Moto Morini Vettore 450 Review: Why Not Just Buy the CFMoto Ibex?
Bottom Line
The Vettore 450 does exactly what it promises: a smooth, friendly motor, a long equipment list, real adjustable suspension, and a price that makes the class look greedy. It’s a CFMoto Ibex 450 underneath, built for long, mostly-dirt-road trips with luggage. Shorter riders and anyone who lives on steep, technical trail should look at something lighter and shorter geared.
A few weeks ago Moto Morini surprised me. I went into the X-Cape 1200 expecting a bargain-bin adventure bike and came out of it calling it one of the best bikes I’ve ever ridden through tight switchbacks, at a price that made me check the sticker twice.
So when Morini offered me their new little adventure bike, the Vettore 450, I showed up hoping for a sequel. Same brand, same surprise, smaller engine, cheaper ticket. I’ve had it for a few months now, and about half of my miles on it have been on dirt, including a leg of the Utah Backcountry Discovery Route.
The question I want to answer is the one I ask about every bike: does it do what it promises? Because sometimes a bike surprises you, and sometimes it just shows up and does its job. Those are two very different kinds of bikes, right.
Who Is Moto Morini, and Who Built the Vettore?
If you’re in the US and Moto Morini sounds like a pasta shape you haven’t tried yet, here’s the short version. Morini is an Italian brand that goes back to 1937 in Bologna. Since 2018 it’s been owned by a Chinese company, with design and development in Italy and production in China. The Italians also gave us the Ducati 916, and I’m told this was styled in Milan too. I’m going to choose to believe it was just a really busy week.
Now the part every other review leads with, so let’s get it out of the way. The Vettore is built in partnership with CFMoto, and underneath it’s basically a CFMoto Ibex 450. Same engine, same basic frame. Morini then went through it and changed a long list of things, and whether those changes were worth it is the question you should actually be asking. We’ll get there.
The engine is a 449cc parallel twin with a 270-degree crank. Morini claims 44.8 horsepower and about 31 lb-ft of torque, with a six-speed gearbox, a slipper clutch, and chain drive.
Price: MSRP is $6,499, and when I recorded the video Moto Morini USA was listing it at $5,499. That $1,000 matters, and it comes up again when we get to the Ibex.
2026 Moto Morini Vettore 450 Specs
| Engine | 449cc parallel twin, 270-degree crank |
| Bore x stroke | 72 x 55.2mm |
| Power | 44.8 hp @ 8,500 rpm |
| Torque | 31 lb-ft @ 6,500 rpm |
| Transmission | 6-speed, slipper clutch, chain drive |
| Gearing | 15T front / 46T rear (Ibex 450: 14T / 47T) |
| Suspension | KYB fully adjustable fork; rear shock adjustable for preload and rebound |
| Brakes | Single 320mm front disc, 4-piston radial J.Juan caliper; Bosch ABS, switchable at the rear |
| Front wheel | 21-inch, tubeless spoked |
| Tires (stock) | CST Ambro A4 |
| Wheelbase | 59.5 in (1,511mm) |
| Rake / trail | 26 degrees / 4.2 in (107mm) |
| Seat height | 33.1 in (840mm) |
| Weight | 419 lb dry (claimed); about 465 lb fueled |
| Fuel capacity | 4.9 gal (Ibex 450: 4.6 gal) |
| Range | About 220 miles per tank (real world) |
| Top speed | 93 mph (claimed) |
| MSRP | $6,499 ($5,499 listed by Moto Morini USA at time of review) |
Manufacturer claims unless noted.
Engine and Freeway Manners
The motor is the best part of this bike. It’s smooth, the 270 crank gives it a nice uneven thrum, and it has more pull at low rpm than you’d expect from 449cc. Around town it’s easy: light clutch, no drama.
The freeway is fine. It’ll sit at freeway speed, and I got it into the 80s, although I should confess that was downhill with a tailwind of optimism. Morini claims a top speed of 93. It’ll do the freeway to get you to the good stuff, but you won’t want to spend a lot of time there.
