayaba upside-down fork giving a rangy 208mm of wheel travel, that’s adjustable for spring preload and both compression and rebound damping (one in each fork leg). That alloy swingarm operates a monoshock also from Kayaba – though adjustable only for preload and rebound damping – via a progressive rate link providing 190mm of wheel travel.
Speaking of which, both of these are good-looking, tangentially spoked wire wheels with aluminium rims shod with Chinese-made CST dual-purpose tyres, a 140/70-18in rear plus a 90/90-21in front – which denotes this is a bike with genuine offroad potential. Dual-channel Bosch ABS is naturally included for Euro 5+ compliance, and this can be switched off in offroad mode; there’s a single 320mm front disc with four-piston caliper, with a large 255mm rear with twin-piston gripper, combining to stop a bike with a dry weight of 190kg with an empty 18.5-litre fuel tank.
The basic Alltrhike model comes pretty well equipped, with LED daytime running lights, good-looking rectangular twin projector headlights, substantial handguards, a windscreen that can be tilted at an angle (though not up and down) to act as a wind deflector rather than protector, a reasonably substantial-looking thick plastic (not metal) sump guard – ground clearance is 215mm – an adjustable passenger seat that can also be tilted to deliver a flat ADV-friendly throne, a single switchable level of TC and dual-channel ABS, and a 5in TFT dash. This Bluetooth-friendly device has an integrated navigation system via an iOS or Android app, and you can access music and your smartphone in the usual way.
This level of equipment is pretty complete for the price – just €5,890 in Italy ($A9850) including 22 per cent local tax, for a choice of either White, Green or Black colour schemes. For a further €250 you can have the fully specced so-called High Equipped version, including a centrestand, four-stage heated grips and a three-level heated rider’s seat. That’s rather competitive pricing. Even the slightly less well equipped but same-engined CFMoto 450MT is €6190, and the cost of the admittedly more sophisticated but slightly smaller capacity 420cc BMW, when it arrives later this year, will start at €7590 in Italy, rising to €8380 for the top-of-the-line GS Trophy version.
FIRST IMPRESSIONS
Moto Morini has delivered an learner-legal, entry-level model that once again, as with so many of its current products, is a lot of bike for the money on paper – but what’s it like to ride? Well, the chance to spend a bright sunny day in Italy aboard the Alltrhike 450, riding it both on and off-road through the vineyard-clad hills of the Oltrepo Pavese region on the south bank of the River Po, gave me a chance to check out its credentials. But first, I had to ask Moto Morini boss Alberto Monni – where on earth did that unpronounceable name come from?!
“Our company’s idea was to create a non-generic name to denote what the bike’s purpose is,” said Monni just a bit shamefacedly, as if it wasn’t his wheeze. “I’ll give you one example: Audi Allroad. We wanted to use something similar, but it’s not easy to do in the Italian language, because pretty well all the suitable names are already registered. So, we looked at creating a word that doesn’t exist, but gives the gist of what we wanted to convey, and the name chosen was Alltrhike.”
Supposedly Morini’s marketing mob thought this was a good way to evoke the word ‘hike’, highlighting the bike’s adventurous capability to tackle rugged trails and to journey off the beaten path, combined with ‘all-rounder’. US market soundings told them the Yanks would disdain a bike whose name they couldn’t even pronounce, so there it’s called the Vettore, as in ‘vector’, or setting course for a distant destination. That’s better – and it’s on-message, too!
Still, “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet,” as William Shakespeare’s Juliet told Romeo, so let’s take The Bard’s hint and focus on what the new Moto Morini’s like to ride.
First off, this is all a question of personal taste, but I reckon Morini’s five-person design team in Trivolzio have nailed the Alltrhike’s styling spot-on. Meaty and substantial-looking yet unexpectedly graceful, it gives you the impression of being built for the long haul, and the well-padded 840mm-high stepped seat has lots of space for a passenger. It’s also waisted well where it meets the fuel tank, which means a 180cm rider like yours truly doesn’t need a stepladder to climb aboard, and I had no trouble touching both feet to the ground at rest. But the chunky footrests with detachable rubbers felt a bit too high and too close to the seat, so that my knees were more bent than I’d like them to have been in normal use.
Offroad, though, the Alltrhike was easy to control standing on the pegs – at 190kg dry it’s heavier than its rivals, same as the X-Cape 1200 is, but the weight feels well distributed, and the Alltrhike’s relatively slim build makes it feel very accessible. That’s while still offering an 18.5-litre fuel tank, larger than the class average and with the frugal consumption you can expect from a 450cc engine, should give excellent range for the long haul.
Both brake and clutch levers are adjustable, and although the wide, straight handlebar is quite high-set, it delivers a comfy riding stance and gives good leverage. Riding the Morini along tight, twisting hillside roads winding their way via successive hairpins through the vineyards was both easy and pleasurable. But on faster stretches I found the aerodynamic protection was only just adequate, with most of my helmet, shoulders and arms exposed. I reckon Morini should include a broader screen that’s adjustable for height in their High Equipped version, obviously at extra cost. That would make the Alltrhike more comfortable for longer journeys, although the narrow cupolino screen does mean you can see what the front wheel’s doing offroad, and the steering lock is quite good for turning around in a tight space.
