Brixton is expected to officially unveil its European designed , Chinese made new 1200 cc retro roadster at EICMA later this year ( for a 2022 launch ), but the finished production bike was previewed at the CIMA show in China . Originally seen as a concept in 2019 , with no technical details or confirmation of its capacity , the Brixton 1200 has been shown in

China under the Gaokin brand name . That ' s the company that builds Brixton bikes including the Crossfire 500 , although the design work is done in Europe at the home of Brixton ' s brand owner , KSR , in Austria . In China , the bike will be sold as the Gaokin 1200GK , with that brand ' s badge on the tank , although the name ' Brixton ' is clearly cast into the parallel twin engine ' s covers . That twin , one of the largestcapacity bike engines ever made in China , is claimed to make 61kw ( 81.8 bhp ) at 6,550 rpm and 108 Nm ( 79.7 lb / ft ) of torque at 3,100 rpm . For comparison , Triumph ' s Bonneville T120 manages 58.8 kW ( 78.9 bhp ) at 6,550 rpm and 105 Nm ( 77.4l b / ft ) at 3,500 rpm . The engines are hard to separate in terms of

performance , and although Brixton hasn ' t revealed the internal dimensions of its design , the similarity in peak power and torque revs suggests the bore , stroke and compression will be very similar to the Bonneville . The similarities continue in the bike ' s hidden catalytic converters and exhaust collector box , sited under the engine . Brushed steel sleeves over the exhaust header pipes , running straight to the twin silencers , draw the eye away from real exhaust routing , and the use of matt black paint does a good job of making the radiator unobtrusive . Bosch ABS , Pirelli tubeless tyres , Nissin brakes , Marelli fuel injection and modern tech including multiple riding modes and a subtle , circular TFT screen mounted in a retro-looking dial mean owners won ' t have to make do with retro amenities to go with the bike ' s old school styling . The suspension - with conventional forks and twin shocks - comes from Kayaba , which also supplies the Bonneville T120 suspension and , externally , the components appear to be virtually identical . The bike is due to reach production in early 2022 . Whether Chinese manufacturing is a recipe for a lower price tag than that of the Thai-made Bonneville remains to be seen , but undercutting the British brand ' s iconic machine will be vital if the Brixton 1200 is to claim a slice of the retro market .

We ' re still waiting for Norton to get its Atlas into production using the company ' s latest parallel twin engine , but already Zongshen in China has unveiled a second-generation version of the motor with a capacity hike to 850 cc . Originally derived from the front pair of cylinders of the Norton 1,200 cc V4 superbike engine , the Norton twin is due to arrive in the Atlas as a 84 hp 650 cc unit , with 84 hp on tap . However , Zongshen did a deal to licence-build the engine several years ago and has now put its own derivative into production . It was originally shown last year in the Zongshen Cyclone RX6 adventure bike in detuned 650 cc form , making 70 hp and 46 lb / ft of torque , and already Zongshen has developed an enlarged 850 cc version and revealed it in the

new RX850 . Looking identical to the RX6 , the only real change is the engine . Peak power rises to 97 hp at 8,500 rpm , while torque is increased to 59 lb / ft at 7,000 rpm , making the RX850 look much more like an alternative to the likes of BMW ' s F850GS . Even if the bike doesn ' t reach European markets , the fact that the Norton engine can be expanded to 850 cc is interesting , if the British company takes a leaf out of Zongshen ' s book and uses the largercapacity design . Combined with the higher state of tune that the Norton 650 uses to give it a 20 % power advantage over the similarly sized Zongshen version of the engine , the 850 cc unit might be able to hit as much as 115 hp if Norton was to adopt the same capacity .