VOR (or Vertemati Offroad Racing) is a high-end Italian motorcycle manufacturer specializing in – as the name suggests – enduros and offroad scoots. The small Milan-based company was founded by brothers Alvaro and Guido Vertemati, both of whom had prior experience working in the offroad segment, as well as serving as the Italian importers for Swedish manufacturer Husaberg in the early ’90’s. Despite many pointing to Doug Henry’s time at Yamaha as the catalyst to the “four-stroke revolution”, the Vertemati brothers actually played an interesting role in the evolution of the four-cycle powerplant.
The “Mati” bros grew up in Ponte di Triuggio, in Brianza – near Monza – where they were raised by a father who ran a workshop with their uncle, both of whom were reportedly solid riders who regularly took part in post-WW2 offroad competitions. Naturally Alvaro and Guido were drawn to motorsport and Guido would go on to compete in organized racing. By the dawn of the 90’s, the brothers had become the Italian importers for Husaberg and would eventually start running an enduro team for the Swedish outfit. Alvaro and Guido would begin heavily modifying Husaberg bikes for competition, running “Vertemati Husaberg” bikes that would famously be raced by Walter Bartolini – brother of Andrea Bartolini – and Joel Smets. After the relationship between Husaberg and the Mati brothers would fizzle out, the two Italian siblings would go on to start their own company.
The story of Vertemati – which later became VOR – consists of a decade of buyouts and closures. In 2002, Vertemati would shift into producing road-going models. VOR wouldn’t produce many models, but the bikes it did make were the epitome of European design and engineering. Dirt Bike Magazine would call VOR’s machines “ virtual museum pieces, with amazing attention to detail. Honda should be embarrassed by the floppy kickstarters, bendable brake levers and ill-fitting air filters that their riders have to put up with.” The bikes are beautiful, decked out with top-shelf parts and a great example of a high-end motorcycle from a boutique Italian manufacturer. VOR’s MX 450 is probably its most popular offering, a liquid-cooled four-stroke thumper with a Keihin FC 39 fuel system, electronic ignitions, chain final drive, and a forward kick starting system.
I first heard about VOR back in June when PipeBurn featured a seriously cool one-off build entitled “Super Light”. The raw metal-clad custom is a product of Italian customs shop: OMT Garage, whose Marco Troiano actually competed in late-‘90’s Italian SuperMoto Championships aboard VOR machines, including this very Vertemati 530 Supermoto that served as the donor machine for this build. It’s always cool seeing rare models used as donors for custom builds, especially when they’re of this pedigree, and I love the history of the bike and the builder.
This particular VOR machine is an EN 400 which is the third generation of machines built by the boutique manufacturer. The EN 400 is a fascinating beast, powered by a liquid-cooled 399cc four-stroke four-valve single cylinder gear-driven SOHC engine with magnesium cases and backwards kickstarter. The small production 400 also uses crank pressure as the oil pump and is married to a five-speed transmission. Wrapped around the Italian single is a perimeter frame with oval cross-section spars and an aluminum subframe. Brakes on the machine consist of a single disk fore and aft with one piston caliper in back and two up front.
According to what I found online, the VOR 400 boasts wildly smooth power delivery and a “flawless” hydraulic clutch. Though the 400 is said to be pretty agile, it does apparently have some stability issues at speed, exacerbated by by the machine’s large size, granted it only weighs 258lbs (dry) and has a 36.6-inch seat height. The handcrafted Italian enduro is rare in general, but VOR bikes are exponentially more rare in the US as very few were imported to American shores. When the EN 400 first went on sale in 2000 it had a price tag of $7,500, making this rare example a pretty sweet deal.
This VOR example is plated and street-legal in New Jersey. The suspenders have been setup for a 180-200lb rider and the seller says the example was mostly babied over the years. When the example was first sold it came with a Big Gun silencer in addition to the normal, quieter exhaust. Both are included in the sale though it is currently fitted with the Big Gun unit. This VOR is a really cool machine and as far as I’m concerned its rarity only furthers that, though to be fair it ranked in the middle of the pack in most enduro shootouts from when it was released.
You can find this 2000 VOR EN 400 for sale here on Craigslist in Jefferson, New Jersey with a price of $2,999.