Shelved MV Agusta LXP 5.5 remixed into Rieju Xplora
The Rieju Xplora 557 and 707 sees the Spanish marque reveal new flagship road going models based on the shelved MV Agusta LXP 5.5 project
Spanish off-road specialists have announced plans to diverge further into the lucrative roadgoing motorcycle market with the launch of the Rieju Xplora range.
The company is better known for its more hardcore motocross and enduro machinery derived from GasGas mechanicals but has in recent years began to offer models designed primarily for keeping off the rough stuff.
To date, Rieju’s largest offering had been the Aventura 500 but chose the EICMA show in Milan to reveal two versions of its brand-new Rieju Xplora range; the tourer focused Rieju Xplora 557 and the more off-road focused Rieju Xplora 707.
While specific details are scarce after Rieju went to the effort of teasing the Xplora range before the event without going to the effort of publicising said big reveal, the entry-level version is almost certainly a resurrection of the previously canned MV Agusta LXP 5.5 project.
If you’ll remember, that model was revealed alongside the LXP 9.5 at EICMA way back in 2021 as a way to entice buyers into the premium marque at a much lower price point than models as the Brutale and F3.
However, it seems the Benelli-based model was just too much of a departure from what the Italian marque was comfortable with so eventually opted to progress to production with just the larger-capacity version.
As such, the model has been revived by Rieju, which is perhaps why the design doesn’t differ too much from its origins with some very MV Agusta LXP-esque detailing on the fairings and around the front-end fascia.
Moving up to the more hardcore Rieju Xplora 707, which generates 70bhp and gets chunkier bodywork, the design theme remains fairly similar, though Honda might want to take a closer look to determine whether the marque has infringed on any Africa Twin copyrights…
Either way, the Xplora marks a departure of sorts for Rieju in its bid to court the increasingly lucrative mid-capacity ADV market, a segment that has grown exponentially in recent years thanks to good value off-road tourer offerings such as the Honda CB500X and Yamaha Tenere 700.
The Xplora wasn’t the only new machinery caught on display at EICMA either with Rieju also announcing its first naked model with the low-displacement Rieju RS3 125NKD model, which swoops in to go up against the Yamaha MT-125 and Honda CB125.
