Chinese twins look familiar

New family could be destined for Europe

The latest new bikes from China come from Taizhou Moray, who already sell a range of 125cc, Honda MSX-inspired models under the Motrac and Urban names. Now the firm have revealed 400cc and 500cc parallel twins, the MT-400 and MG-500, with plans for more new models.

First to market will be the MT-400, a naked sports bike with a 399cc DOHC twin making a claimed 26.2kW (35bhp) at 7600rpm and 33Nm (24ftlb) at 5500rpm. It’s bolted to a straightforward steel frame with unbranded inverted fork and radial brakes. Weight is claimed to be 182kg dry, which seems about right, while prices in China are expected to start at around £2900.

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Next up comes a 500cc parallel-twin adventure-style bike, the MG-500. It also sports a DOHC twin, but with a completely different design. As usual with Chinese bikes, that’s likely to be down to the firm finding multiple sources for its engines rather than developing them in-house. In the case of the MG-500, the engine is visually very similar to Honda’s CB500 engine, but it’s likely to be made by fellow Chinese firm Loncin. The MG-500 uses a 76mm bore and 55.1mm stroke for a 491cc capacity, compared to the Honda’s 471cc which is achieved from a much squarer 67×66.8mm bore and stroke. The claimed power and torque figures are 47bhp and 32ftlb at 8500rpm and 7500rpm respectively. Weight is claimed at 197kg dry, while the bike boasts a full colour TFT display and LED lights. Both models are planned to get Euro4 approval, allowing them to go on sale in Europe.

Patents from the firm’s owners also show that a fully-faired sports model based around the MT-400’s chassis is also under development, currently going under the name MT2. Strangely, the design drawings show the MT2 sports bike with yet another engine – a 400cc twin from rival Chinese firm Jiajue – but it’s likely this is just a placeholder in the computer design images since it doesn’t line up with engine mounts that are positioned to suit the MT-400 engine.

Further future models include a naked bike using the MT-500 engine and chassis, and also an 800cc V-twin cruiser model, both only seen as silhouette teasers so far.

 

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