1982 Moto Morini 350 Sport
Discussion
Of all the classic Italian bike manufacturers, Morini are perhaps the least fashionable, and so you can buy a 1970s or 1980s Morini 3 1/2, a bike built by some bloke in Bologna, for not much money. Parts are still available.
This one has the Sport engine, which has 39 BHP, compared to the 35 BHP of the Strada version, but the riding position and the fairing are more tourey than sporty. Wide V Twin, two little Dellortos (usually only one needs to be choked). Good electric starter, gears on the right, no neutral light (annoying). Most of these have twin pipes but this one has a two into one.
It's not especially fast, but it handles and stops very well. I like it!
This one has the Sport engine, which has 39 BHP, compared to the 35 BHP of the Strada version, but the riding position and the fairing are more tourey than sporty. Wide V Twin, two little Dellortos (usually only one needs to be choked). Good electric starter, gears on the right, no neutral light (annoying). Most of these have twin pipes but this one has a two into one.
It's not especially fast, but it handles and stops very well. I like it!
Edited by anonymous-user on Sunday 24th May 16:04
Somewhere up in the loft I've still got an old Performance Bikes with an article on Morinis.
The bit that sticks in my mind is Benjy Straw describing his 500 production racer complete with custom cams, larger valves, larger carbs and a shed load of other tweaks.
Rupert Paul commented that it didn't sound very 'Production' to which Benjy Straw replied that it was hard enough competing against GSX-Rs never mind following the rule book
I'm almost tempted by this...
https://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C1222266
The bit that sticks in my mind is Benjy Straw describing his 500 production racer complete with custom cams, larger valves, larger carbs and a shed load of other tweaks.
Rupert Paul commented that it didn't sound very 'Production' to which Benjy Straw replied that it was hard enough competing against GSX-Rs never mind following the rule book
I'm almost tempted by this...
https://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C1222266
) the Morini V-twins have Heron heads (flat cylinder head, vertical valves, combustion chamber in the piston), as do the "small block" Moto Guzzis. Well, it's interesting to me! Before I started researching Morinis pre purchase, I had never heard of a Heron Head.
The engine is quite smooth, and makes a good noise without being stupidly loud. My previous Italian bike was a 1976 MV Agusta 350S Ipotesi, and the rather old tech parallel twin on that was hard to start, very noisy, and vibrated a lot.
The engine is quite smooth, and makes a good noise without being stupidly loud. My previous Italian bike was a 1976 MV Agusta 350S Ipotesi, and the rather old tech parallel twin on that was hard to start, very noisy, and vibrated a lot.
As I said on another thread my dad had an earlier one, I’m pretty sure it was a 1975 on a N reg. Was a very pretty little bike in a metallic light blue with wire wheels and front drum brake rather than the later discs. Dad never kept his bikes very long at all however he held on to the Moroni for about 3 years if I can remember alongside his normal “big” Honda’s so it must have been good. He had a shop in Brewer St Soho and used it to commute in the summer parking it in car park next to the shop alongside Paul Raymond’s Phantom Rolls Royce.
Yes he was a strange “character” I suppose you don’t need to “fit in” when you own half of Soho. As a ten year old I could never figure out why you would have red velvet rather than leather in your Phantom! I can remember sitting in the back of it with his chauffeur eating ice creams with the AC on.
That car park had so many great cars in, think it reflected the clientele, one film guy had an ISO and a Monteverdi, I could fill in my “I spy” book of cars just wandering around.
That car park had so many great cars in, think it reflected the clientele, one film guy had an ISO and a Monteverdi, I could fill in my “I spy” book of cars just wandering around.
Tango13 said:
It'd be a fun ride home, anyway. I seem to remember contemporary reviews being somewhat uncomplimentary about these when they first went on sale in the UK, but as a classic curio for occasional weekend use it'd be great fun. You can make the motor make a nice noise and you're unlikely to park up next to another one at any bike meet or tea/coffee stop you pull into...Fairly simple to work on, too.Tango13 said:
As well as the Kanguro 350, there was a trail bike version of the 500.Perhaps "Camel" wasn't the best name...
Breadvan72 said:
Morini also did a bike that was fully faired in an 80s stylee, but it had issues with cooling, I gather.
It's a bit of a mongrel, being a Moto Morini V twin (originally 350 and then 400 apparently) in a Cagiva Freccia 125 chassis, Cagiva having bought Morini at some point. You can see how air cooling might have been an issue:
A bloke at my local bike meet turns up regularly on a Morini 3-1/2, according to him they are a lot less temperamental than your average old Italian and despite not having much power the handling makes up for it. He takes his to trackdays at Cadwell and isn't embarrassed by much more powerful bikes.
I fancied a Morini back in the day but they were quite expensive, no dealers nearby and I was already hopelessly addicted to Yamaha 2 strokes, so never even test rode one.
I remember the bike press going on about the Heron head as if it were something special but even back then knew that a side effect was a heavy piston and sub optimal valve angles, I think they were pretty economical though.
I fancied a Morini back in the day but they were quite expensive, no dealers nearby and I was already hopelessly addicted to Yamaha 2 strokes, so never even test rode one.
I remember the bike press going on about the Heron head as if it were something special but even back then knew that a side effect was a heavy piston and sub optimal valve angles, I think they were pretty economical though.
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