The Numbers That Explain How It Rides
Somebody in the comments recently said my geometry graphics are very PBS. I’ve decided to take that as a compliment. So this next part is brought to you by viewers like you, and by the letter T, for trail, because a handful of numbers explain almost everything about how this bike handles.
Weight. Morini claims 419 pounds dry. Fill the tank and it’s about 465, roughly 40 pounds more than the Ibex it’s based on. Before I rode it, I thought a 450 adventure bike was like one of those trail runners who wears a weight vest just to make life harder on themselves: a little too small for the freeway and a little too big for the dirt. It turns out the weight vest is real, and it weighs about 40 pounds. Some of that is the centerstand, the steel rear rack, and the bigger fuel tank, so at least the vest has pockets.
Wheelbase is 59.5 inches, which is long for this class. Rake is 26 degrees, same as the Ibex and squarely in normal adventure-bike territory.
And my favorite number, the one nobody else talks about: trail is 4.2 inches, about 107mm. That’s a healthy amount of trail. More trail means a stronger urge for the front wheel to straighten itself out, so the bike holds a line and shrugs off rocks, ruts, and loose gravel trying to push it offline. Put that on a 21-inch front wheel, which is bigger and carries more gyroscopic stability than a 17-inch sportbike wheel, and the front end is calm and hard to upset. That’s why almost every bike in this class runs a 21.
Now stack it all together. A long wheelbase, a stable front end, 465 pounds, and, as we’ll get to, tall gearing. Every one of those numbers points in the same direction: this bike wants to keep moving. On an open dirt road at 30 or 40 miles an hour, all of that adds up to a bike that feels planted and relaxed. On a steep, slow climb, all of that adds up to a bike that would rather you just didn’t. Hold that thought.
Seat Height: Test-Sit One First
Claimed seat height is 33.1 inches. I’m five foot seven, and that’s when I’m standing up straight because somebody in the room just said the word “posture.” With a 30-inch inseam, I’m on my tippy toes every time it comes to a stop. Mrs. CanyonChaser is one inch shorter than me, and for her it was simply a no. She couldn’t comfortably touch the ground.
So if you’re on the shorter side, test-sit one before you fall in love with it, and before it falls on you.
Canyon Roads and Pavement Handling
Canyons and mountain roads are where it started winning me over, largely because the speeds are slower. The motor sits right in its sweet spot, the stable front end means you can relax into a corner, and the KYB suspension soaks up the broken bits and bumps without any fuss.
But what makes a 21-inch front wheel great off-road comes with a hefty price tag on twisty pavement. The tire is narrow, so there’s a lot less edge grip, and a big wagon wheel combined with that long trail number means the front end does not want to change direction. Inputs have to be decisive and deliberate.
It’s not a sportbike, and it doesn’t pretend to be. It’s more like a well-mannered dog on a long walk. It’ll happily trot along all day, but don’t expect any Border Collie excitement if someone throws a tennis ball.
Brakes, and a Public Service Announcement
Up front it runs a single 320mm disc with a four-piston radial J.Juan caliper and Bosch ABS. Rear ABS can be switched off. The front can’t.
When I picked this bike up, the front brake was terrible. And I mean terrible. I squeezed with everything my hand had and the bike sort of considered my request. It turned out the pads were glazed, and I spent the whole first day braking as hard as I physically could to scrub them back to life. After that, it was adequate for a bike like this. It’s not going to impress anyone, but it stops.
So, a public service announcement: if you buy one of these and the front brake feels more like a suggestion box, it might not be the brakes. Consider fresh pads, and make sure they’re bedded in properly before you judge it.
What Is the Backcountry Discovery Route?
Backcountry Discovery Routes is a nonprofit that maps adventure-bike routes across a state, mostly on dirt roads and two-track, with optional harder sections for people with more confidence than sense. The Utah route runs about 750 miles, from Mexican Hat near Monument Valley up to Garden City on the Idaho border.
