Chinese Aprilia Flat Tracker Revealed in Design Filings (UPDATE: It's an FB Mondial)
UPDATE: The mystery of the Chinese-Italian flat tracker has been solved. The bike already exists, but as neither a Piaggio or a Zongshen. Instead, it was released this summer under the storied FB Mondial brand as the Flat Tracker 125.
Apparently, Zongshen-Piaggio Foshan manufactures FB Mondial’s products. Seeing as FB Mondial isn’t credited with the design suggests Zongshen-Piaggio Foshan may also design its entire range.
Here’s the original article we wrote before figuring out it was an FB Mondial:
Piaggio‘s joint venture with Chinese manufacturer Zongshen has filed a design for a motorcycle that may be the closest thing we’ll see to a new Aprilia flat tracker.
Zongshen-Piaggio Foshan registered the design in July with the China National Intellectual Property Administration, which published the filing today. The design is simply labeled as “摩托车（Flat)”, or “motorcycle (Flat)”, so for lack of a better name, we’ll call it the Zongshen-Aprilia Flat 150.
The engine and frame appear similar to an existing model called the Zongshen-Aprilia Cafe 150, pictured below. The engine is also used on an adventure bike called the Terra 150 and an RSV4-inspired sportbike called the GPR150, though they both use an aluminum twin-spar frame.
These existing bikes are equipped with a single exhaust while the Flat 150 stands out with two silencers mounted below the tail and covered by panels styled to resemble number boards.
Up front, the Flat 150 sports another panel that resembles a number board. Below that is a small opening between the turn signals. Our guess is the opening is for a rather slim LED headlight, which may suggest the design is more a concept than a finished production model. Above the number board is a digital display. This too would be a departure from the existing Zongshen-Aprilia 150 models which all use an analog tachometer with a small inset LCD screen.
The Flat 150 runs on 19-inch wire spoke wheels, front and rear, like a real competition flat tracker, but the presence of lighting, mirrors, front fender and tire-hugging plate holder reminds us this is still intended to be a streetbike.
The design filing offers no clue as to when Zongshen-Piaggio may reveal a physical bike, whether a concept or production model. As with the rest of Zongshen-Aprilia’s line-up, it’s unlikely we’ll see the Flat 150 outside of Asian markets.
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Dennis has been a part of the Motorcycle.com team since 2008, and through his tenure, has developed a firm grasp of industry trends, and a solid sense of what's to come. A bloodhound when it comes to tracking information on new motorcycles, if there's a new model on the horizon, you'll probably hear about it from him first.
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FB Mondial makes some really cool looking bikes, if the quality is good I would be all in for a Sport Classic 300. No distributors in North America.
"China National Intellectual Property Administration", is that the collection point for IP "found" elsewhere?