Cagiva's bargain

You might think this is just a white version of Cagivas proven Mito 125, but look closer: the two-stroke’s expansion chamber exhaust is gone, and the stickers read 500.

Cagiva replaced the tiny two-stroke motor in favour of a thumping 60bhp 500cc single from sister company Husqvarna.

The chassis and bodywork is identical to the 125 (except for some seriously cool forged alloy Marvic wheels), meaning it weighs just 133kg.

That’s 32kg less than the already light 2007 Honda CBR600RR! A tiny, seemingly unbaffled exhaust is just visible at the bottom of the fairing, but is road legal and will be used on the finished machine.
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What’s more, the amount of existing components used to build the bike means development was quick and cheap – and the final production bikes will cost around £4,000.

That’s around the same as the less focused Suzuki SV650, and less than slower and softer single cylinder bikes such as the £4899 Yamaha MT-03.

The idea for the bike came from Giovanni Castiglioni, son of MV Agusta Group (who own Cagiva) President Claudio Castiglioni.

Read the full story behind the 500 and an exclusive interview with Giovanni in next week’s MCN, on sale tomorrow (Wednesday, November 22).

Let us know what you think of Cagiva’s new featherweight sportsbike by emailing mcn.letters@emap.com