The engine chimes eagerly into life when you thumb the button, settling to a turbine-smooth 1300rpm idle to the sound of that distinctive exhaust note – there’s absolutely no undue vibration at any revs, even when flirting with the revlimiter. The clutch lever is unbelievably light – I didn’t ride much in towns, but this will be a great bike for couriers or commuters, especially given the low price, adequately tall riding stance to plot a course through traffic, and that easy rider clutch action. That’s before you take into account the fact that the Alltrhike has a very broad spread of torque, meaning it’ll pull from 2000rpm upwards with only minimal use of that light clutch, and wide open from 4000rpm upwards all the way to that hard action 11,000rpm limiter. But you don’t need to rev it right out to get adequate performance. Okay, 42Nm at 6500 revs isn’t a massive amount of grunt but it’s quite enough to keep what is a sweet junior middleweight engine on the boil.
The gearshift was a little stiff on my test bike, but with just 1150km from new it probably needed running in for longer. I had no problem not using the clutch for upshifts, light action as it was. But the fuelling was exceptional. There was a smooth pickup from a closed throttle, and especially in lower gears, making this an ideal bike for newbie riders, without any of the snatchy or jerky throttle response of some bikes from companies who should know better.
Those twin counterbalancers really do their job well. Vibration was minimal, just sufficient to remind you that you weren’t riding an electric bike, though the pleasant exhaust note did that, too! 100km/h on the TFT dash in top gear with the very visible gear selected counter in the top right corner was delivered at 5800rpm, although Morini claims a top speed of just 150km/h, which seems unduly pessimistic. But that’s irrelevant anyway for a bike like this, which will cruise happily and relaxedly at 120km all day long.
It’s a very satisfactory real-world ride.
THE VERDICT
The only real disappointment I had was the Alltrhike’s brakes. It wasn’t so much that the single front disc wasn’t good enough to stop a 190kg bike on its own from any sort of speed, even using the much more responsive rear as well, it just didn’t have a lot of bite. Adding a second front disc shouldn’t be necessary – I reckon that brake pads might be the problem.
While low speed use was just fine, I needed to squeeze super hard on the front lever to persuade the front brake into action from high speeds, and there was minimal feedback when I did. I think I now know why that rear 255mm disc is so large!
But apart from that the Alltrhike handled nicely. It steered easily into turns where the 21-inch front wheel’s CST tyre gave surprisingly good grip, and the Kayaba fork worked well in eating up the bumps of the frost-ravaged tarmac in the Oltrepo Pavese hills on the angle.
The settings Moto Morini had chosen for me weren’t too soft, so there was good feedback especially from the front end, but the fact that the suspension is essentially fully adjustable on such a well-priced bike will be a strong selling point.
Riding it offroad in street trim held no surprises, making this a true go-anywhere Adventure bike – but a little time in playing with the settings would surely have made it even more effective on the stone tracks and gravel roads I traversed the vines on, had I wished. Plus, the smooth response of the engine, and its willing nature, makes the Alltrhike a rider-friendly mount on even quite demanding loose surfaces for less experienced offroad tyros.
Despite its curious name, the Moto Morini Alltrhike 450 is the right bike at the right time for the Chinese-owned Italian marque.
It lives up to its looks in offering a level of comfort and substantially more than merely adequate performance that’s way beyond the expectations of its low price. It was hard not to be impressed with it after spending a day on board.
Moto Morini is still investigating expanding into the Australian market. The sooner it does the better as its latest model is a well-equipped entry-level Adventure bike capable of taking on this popular segments’s well-established rivals.
✅ PROS – Strong, characterful 270° parallel twin, fully adjustable KYB suspension and genuine 21/18in wheel combo deliver real-world ADV capability at an entry-level price.
❌ CONS – Underwhelming front brake feel, limited wind protection and a slightly porky dry weight blunt what is otherwise an impressively sorted middleweight adventurer.
THE COMPETITION
BMW f 450 GS – $TBA (due later this year)
CFmoto 450MT – $9990 (ride away)
KTM 390 Adventure X – $9995 (ride away)
SPECIFICATIONS
ENGINE
Type Liquid-cooled parallel twin, DOHC, eight valves
Bore & stroke 72.0mm x 55.2 mmm
Capacity 449cc
Compression ratio 11.5:1
Fuel injection Bosch
PERFORMANCE
Power 36kW (48hp) @ 8500rpm
Torque 42 Nm @ 6500rpm
Top speed 150km/h
CHASSIS
Steel frame, aluminium swingarm
SUSPENSION
Front 41mm USD Kayaba fork, 208mm travel, adjustable preload, rebound and compression
Rear Kayaba monoshock with linkage, 190mm travel, adjustable preload and rebound
BRAKES
Front 320mm disc, four-piston caliper
Rear 255mm disc, two-piston caliper
ABS dual-channel, switchable
WHEELS
Front 90/90-21in spoked
Rear 140/70-18in or 140/80-18in spoked
DIMENSIONS
Wheelbase 1525mm
Seat height 840mm
Ground clearance 215mm
Dry weight 190kg
Fuel capacity 18.5L
BUSINESS END
Price: From €5890 ($A9850)
Contact: motomorini.com