I took the Vettore through the mountains of northern Utah, mixing canyon roads with dirt roads, and rode a leg of the BDR along the way.
On Open Dirt, Everything Clicks
Remember all those numbers that said “keep moving”? This is where they pay off. Long wheelbase, lots of trail, tall gearing, big front wheel, and you’re rolling along at a pace where the bike feels planted and unbothered. You start looking around at the scenery instead of the ground right in front of you.
This is where the Vettore made me want to wander. Turn down the road I don’t know, see what’s just over that hill, find out where that little two-track goes. It gave me that itch, and a bike that makes you want to explore has done most of its job.
“A bike that makes you want to explore has done most of its job.”
Steep Climbs and Tall Gearing
Then things got steeper and looser, and I’m not talking about technical stuff. I’m talking about the kind of roads you’d take a Subaru Crosstrek on. The gearing is too tall. I was slipping the clutch constantly and still going faster than I wanted, worried that slowing down would stall the engine. Stalling a 465-pound bike on a slope isn’t the kind of adventure I’m looking for.
ADVMoto said it felt at home in second gear. RoadRUNNER said it seemed willing to play in the dirt but didn’t really want to. On the steep stuff, I’m more in line with RoadRUNNER. On the open stuff, I completely agree with ADVMoto. And that’s the bike in a sentence.
For context, Morini actually geared the Vettore taller than the Ibex: a 15-tooth front sprocket and a 46 at the back, where the Ibex runs a 14 and a 47. That helps on the freeway and hurts on a steep dirt road. If this were my bike, the first thing I’d try is a 14-tooth front sprocket. That’s about 7 percent shorter, which gets you most of the way to Ibex gearing for the price of a pizza.
Suspension and Tires
I left the suspension exactly where Moto Morini set it for my whole time with the bike. The KYB fork is fully adjustable and the shock has preload and rebound, so there’s room to tune it if you need to, but for my size and my off-road riding ability, the stock settings felt right.
It comes on CST Ambro A4 knobbies, and they performed better than I expected: more lean angle than they have any right to provide, and plenty of grip on dry autumn dirt that hadn’t seen any moisture since about June.
They do seem to be wearing quickly, though. The odometer on this bike is barely at a thousand miles, and the rear is disappearing at a rate I’d normally associate with a sportbike at a track day. If you’re planning a long trip, budget for tires sooner than you’d expect, and maybe don’t start a 750-mile BDR on the stock rear.
The Off-Road Mode Annoyance
One thing that wore on me out there: getting into Off-Road mode takes about four button pushes, and you have to be stopped to do it. Fine. But the moment you turn the key off, it forgets all about it and goes back to road mode. That’s four button pushes every single time you get back on.
On a BDR you stop for gas, for photos, for lunch, and to stare at a map pretending you know where you are. I caught myself leaving the key on at stops a lot longer than I probably should have, just to avoid the whole routine again.
Can the Vettore 450 Do the BDR?
If your plan is the main route, the graded roads and the two-track, this bike can do it. It has the range, figure on about 220 miles a tank, and it’ll be fun doing it. If your plan is the expert alternates, the steep, rocky, slow stuff, I’d want something lighter and geared shorter.
Vettore 450 vs CFMoto Ibex 450: Why Not Just Buy the Ibex?
If it’s an Ibex underneath, why not just buy the Ibex? Start with what Moto Morini changed:
- A standard centerstand, which is a $280 option on the Ibex
- A steel rear rack instead of plastic
- A bigger tank, though only by three tenths of a gallon: 4.9 versus 4.6
- A six-position adjustable handlebar (most bars adjust to some extent)
- A bigger 6-inch TFT display
- A bit more suspension travel
- Backlit switchgear
- Turn signals built into the hand guards
What it costs you is about 40 pounds and that taller gearing. I haven’t ridden an Ibex, so I can’t tell you how the two compare back to back, especially on the trail, but on paper that’s the trade.
