Paton S1

Legendary Italian race firm Paton is building a £13,300 road-going version of the Kawasaki 650-powered twin.  Paton’s Technical Director, Roberto Pattoni said: “Racing has been Paton’s goal since it started in 1958, and with modern classes it means making a street legal bike, which also carries the added motivation of increasing our small firm's technical knowledge by having to solve problems it has never had to face before as well as providing a new challenge. It is a culmination of all our history into one single product."

Kawasaki's 650cc engine is taken straight from a commuter ER-6f and wrapped in a hand built chassis and retro-style road racer bodywork. The large-looking tank just oozes classic racer class and comes complete with deep knee indentations so you can pretend you’re tucked in over the Mountain, even if you're on the way to your weekly bike meet.Paton claims the bike weighs just 158kg ready to ride and makes 71bhp. It’s geared to accelerate from 0-62mph in 3.9 seconds, and top out at a maximum 133mph.

The chassis features the firm’s own tubular steel trellis frame, with fully-adjustable Paoli 43mm front forks. On the more expensive versions there’s a fully adjustable Ohlins rear shocks. All bikes get Brembo four-piston calipers with 295mm discs. Tyres are a 160/60 x 17 inch rear and a 120/70 x 17 inch front.

Bike review by MCN

Meet Paton’s all new, hand built S1, the road going version of their Lightweight TT bike. The mix of old and new works together very well and from two feet away it’s a stunning throwback. But after the initial admiration you start to notice a few niggles and we were expecting a little more for the price.

On the country roads you have to remind yourself the S1’s only a 650 twin with just over 70bhp. Initially I was slowing down too much for the corners and gassing it on the exit, but you soon learn to ride it like a 250 and carry the corner speed. The handling and suspension allow you take liberties, too. The S1’s incredibly light, 45kg less than a standard Kawasaki ER6N, and it has a shorter wheelbase, too. Both make it much sportier – it’d run rings around the stock ER6N.

Like the racer, power is by Kawasaki’s ER6 parallel twin but on the move I’m a little deflated by an exhaust tone which, with baffles fitted, sounds too conservative. The S1 looks like it will sound amazing, as the race bike does, but the road version has its amp turned down far too much. Overall, though, once you recalibrate your brain and remember the Paton’s ‘only’ a 650 twin it’s enjoyable to ride. You end up having fun, attacking corners, revving the little twin to the redline and all the time you aren’t doubling the national speed limit.

We can’t ignore the poor build quality. The bodywork doesn’t match up perfectly, the backlights don’t line up 100% and there are wires and block connectors flapping about freely.

We love the looks, the styling, the history, the light handling and the exclusivity but we can’t ignore the poor build quality and the fact it needs more character, sound and emotions considering you don’t get much change from £20,000.
It’s got some top notch kit, like fully adjustable Ohlins shocks, Brembo calipers and twin exiting Termignoni exhaust, as you might expect for the price, but elsewhere it’s a bit basic, with standard Kawasaki clocks for example.

Paton originally started business in 1958 and was founded by ex Mondial men Giuseppe Pattoni and Lino Tonti after Mondial closed its doors and stopped building GP bikes. The Italian firm has been building GP bikes and classic racers since then. More recently the firm has raced its 500 at the Classic TT in the hands of Olie Linsdell and TT legend John McGuinness.