Moto Morini quietly showcased a new, off-road focussed version of its mid-size adventure bike, the Moto Morini X-Cape 650 at the recently concluded EICMA 2022 show in Milan, Italy. The Italian motorcycle brand, now under Chinese ownership, already offers the X-Cape 650 on sale in India, and we’ve been quite impressed with its all-round ability. The X-Cape 650 ADV-R is essentially a more hard-core, rally version of the X-Cape 650.
Also Read: Moto Morini X-Cape 650X First Ride Review
The ADV-R builds on the quite likeable Moto Morini X-Cape 650X and gives it more hardcore off-road capability.
Based on the same X-Cape 650 platform, the ADV-R gets plenty of off-road ready hardware, with the ‘R’ presumed to stand for Rally. Revised bodywork, an aluminium sump guard, standard crash guards, SC Project exhaust system, as well as a Garmin navigation system complete the changes to the Rally version. The ADV-R also gets thick, knobby tyres, although the Pirelli Scorpion Rally dual-sport tyres on the stock X-Cape 650 are pretty impressive as well.
Also Read: Moto Morini Seiemmezzo 61/2 Scrambler First Ride Review
The 649 cc, parallel-twin engine, fully-adjustable Marzocchi suspension and switchable ABS is retained from the stock X-Cape 650 X. What is new is the bodywork, standard Garmin navigation and crash guards running down the bodywork.
The engine remains the same 649 cc, parallel-twin which puts out 59 bhp at 8,250 rpm and 54 Nm of peak torque at 7,000 rpm. Fully adjustable suspension from Marzocchi, switchable off-road ABS, and full-colour TFT screen with Bluetooth connectivity are already available in the stock X-Cape 650. The only thing that remains is whether Moto Morini will introduce the X-Cape 650 ADV-R commercially, and if it does, will it be launched in India as well.
