A Glance at Moto Parilla's SUV 750 Concept

Moto Parilla might not ring that many bells, but it's one of those old Italian bike firms with racing heritage that disappeared decades ago. Now the name has made a return, initially on electrically-assisted bicycles, and if all goes to plan it will be back on a motorcycle soon. If you search Moto Parilla's website, you'll find plenty of information about the 'Carbon SUV eBike' that it's building. But if you click on the link to its 'Moto SUV 750' you're taken to an 'under construction' page and the chance to sign up for email updates.

So what's the SUV 750? The firm's YouTube channel shows the prototype, which might be familiar to those who pay attention to the stranger concepts revealed at each year's big bike shows. It's a renamed version of the Brutus concept first shown in 2012. The same bike was revealed a second time in 2013 under the Caterham brand alongside a carbon-framed electric bicycle, which has now become the Moto Parilla Carbon SUV eBike. While initial plans suggest that the Brutus – a single-cylinder 750cc machine with massive, oversized balloon tires – will be the first Moto Parilla motorcycle, new patents have revealed a second design.

It uses the same engine as the Brutus. It’s a 45hp single from Chinese firm Dinli, which currently sees service in several quad bikes and a Dinli-branded, Chinese-market cruiser. Unusually, it’s bolted to a belt-and-cone continuously variable transmission like a scooter’s, making the new Moto Parilla a twist-and-go machine. The initial SUV 750, presuming it carries over the Brutus styling, will be a go-anywhere model. It’s like a two-wheeled quad, or perhaps a large-engined Rokon Ranger. But the new patent reveals a street bike that, while perhaps less attention-grabbing, will ultimately be more usable.

There's hint of Suzuki B-King to its hooded headlight, and despite the on-road intentions the front tyre is still unusually wide even if it's not as comically oversized as that on the Brutus/SUV 750. Moto Parilla's latest incarnation has intriguing plans when it comes to financing and making its machines. It used Kickstarter to fund the Carbon SUV eBike, and plans to do the same with the SUV 750. For production, it outsources — presumably to China — rather than having a factory of its own.

Will the project be a success? Only time will tell. On a previous version of the firm’s website it proposed to sell the SUV 750 for as little as $5500 to initial Kickstarter backers, suggesting that if nothing else it intends to offer its machines at surprisingly low prices.