Pepo Rosell’s work is easy to spot, and we mean that as a compliment. If it looks fast, has a killer livery and just a hint of classic endurance racing, it’s most likely an XTR Pepo build.
Pepo’s sharp eye and deft hand come from his vast experience. He’s the guy that originally founded the powerhouse custom shop, Radical Ducati. Then, after a thirteen-year stint at Radical, he went into a hiatus, before realizing that building custom motorcycles was all he wanted to do.
So for the past four years, Pepo’s been producing the same style of high-end customs he built his reputation on, but now as XTR Pepo. He maintains a frenetic pace too, making it hard to keep track of what he’s up to.
Luckily, our good friend and ace photographer Marc Holstein pinged us about this exotic number. It’s a Moto Morini Corsaro 1200 Veloce, and it’s got all the elements of a classic XTR Pepo masterpiece.
Marc tells us how the project came about: “Oliver Thiel from Thiel Motorsport met Pepo at the Glemseck 101, and after a lot of talking, he expressed his wish for a custom Moto Morini with clip-ons… which is not available stock.”
“They agreed that Pepo would build a custom bike, and that Oliver would leave him a lot of creative freedom. The Corsaro 1200 Veloce was chosen because it’s the most powerful bike in the line-up.”
With 140 hp and 123 Nm on tap, 50 mm Marzocchi USD forks, strong brakes and a dry weight of under 200 kilos, the Corsaro is already pretty rad in stock trim. So Pepo’s changes largely focused on ergonomics and cosmetics—but the results are off the chain.
The Moto Morini cuts a far more aggressive line now. To achieve this, Pepo lowered the front end, and fabricated a completely new subframe out back.
Sitting up top is a monocoque body unit, built completely from scratch. The lines are perfect—from the angular fuel tank right through to the boxy tail piece.
It features some astounding details too. The filler is a twin-cap setup from Fuchs Workshop, and Pepo’s built a holder for the LiPo battery into the tailpiece. And even though the barely-there seat pad sure doesn’t look comfy, it suits the overall vibe.
You might recognize the front fairing; it’s from a Suzuki RGV250. Pepo modified it, built a custom mounting system to hold it, and added an endurance-style twin light setup up front.
Just behind it is the OEM dash, mounted on a new bracket to tuck it in close.
Pepo honored Oliver’s request for clip-ons with a set of FG Racing bars, and a stunning CNC machined aluminum top yoke. The switches are stock, but the levers are adjustable numbers from the XTR Pepo catalog.
It’s a real tidy setup overall, right down to the small bracket that holds the remote Brembo reservoirs.
Dig deeper, and you’ll find a hand-built RC Racing radiator, and a re-worked electrical system. The exhaust is a neat setup too: Pepo’s added a Wolfman two-into-one connector to the stock headers, and capped it off with a Spark muffler with a custom hangar.
Pintumoto handled the Moto Morini’s new paint, while Dante hooked Pepo up with all the decals he needed. Between the spot-on graphics and the Corsaro’s aggressive new silhouette, there’s a lot to love here.
Marc tells us that Oliver and Pepo might produce a small run of Morinis if the interest is there. Any takers?
XTR Pepo | Facebook | Instagram | Images by Marc Holstein
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