Moto Morini Milano

There are very few motorcycles that perfectly look beautiful and timeless, despite being low on equipment levels and fancy add-ons. The Moto Morini Milano is one such motorcycle. The Milano is not one motorcycle that might appeal to those younger hearts who are after electronics and features. Instead, it is purely for those purists who have limitless admiration for a classic retro-themed motorcycle.

The front profile of the Moto Morini Milano looks quite minimalist but nice, with a large rounded halogen headlamp having a satin chrome surround finish. This headlamp unit has a black tinted visor placed just above it, which looks short but wide and comes imprinted with the Moto Morini logo. The LED turn indicators on either side of the headlamp and bar-end rounded rear view mirrors are small but nicely carried out touches.

The real magic in the design of the Moto Morini Milano is best evident when you view this motorcycle from the side. The Milano has a long and sleek-looking fuel tank, which has angular edges towards the front and curved contours for knee recesses. This fuel tank, along with small side body cowls, is finished in a dual-tone theme of black and red. The only futuristic bit in the Moto Morini Milano is its full-TFT instrument console, which looks fancy with its multi-coloured display modes that show all the essential data while on the move.

Apart from that, the Moto Morini Milano showcases its muscular personality with its fully-exposed engine and beautifully designed exhaust pipes which flow towards the rear in a vertically stacked manner.  The grey alloy wheels of the Moto Morini Milano come with a red pin-striping job around them.

Another element worth catching your attention is the traditional café racer single-piece seat, which is long and has a hump for the pillion perch. This seat is placed on a floating tail section, with the Milano getting a rear tyre hugger with license plate housing and LED turn indicators mounted on it. The pillion seat also gets nicely executed ‘Limited Edition’ stitching done on it. Behind the floating tail section, the Milano gets a tiny LED tail lamp.

The aggressive and sporty ergonomics of the Moto Morini Milano make it a focused motorcycle to ride, which is further amplified by its sportily tuned suspension unit. The suspension combination of Moto Morini Milano includes a 46 mm upside-down telescopic fork fully adjustable in preload, damping in compression and rebound at the front and a single shock with progressive link to the swingarm, fully adjustable in preload (with hydraulic command), height, damping in rebound at the rear. While the ride quality is on the firmer side, the motorcycle feels quick and agile at all speeds. Riding on 120/70-17 front and 190/55-17 rear Pirelli Angel GT tyres, the Moto Morini Milano gets dual 320mm discs and a single 220mm disc for stopping power.

The Moto Morini Milano has got a very powerful heart in the form of a four-stroke, liquid-cooled, 87-degree V-twin, 1187cc engine, which is one of the biggest V-twin engines currently among motorcycles. The engine here is paired to a 6-speed transmission and pumps out 116 PS of maximum power and 108 Nm of maximum torque output. While the power and torque figures of this engine do not sound too overwhelming, the charm of this engine is best felt in lower RPMs and mid-range, where the motorcycle shines with its abundant delivery of torque.

Except for dual-channel ABS and slip and assist clutch, the Moto Morini Milano misses out on sophisticated riding aids and electronics people take for granted in modern-day 1000cc+ motorcycles.

Barring the limited number of features and riding aids, there is not much to make us avoid the Moto Morini Milano. The motorcycle looks beautiful with its timeless café racer styling, while it performs and handles brilliantly for a motorcycle of its genre.