As reported by the crew motorcycle news Recently, there is a new 2-stroke in town. This isn’t something you hear often, unless you consider the latest news from Kawasaki. But a new street-legal 2-stroke is news I thought was left in the past, and for it to make nearly 300 hp is news I never thought I’d see.
The machine is called Aperion and comes courtesy of Oxfordshire startup Veloce Motorcycles. It has a 1000 cc eight-cylinder 2-stroke powerplant with a claimed output of 280 hp. Now, to be fair, the example the company displayed at the Bike Shed Moto Show in London last month wasn’t running, but Veloce says it has a working demo bike and plans to deliver the Aperion to customers in 2027.
Powering the Aperion are eight Rotax/Aprilia RS125 cylinders with forged pistons, arranged in two separate V4 crankcases around a central transmission casing. Because these are 2-stroke cylinders, each requires its own expansion chamber, which needs to be a specific volume and length with a precise taper to optimize power output and delivery. Fitting eight expansion cylinders into a naked motorcycle, without making the bike unrideable, is a feat of engineering.
At its core, the Aperion is an old-school carbureted 2-stroke motorcycle, but its existence is made possible by modern technology. To transform eight expansion chambers into a compact artwork, Veloce used the latest 3D printing technology. The company laser-sintered the pipes from metal powder directly from a CAD program.
Photo by: MCN
Getting the expansion chambers right isn’t just important for power delivery; This contributes to the overall feel of the bike, as the engine doubles as the main frame. It has front and rear subframes made from welded steel tube ‘birdcage’ style mesh. At the rear, there’s a sleek aluminum single-sided swingarm, which is rare in any new model these days, except the Norton Manx R.
The rest of the bike, from brakes to suspension, is pretty conventional, well, except for the rear suspension, which makes do with a tie-rod and single shock mounted in front of the engine. If you want to own this engineering feat, and possibly the most powerful 2-stroke motorcycle ever made, you’ll have to drop £78,000 ($103,041). Still, there will be a limited run of only 24 bikes, and they will be sold on Motorcycle Single Vehicle Approval (MSVA) basis.
Photo by: MCN
If you’re excited about buying a modern 2-smoker car but are put off by the price, you may still be in luck. Veloce is also planning to create a second model called Ethereal, which will have a V4 500 cc 2-stroke engine producing around 145 hp. The Ethereal will be sold at a slightly lower price, and Veloce plans to produce more than 24 models, though details are still scarce.
