The $4,700 scrambler you can't buy

Why hasn’t Triumph introduced a new “Cub” powered by a small-displacement parallel twin? When BMW decided to introduce their new G 310 bikes, why not include a pint-sized version of their Urban G/S? You could argue that Ducati tried this with their Scrambler Sixty2, but while they cut displacement in half, the price only dropped about a grand over the full-size Scrambler Icon.

Why hasn’t anyone made a $5,000, small-displacement bike that oozes retro-themed, scrambler style to appeal to everyone who can’t afford the $9,000 to $15,000 price tags on the current larger models?

Apparently someone over at F. B Mondial was thinking the same thing. Hence, the creation of the HPS 300i ABS.

What is an F. B Mondial?

The “F. B” stands for “Fratelli Boselli” or “Boselli Brothers” in English. The small Italian company was founded by Giuseppe Boselli in collaboration with his sons, Luigi, Carlo, and Ettore. The family began working together at the end of the 1920s, cutting their teeth selling and servicing other Italian motorcycle models on the family farm outside of Bologna. Dedicated production of their own machines began in 1936 and F. B Mondial was born. Shortly thereafter, World War II forced them to put their plans on hold when a bombing raid shut down supply trains into town and their machinery was confiscated to aid in the war effort. 

Their post-war effort saw F. B Mondial develop a successful racing program. The Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme established the Grand Prix Road-Racing World Championship in 1949, one year after F. B Mondial relaunched motorcycle production. The brothers capitalized on this by developing winning machines that were often found on the podium, a tradition that would continue until 1957, when the company pulled out of racing.

Apparently Soichiro Honda was so impressed with Mondial’s race machines that he modeled his Hondas against the bikes being created by the small Italian firm. Rumor has it that Mondial even gifted one of their race bikes to Mr. Honda to use to develop their own racing program.

By 1960, F. B Mondial ceased production of their own engines, opting instead to use engines sourced from other manufacturers. The rights to the F. B Mondial name were bought and sold numerous times until, in 2014, Count Pierluigi Boselli, descendant of the original brothers, acquired the rights to the name and decided to revive the brand. Thus we enter the newest chapter in Mondial’s history.

The HPS 300i ABS

What started as an idea in 2014 developed from sketches to prototypes and finally to production models. The original small-displacement HPS 125 and HPS 250 utilized engines sourced from the Piaggio group in chassis designed to meet F. B Mondial’s specs. The new HPS 300i ABS is the newest version of these original bikes.

But don’t let the name fool you. The HPS actually features a 249 cc, DOHC, four-valve, liquid-cooled engine. It produces a claimed 25 horsepower at 9,000 rpm and 16 foot-pounds of torque at 7,000 rpm. Power is delivered to the ground through a six-speed gearbox.

The entire package has a claimed dry weight of 297 pounds. Slowing it all to a stop is a single, four-piston, radial-mount caliper up front and a single-piston caliper out back. The ABS in the name refers to the antilock brakes, which were added to this larger displacement model. Brakes are mounted to a front spoked wheel wearing a 100/90-18 tire and a rear wheel with a relatively skinny 130/70-17.

The inverted fork is 41 mm in diameter with 3.5 inches of travel. Dual piggyback shocks with preload collars and 4.7 inches of travel handle suspension duties out back. Those measurements show that these motorcycles are clearly meant for street use, so don't get any plans to actually take these bikes too far off the pavement. That being said, I think they do a great job of capitalizing on the style trend, even if it is only skin deep. 

The styling

In one of our recent roundtable discussions, Lemmy brought up the point of styling as a performance measurement when considering a motorcycle. This is something that I often omit speaking about because it’s so subjective. While I love the Yamaha FZ-10 and keep telling Lance to buy one, he won’t even consider taking one for a test ride because he considers the looks so... polarizing.  When it comes to buying a motorcycle, we all tend to gravitate toward bikes that we think look cool.

The HPS 300 looks cool.

Despite its small stature, it comes across as compact and muscular. It’s lines look simultaneously vintage and modern. The truncated high pipes and low-slung handlebar give it a sporty feel. It draws inspiration not only from scramblers, but also cafe racers and standards.

The fit and finish is probably what impressed me the most. Unlike some of the other machines hailing from China that I’ve seen and ridden, the finish on this bike is impeccable. I’ve mentioned before that I think Triumph is building some of the nicest “finished” bikes at the moment and I’d put this bike up against anything in Triumph’s Modern Classics line, based solely on the quality of the finish.

Sitting on the bike at the Intermot show, I fell into a slight sporty tuck. The wide, flat handlebar felt very similar to the low-slung drag handlebar on my personal Triumph Bonnie. Even at six feet, three inches tall, I didn’t feel cramped. I would have loved to have had the opportunity to ride it, but that’s not possible.

Conclusion

I can’t ride the HPS 300, because F. B Mondial doesn’t import the little Italian thumper into the United States.

As we continue to see small-displacement bikes grow in popularity in America, my hope would be that we would gain access to more bikes like this. The HPS 300i’s price is listed at 4,095 Euro in the brochure I brought back with me from Germany. That equates to roughly 4,665 U.S. dollars.

But this goes back to my original question: Why haven’t we seen anyone else take this styling approach to their smaller displacement motorcycles? Honda, Yamaha, and Kawasaki are all playing around with neo-retro styles. The bike that comes closest is the Kawasaki W800. Why not give us a W400 with retro lines built on the Z400 platform?

As much as I think the Japanese manufacturers are probably best poised to make this happen, Triumph is the OEM I’d most like to see bring something like this to market. Mostly because I think they could tackle the fit and finish the best. It would also mean a low-displacement bike in Triumph’s lineup to help them break into emerging global markets. The real question would be whether they could do it while maintaining an affordable price point. 

Do I think something like the F. B Mondial HPS 300i ABS would sell in America? I do. I’d love a manufacturer to put this theory to the test. Until then, ogling photos of this bike on the internet is about as close as any of us are going to get to throwing a leg over a nicely styled, sub-$5,000 scrambler.