The way I’d put it: the Ibex is the one you take to the hard stuff. The Vettore is the Ibex’s road-trip cousin. It carries more, goes farther on a tank, and is more comfortable on the long pavement stretches to get you to the trailhead. And at the $5,499 Morini was listing when I recorded this, against the Ibex’s $6,499, it’s $1,000 cheaper while carrying the extra kit. For a rider planning long, multi-day trips that stay mostly on dirt roads, that’s a very easy case to make.
Styling and Travel Features
Styling is subjective, and that’s going to have to work hard for this bike. In the US it comes in one color: white. Take a good look at the face, though. Doesn’t it remind you of someone from your childhood? Number Five is alive. I’m sorry, because now that I’ve said it, you’re never going to see anything else. I spent the rest of my time with this bike half expecting it to ask me for more input.
What I will give Morini credit for is that the design is clearly built around travel. There are mounting points on the tank ready for whatever you want to hook to it, the steel rack is ready for a top box or a whole lot of luggage, and the optional pannier racks work with quick-release bags. Somebody at Moto Morini was clearly thinking about long trips.
The centerstand is nice in the garage for chain maintenance. But it’s also part of that 40-pound vest, and on the trail I’m not sure it earns its keep. If you fix your own flats on the side of the road, you’ll love it. If you don’t, it’s a very nice garage accessory that you take with you everywhere.
The turn signals built into the hand guards look fantastic on a street bike, and I like how visible they are. Off-road, I’d be nervous about them. A simple tip-over in the dirt could take out the guard and the signal in one go, and a parking lot nap could turn into a parts catalog order. I didn’t drop it, so that’s a hunch, but it’s a pretty good hunch.
A few more details from the walkaround:
- The shift lever is mounted on an eccentric. Loosen one bolt and rotate it to exactly where you want it for your boot, no fiddling with splines. Fantastic little touch.
- Tubeless spoke wheels. What’s not to love?
- Nice adjustable levers, including the cable clutch.
- The side panel and shroud seem to pull hot air away from you better than the big X-Cape 1200 does.
- The bash plate is robust plastic, but it’s plastic. Probably something you’d want to upgrade.
- The centerstand springs aren’t quite strong enough, so if you put it down, it tends to stay down.
- The exhaust is showing some dark discoloration where it’s gotten hot.
- The switch pod layout is intuitive and easy to navigate. There just isn’t a lot of functionality inside the dash.
Does It Do What Moto Morini Promised?
Yes. It does what it says on the box. A smooth, friendly motor, properly adjustable suspension, a long equipment list, and a price that makes the rest of the class look a little greedy.
But that’s where it stops. The X-Cape 1200 gave me more than its price promised. The Vettore gives me exactly what its price promises. Part of that, I think, is that the X-Cape uses Morini’s own engine and feels like Morini’s own idea, while the Vettore is a CFMoto wearing a very Italian jacket. The magic I found in the big bike didn’t come along with the badge.
“The X-Cape 1200 gave me more than its price promised. The Vettore gives me exactly what its price promises.”
Who Is the Vettore 450 For?
Let’s start with who it’s not for. Shorter riders aren’t going to enjoy it unless they’re comfortable on their tippy toes. And if your idea of fun is taking a bike well above its ability, the kind of fun that straddles type two and type three, the Ibex or something lighter still would be a better bike.
The Vettore is for:
- The rider who wants long, multi-day adventures, mostly on dirt roads, with luggage, without spending big-adventure-bike money
- Someone moving down from a 550-pound adventure bike they’re tired of picking up
- Someone who wants to ride a BDR on the main route and is happy to leave the expert sections to someone else
- Anyone who wants a lot of motorcycle for not a lot of money
If you missed it, here’s my Moto Morini X-Cape 1200 review, the bike that set the bar this one had to clear.
