But let’s go in order, even to have a better idea of what is happening in Asia and that may also have repercussions in Europe. Zongshen, in addition to producing a wide range of small-displacement motorcycles, is a true giant with a partnership of over twenty years with Piaggio through Piaggio Zongshen Foshan, mainly dedicated to the production of some models of the Aprilia, Piaggio, and Vespa brands, such as the Aprilia GPR250R, destined for domestic and Southeast Asian markets. But there is more, as we could see, at the Chongqing 2021 Auto Show Zongshen, through the Cyclone brand, presented new models and the RA9 concept, a naked bike based on the Aprilia Shiver/Dorsoduro 900 platform. Moreover, it seems that, at least in Asia, the Gilera brand may find a new life, as about a year ago “strange” prototypes were found on Chinese roads that would confirm this hypothesis.
In parallel to this collaboration, in 2017 Zongshen signed an agreement with the British company Norton (then led by Stuart Gartner) to explore the 650 cc twin-cylinder Atlas engines from the front end of the liquid-cooled 1200 cc dual overhead cam V4 V4SV super sportbike and V4CR streetfighter. Subsequently, Norton was bought by TVS from India in 2020, but under the previous agreement, Zongshen managed to develop and present its Cyclone RX6 in China in 2021, a crossover equipped with the twin-cylinder in-line engine derived from Norton (among other things, displaying the entire 1200 cc V4 engine at its stand at the 2021 Chongqing Auto Show) and then its older sister of 850 cc developed on the same technical basis.
The Cyclone RX6, which later evolved into the RX650, features top-of-the-line equipment, including an inertial platform and a front camera, as well as QuickShift, traction control, and cornering ABS.
To complete the range and in the same platform logic, designs are now emerging that would show how this platform is evolving, with a Scrambler very similar in terms of overall layout to the RX6, thus sharing the performance of the 650 cc inline twin-cylinder engine with 71 hp at 8,500 rpm and 62 Nm of torque at 7,000 rpm (and who knows, maybe it could also be born directly from 850 cc, with an impressive 98 hp). Apart from the designs, no other news is known about this bike, which could also be presented at one of the upcoming Chinese shows.
Will it also be imported here? At the time of the RX6 launch, it was stated that, after the start of sales in the Chinese market, the Crossover would also arrive in Europe: it is logical to think that the same could happen with the Scrambler, although we await more news.
