Many Minarelli clones, why no Piaggio or Kymco clones?

[scootertrog]

Just wondering if anyone knew why the Minarelli engine design has been cloned so much, but the Piaggio or Kymco (L/C) designs have not? Honda's and Morini's have been to a certain extent. Pretty much all of the cloning is going on in China, you'd think they would have just used the Honda or Kymco stuff.

scootertrog

 

[roost]

I think there is no particular reason to copy the minarelli that much and not the others.

 

[Aidix]

Why: because the 'minarelli' engine is actually a Yamaha engine and the Yamaha engine is used all over the place in asian markets. The Jog has been a real success in many asian countries. Most "copies" you're talking about probably license builds.

You should also know that Chinese scooter brands have their own (cheap, lousy) engine designs for 50cc 2 stroke scooters, they hardly use minarelli clones for the Chinese mainland market.

Good luck finding a Piaggio scooter in China


Another thing: Since 2004 Chinese scooter manufacturers are switching to 4stroke engines.

 

[scootertrog]

Why: because the 'minarelli' engine is actually a Yamaha engine and the Yamaha engine is used all over the place in asian markets. The Jog has been a real success in many asian countries. Most "copies" you're talking about probably license builds.

You should also know that Chinese scooter brands have their own (cheap, lousy) engine designs for 50cc 2 stroke scooters, they hardly use minarelli clones for the Chinese mainland market.

Good luck finding a Piaggio scooter in China


Another thing: Since 2004 Chinese scooter manufacturers are switching to 4stroke engines.

Aidix,
Yes, the switch to 4 stroke (puke!) is underway, but the Chinese still build the 2 stroke stuff, and much of it is a copy of the Yamaha/Minarelli. They still put them in most of the CPI Oliver/Hussar clones, like MZ, Vento, United Motors, Prima and so on.....
So are you saying that Yamaha developed the design for Minarelli? That would make sense. I thought Minarelli was European-designed and eventually built per license from Yamaha.

scootertrog

 

[Aidix]

Did you know Minarelli is listed as a subsidiary in Yamaha's annual report? It's part of the Yamaha group.

 

[scootertrog]

Did you know Minarelli is listed as a subsidiary in Yamaha's annual report? It's part of the Yamaha group.

No, I did not realize that Minarelli was a part of Yamaha, I did learn something today! It's just interesting that the Chinese mfgrs in geneneral chose to go that path. I could be mistaken, but I think Honda bikes were around before the Yamaha's showed up.
I've seen somewhere that Piaggio has licensed a Chinese company to build some scooters. It will be interesting to see if some Piaggio clones start showing up.

scootertrog

 

[brookespeed]

peugeot is listed as a subsidiary of honda too. Ohlins is like that with yamaha and Toyota owns a big stake in yamaha.

allyourbasebelongtous

 

[Aidix]

Well Peugeot has used Honda engines in some of their scooters (Rapido, Fox). Same as yamaha/minarelli.

 

[rydah]

a piaggio clone would be o.k. but what reason would anybody clone the super 9, there are not real race parts for it so why.

 

[scootertrog]

a piaggio clone would be o.k. but what reason would anybody clone the super 9, there are not real race parts for it so why.

lol, I doubt any of the Chinese mfgr's are cloning the Yamaha engine based on wether or not there are hi-performance parts for it. They build millions of scooters every year so people can get from A to B. Racing is not high on their priorities.
BTW, it does not take much at all to adapt a Minarelli top-end to the Super 9.

scootertrog