Celebrating more than 75 years of building bikes, Rieju is Spain’s oldest active motorcycle manufacturer. The company recently acquired the GasGas Enduro platform, and have further developed and engineered an already incredible Enduro range.
Along the way, they’ve appointed Urban Moto Imports, the team that introduced the 2018, 2019 and 2020 GasGas 2-stroke Enduro range into Australia and New Zealand, as the exclusive distributor of the premium hand-built Spanish Enduro platform, across the region.
UMI are currently re-establishing their Enduro dealership network across both countries in anticipation of the new models that are expected in dealerships from late February 2021.
Rieju’s Hard Off-Road 2-stroke Enduro range features premium specs such as KYB suspension, twin chamber forks, Nissin brakes, Magura clutches, direct reed valve VForce 4 intakes, Exel and Goldspeed rims, Renthal bars and grips, and much more.
Rieju will launch in Australia late February and New Zealand in March, with the dealer
network being announced shortly. Pricing is set to be announced in February and should be very competitive.
“It is my great pleasure to welcome Urban Moto Imports to the Rieju family and we look forward to working closely with them to distribute and grow our widening range of performance motorcycles that we have been producing in Spain since 1942,” Rieju CEO Jordi Riera said.
“Rieju is one of Europe’s leading sellers of 2T manual gearbox machines and we are certain that the Urban Moto Imports team can replicate this sales success in Australia and New Zealand.”
The brand has a significant history at Dakar, having first participated back in 2009. They developed two large displacement Enduro models (Marathon 250 and 450) and debuted with three motorcycles, partnering with the Tot Curses team.
Using the Marathon 450, Rieju took victory with the Filippo Ciotti in 2011, in the standard production class.
Fast forward to 2021, and despite Saudi Arabia’s cancellation of all commercial flights and closing its borders in December because of COVID concerns, the oldest OEM in Spain, and newest player in the US off-road market, Rieju, was on the starting line for the Dakar.
“Fortunately, the logistics of the event have been resolved and participation of our team is guaranteed,” claims Rieju race director Miguel Garcia. “Our vehicles and technical equipment are already in Jeddah.
Led by Joan Pedrero – with more than 700,000 kilometres travelled in the desert – he is no rookie. The rider from Canet de Mar arrives at his 13th Dakar with a couple of stage wins (2014 and 2017), as well as finishing 5th overall in 2011,2013, and 16th in 2020.
Rieju’s experience in world-class sporting competitions goes back three decades, and also includes the TT 406 motorcycle, and its participation in the Spanish Enduro Championship, where its bikes have won a total of 12 national championships.
Other victory highlights include Quim Fabregas in 1985 on a STRADA, and Carlos Checa (World Champion of Superbikes – SBK) in 1991, with an RST80, both in the Spanish Speed Championship.
