The Moto Morini 3½ Sport is set to hit UK roads next week, priced at £4299 on the road, making it’s debut at the Classic Motorcycle Mechanics Show at Stafford this weekend.
Now distributed by MotoGB, it joins one of the most hotly contested areas of the UK market and will be sold across more than 20 dealers – following an initial concept model launched at the 2025 EICMA trade show in Milan that garnered plenty of attention.
Modest performance comes courtesy of a dinky 349.3cc 60-degree V-twin engine, with the styling inspired by the original 3½ Sport launched back in 1973.
Power is a claimed 32.2bhp at 8500rpm, with the liquid-cooled Euro5+ compliant engine paired with a six-speed gearbox and fed by a 15-litre fuel tank. Servicing is then every 6000 miles or annually – whichever arrives first – with a claimed 22.9lb.ft of torque arriving at 6500rpm.
Housed in a double steel cradle frame, the engine is said to have been designed by Morini directly for this application and bucks the trend set by other A2 licence-friendly retro roadsters already on the market, which make use of a range of thumping singles, and rumbling parallel-twins.
Although slightly less powerful, we’d expect the 3½ to go up against the likes of the £5995 Triumph Thruxton 400 , and £5049 Apex edition of the Royal Enfield Guerrilla 450 – with other alternatives including the BSA Bantam 350 , and less pokey Honda GB350S .
In fact, it’s joining a booming segment of the UK market, with almost all new and established brands now offering affordable, gently set roadsters for A2 licence holders. Brits can’t get enough of them either, with September figures released by the Motorcycle Industry Association (MCIA) showing a 23.7% uplift on 126cc-500cc machines for the year so far.
This increased range of bikes has been driven by a rising demand for leisure motorcycles in other countries such as India, with Royal Enfield alone selling 902,757 bikes there across 2024 alone and others now keen to also cash in.
Alongside the gentle output, we’re also told to expect a seat height of just 780mm, plus an unladen weight of 165kg – with the 43mm upside down forks and preload-adjustable monoshock both offering 120mm of travel. From the images, we can also see a choice of gentle clip-on or flat bars.
“We would hope the bike appeals to both new and experienced riders,” a MotoGB spokesperson told MCN. “The modern classic resurgence over the past few years has been positive and in the current climate with cost of living and fuel price uncertainty the smaller capacity bikes are certainly a viable option.”
The representative went on to say that interest in the new model had already been strong – with the returning 3½ name attracting attention from Moto Morini owners’ groups. They also added that more dealers had expressed an interest to take on the Morini brand in the future.
Although building their first motorcycle in Italy back in 1946, Moto Morini have been part of the Zhongneng Vehicle Group in China since 2018.
Other features of this model include front and rear LED lighting, plus Bosch electronic fuel injection, and a circular TFT dash that offers an integrated navigation system. Colours are a choice of ‘Legacy Red’ or ‘Pure White’, with more details found at motomorini.eu today
The smaller capacity modern retro class is now a very popular one and adding more choice to the group can only be a good thing. We hope to get our hands on one to test so we can let you know what we thin…