Vertigo to scale new heights: Trials specialists get ready to launch cool street bike

Unless you’re immersed in the world of trials the name Vertigo might not be a familiar one. Represented in the UK by Dougie Lampkin, who has taken their machines to five wins in the Scottish Six Days Trial since 2015, the company have long had an eye on expanding into road bikes.  

Now, thanks to a design registration filed in the EU, we get a glimpse of the bike that will carry the Vertigo name on the street. It’s not the first time Vertigo has made a stab at road bikes. Back in 2015, they unveiled the Ursus, a crazy creation with scooter-style twist-and-go transmission and off-road looks.  

This new design shows a much more conventional offering with styling that sits between trials and enduro.

The engine appears to be a liquid-cooled, SOHC four-stroke single, and since Vertigo makes their own two-stroke engines for trials, it could be an in-house unit. Capacity is likely to be around 250cc.  

The chassis is clearly designed by the same minds that came up with Vertigo’s trial bikes. The trellis-style front structure near the steering head, leading back to two tubes connecting to the swingarm pivot, is like an extended version of the company’s existing designs.  

The swingarm is again almost identical to the design on Vertigo’s competition bikes, with a delicate shape and a sculpted upper edge ahead of the rear wheel, with a central hole for the mono-shock which is on a rising-rate linkage. 

The silencer is relatively long, extending almost all the way to the rear of the engine, and there’s a catalytic converter mounted in the header pipe where it wraps around the cylinder.  

A heat shield protects the rider’s leg, and there’s a socket for an oxygen sensor in the pipe ahead of the cat to allow the electronics to monitor the fuel injection settings – all clear suggestions this is a street-legal bike, as are the lights, indicators and licence plate bracket.