Brixton Storr 500 Production Underway

The Brixton Storr 500 adventure bike that made its debut as a concept bike at the 2022 EICMA show in Milan might still officially carry the “concept” title on Brixton’s own website, but the machine has now hit full production in China where it’s started to reach dealers under the Gaokin Moto brand.

Brixton is part of Austria’s KSR Group and like several rivals combines European design with Chinese manufacturing, with the bikes coming from the Gaokin factory. Several existing Brixton models including the Crossfire 500, that the Storr 500 is based on, are already offered as Gaokin Moto machines in China, and now the Storr has joined them.

Although shown at EICMA in 2022, the Storr’s path to dealers in Europe has been a rocky one, with the KSR Group—which also owns the Malaguti brand and acts as a local distributor for Royal Enfield and Motron bikes—hitting financial problems and filing for court-supervised restructuring in September 2023. That restructuring was completed in December, putting the company on a stronger footing for 2024, but may have impacted the speed at which the Storr 500 has made its way from concept to production and explain why the Chinese-branded version has reached dealers first.

The Gaokin Moto version of the bike is all but identical to the original concept, right down to the graphics on the side panels. The few differences that can be seen are attributable to type-approval requirements, including a new design for the exhaust system, with the original concept’s pipe (which was low down on the right-hand side) repositioned to a higher level where there’s space for a larger silencer. That had a knock-on effect on the design of the passenger footpegs, which now attach to subframe-mounted hangers instead of the concept’s versions, which extended from the main footpeg mounting brackets.

Distinctive elements to have made the transition from concept to production include the protective panels either side of the nose and tank, which double as frames to mount luggage, and tie-down brackets on top of the tank to hold additional equipment. Onboard, there’s a portrait-oriented TFT dash. Power comes from the same 486cc parallel twin that’s used in the Brixton Crossfire 500, one of many Chinese clones of Honda’s CB500 motor, putting out 47 hp. In production form the Storr comes in at 461 pounds including fuel.

By the time the international version of the bike is launched, it’s likely to be joined by a second version that’s just appeared in Chinese type-approval paperwork. The new variant switches the standard wire wheels for cast alloy units but retains the same combination of a 19-inch front and 17-inch rear.

The Storr 500 might have taken a while to reach production, but work is also underway on a larger version, using the 1,200cc parallel-twin engine and frame from the Brixton Cromwell 1200 retro roadster. Design registrations filed by Brixton show the styling of the upcoming 1,200cc model, which tries to hide its old-fashioned twin-shock chassis design by using strategically placed exhausts and lugging mounting brackets and adopts a modern upside-down fork and radial-mount brakes as well as a nose fairing and screen that follow the styling themes of the Storr 500. At the moment, Brixton’s website still says it’s “coming soon” to the US market, so watch this space for more developments.