Riding an Italian scrambler
“Ah, ze Moto Morini! I have not zeen one of zese motorbikes for many years!” So began a brief conversation with an older gent who approached me at a gas station outside Cleveland, Georgia over the weekend. Out riding the Seiemezzo SCR 650 with my friend Harrison Vaughan of Kingdom Adventure Tours (he was on a Honda Africa Twin), I rightly guessed this elder gent was originally from Italy, which also explained his familiarity with the Italian motorcycle brand.
“Ducati I know, Moto Guzzi, Piaggio and Vespa, all here in America. Is good ze Moto Morini is coming back too, no?” We chatted on about the Morini motorcycles I remember seeing in my youth over here, bikes in the 60s, 70s and early 80s, before they disappeared from powersports showrooms and from our memory. I updated him on the brand’s revival and growth here stateside, which he was happy to learn of. “It is a beautiful motorcycle. I hope you enjoy.” We exchanged goodbyes and I rode back south toward my home.
The good folks at Atlanta Motorcycle Works, who prepped and handed over the SCR 650 for us to ride/review.
Moto Morini USA offered us this SCR 650 for review through their north Atlanta dealership, Atlanta Motorcycle Works. Throwing a leg over, I noticed immediately how well the bike fit me. I’m 5’8”, and the rider triangle was nearly perfect for my leg and arm reach. Like a true scrambler, the SCR has a fairly wide handlebar, and quite upright. The foot pegs are not completely neutral, but just slightly rearward. The 31.8” seat height meant I could flat foot at stops, which I like. Being primarily a street bike rider, I’m not overly fond of the tall ride heights of most ADV and dual sport motorcycles.
Some motorcycles take a little getting used to before I’m comfortable on them. I was comfortable on this SCR 650 immediately. It’s got a slightly jumpy throttle response, as that parallel twin really likes to run, and it stops on solid Brembo brakes fore and aft, with Bosch ABS. It runs on six gears, that shift solidly but smoothly. There’s no quickshifter, but I was able to blip shift up through the gears with ease. I haven’t tried it downshifting. The bike hangs on KYB forks up front and a single underseat monoshock out back, both adjustable, which is a nice feature for this affordable price point ($5750 USD base).
Early evening ride, as a storm passed to our south. Amazing rainbow(s) as I turned back to look.
Moto Morini was serious about the “Scrambler” moniker when designing this bike, with its decent suspension travel, high fenders, and excellent Pirelli MT60RS adventure tires. They even built a standard TPMS system into the electronics package. I’ve done some dirt, gravel, and Georgia red clay with it already, and while the jumpy throttle response meant I stayed out of first gear, I felt very confident very quickly on the bike when I ventured off pavement.
The day ride with my friend Harrison saw us roll up interstate, state, and county highways and roads into the north Georgia hill country. The bike easily cruises along in the 70s–80s, and the stock exhaust has a nice parallel twin growl, not unlike the Honda CB750 Hornet we reviewed a couple of years ago. The 649cc mill is actually built by CFMoto, based on the reliable Kawasaki Ninja 650 engine. It’s a tough little powerplant, and proves it out at highway speeds.
Chasing Harrison up in the north Georgia mountains. Very capable road and dirt bike.
Harrison led us up some packed gravel roads, then through some sandy lanes, and up a hilltop via single track. I was a bit nervous, but had already built up enough confidence with the SCR, so I felt ready to take a shot at it. The rider triangle didn’t make me feel super comfortable standing up, like Harrison easily did on the Africa Twin he was riding, but I never felt unsteady on the MM scrambler- it brought me out, up and back to pavement without any problems. Definitely earned the SCR namesake that day.
With a 4.2 gallon fuel capacity, the SCR 650 easily gives me 185+ miles on a tank. The bike comes with a gorgeous medium brown seat, that looks very 1970s styled. It looks plush, but I noted butt and lower back discomfort after an hour or so in the saddle. For me, this is almost always the case with stock seats on any motorcycle, given my scrawny ass. So no points deducted from Moto Morini here.
The TFT display, and the left/right hand controls. Scroll through for all three.
The full color TFT display screen works really well, and it’s easy to navigate. However, there are not a lot of adjustable options. No ride modes, switchable traction control, the Bosch ABS isn’t switchable as far as we can tell, yet you do get Bluetooth connectivity for phone, music, and map apps, and the screen automatically changes between white and black depending on the time of day, ambient light or lack thereof. The hand controls at both grips are backlit at night, and upon first glance, can be somewhat confusing, day or night. You navigate the menu icons with the left side gray up/down buttons, then connect and set a few preferences via the “Back/Set“ button next to them.
One other interesting element of note, are the headlight settings. They are basically three settings, engaged by two different thumb controls. On the right grip, there’s a toggle switch that engages between what appears to be a low beam and a daytime running light option. On the left grip is a press in/out button for high and low center beam. It took some fiddling with them both to figure out the multiple settings, but now I kind of like them.
Three shots: Daytime running lights are a ring of LEDs around the headlight. This is how it looks at night. Next is the standard “low” beam, still quite bright. Last is the “high” beam, illuminating more out front/center.
One final, minor observation, just a small pleasant surprise. After winding the engine up through all six gears, which itself is quite entertaining with this peppy little engine, when downshifting and letting the engine decelerate in each gear, there’s a nice little “pop, pop“ that can be heard through the exhaust. It almost sounds like an intentional “crackle/overrun” ECU tune, or a more straight pipe configuration, that creates the sound, yet stays within emission limits. Nice. Anyway, just an interesting note.
I’ve logged about 350 miles on the bike over the last couple of weeks, riding it as often as I have opportunity. It’s quite an enjoyable machine, super easy to ride, and at this price point, it’s a great value for an all-around motorcycle. Right now, the only downside to the Moto Morini SCR 650 is the lack of an extensive dealer network. Their network is growing across the US, but right now it’s still fairly limited, with about 80 shops. That will grow with time, but it is worth noting if you’re in the market for one. They seem to be easy to service and work on as well.
Just a cool twilight photo near my home. Had to share it.
We will have more opportunities to ride and review Moto Morini‘s offerings in the future, and we look forward to reporting on their models and growth. This Seiemezzo SCR 650 is a great bike and buy, so if you’re near enough to one of their dealerships, pop in and check one out. We’ve been impressed, and if you’re looking for this kind of bike, we think you’ll be impressed as well.
Interested in Moto Morini’s motorcycles? What would you like to see us review next of theirs? Hit us up in the comments below!
Rob
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