Paton BIC 500 8V RU 2007 — Specifications

Fifty examples. That is what Roberto Pattoni agreed to produce, after years of pressure from aficionados who wanted to hold in their hands something that the modern market cannot offer. Son of Giuseppe Pattoni, founder of Paton, Roberto did not seek to reinterpret the history of the Milanese brand with contemporary curves or superficial electronics. He released the plans for the BIC 500 from 1968, and he built the same motorcycle. Not an evocation, not a stylistic wink. The same motorcycle.

The result is called BIC 500 8V RU, "Official Reissue," and you have to see this machine to understand what the word authenticity can mean in the world of motorcycles. The 498 cm3 parallel twin is air-cooled, its fins cutting through space as in 1968. Eight valves, two 40 mm Dell'Orto carburetors, an architecture that has not yielded a millimeter to the sirens of progress. Thanks to modern manufacturing methods, the engine now develops 79 horsepower at 11,800 rpm and 53.5 Nm at 9,050 rpm, where the original version peaked at around sixty horsepower. This modest gain is almost anecdotal. What strikes you is the bare metal, the visible mechanics, the sound that this twin cylinder pushed to over eleven thousand rpm must produce.

The chassis follows the same logic of intransigence. Double cradle frame in steel tubes, 35 mm Ceriani telescopic fork, two lateral shock absorbers from the same supplier, drum brakes at the front and rear. No ABS, no riding modes, no sensors between the rider's hands and the road. For those coming from current machines loaded with assistance systems, the handling must demand a real mental repositioning. But 135 kg on the scale, tires of 90/90-18 at the front and 110/80-18 at the rear, a geometry designed for quick and precise cornering: in classic motorcycle races where this Paton is in its natural element, it does not come as a victim. It comes to win.

The target audience is clearly identified. This is not a motorcycle for beginners, nor for touring riders seeking the comfort of a generous seat. It is a vintage competition machine, produced in an ultra-limited series, intended for serious collectors and historic race pilots who want to ride on something with a real biography. The price, 94,800 euros including VAT, places this BIC 500 outside the realm of simple passion. It takes a solid conviction and a bank account in agreement to take this step. By comparison, a Norton Manx or a competition MV Agusta from the era in good condition reaches similar sums on the auction market, without the guarantees offered by new production.

What Paton achieves here, few manufacturers have the courage to attempt. No TFT screen, no quickshifter, no 6-speed electronically managed gearbox, even though the transmission does indeed have six speeds. Just a chain, a frame, an engine, and a 15-liter tank to cover a race distance. The announced top speed is 250 km/h, a figure that does not seem extravagant on paper, but which on a 135 kg machine without fairing takes on a very concrete physical dimension. This Paton does not ask to be tamed. It asks to be understood.