MOTO MORINI CORSARO 1200 ZZ
FULL TEST
P98
a family of spinoff models like the 9½
and 11.5 roadsters, Granpasso adventure
tourer and Scrambler—well, street scram-
bler.
These established a well-earned
reputation for muscular performance
and mechanical reliability, which saw
the Corsaro win successive naked bike
magazine shootouts against its twin- and
three-cylinder competition, as well as
allowing Franco Zenatello to twice win
the Italian Roadster Cup series for Naked
sport bikes in 2009-'10 on his tuned-up
Morini Corsaro, which had the consistent
beating of its Aprilia, Suzuki, MV Agusta,
Triumph, Buell, Benelli, KTM, Honda and,
yes, Ducati rivals. Indeed, the Moto Mori-
ni CorsaCorta motor was the first of the
new generation of 1200cc V-twin engines,
setting a trend later followed by Ducati
and others, which was subsequently rec-
ognized on the world superbike stage via
a change in the capacity rules.
Having re-established the Moto Morini
marque with a sound product and a solid
corporate structure, the Bertis accepted
an offer to cash in their share of the busi-
ness in January 2007, transferring their
half of the JV partnership to the Morini
family, and exiting the motorcycle indus-
try. Good timing for them, but disastrous
for the Morinis, as the global downturn
one year later stalled the company's
growth, and sent it into the red. Moto
Morini was shut down once again in 2010,
up to which point 4000 bikes had been
manufactured during its five years of born-
again existence, with a maximum of 1600
made in a single year—albeit with a high
level of customer satisfaction for what
was essentially a hand-built product. After
narrowly escaping the clutches of Paolo
Berlusconi, brother of Italian prime min-
ister and bunga bunga boyo Silvio, it was
sold by the liquidator in 2011 for Euro 1.96
million minus the freehold of the MFM/
We are the only
manufacturer in the world
which assembles our
complete motorcycle, engine
and chassis, entirely by
hand in house.
(Right) Thanks to
an Athena ECU
and Zard exhaust
the investment
made in Morini's
core model to be
Euro 4 compliant
results in
increased power
and greater
torque—an
industry first.
(Below) Trellis
frame gives fine
handling while
more compliant
fully adjustable
Mupo suspension
gives 5.3 inches
of wheel travel.
