Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/103464
l-< (].l ...0 S (].l u (].l c Bimota displayed its resty led YB4 World Superbike contender in both race (show n) and street guises. It features a fuel -injected FZ750 engine. Ducati showed the' Sport Productio n 851. an 888cc version of its liquidcooled. four-valve per-cy linder V-twin built for Ita lian product ion racing. Grand Prix race team mana ger Roberto Gallina introduced his own Superbike in Milan; everyth ing but th e gearbox is built in Italy. , Laverda made a comeback w ith a range of newly-des igned machines. The oddly -named EI Cid is powered by a 668cc eight-valve parallel twin . 16 bhp at the wheel ), sh ould be very compe ti tive. Co ntrasti ng sh a r p ly . with the ela bora te di spl ays of Ital y's larger manufacturer s was that o f G er many' s BMW, who went so far as to produce a restyled version of the ga udy KI for the Italian market, th e Executive model, painted in a m ore sober charcoa l gray . It looks like a comp letely different bike as a result, no t nearl y so bu lbous. Eq ually co ntroversia l were th e new models from Laverda, tho ugh in th eir case there was some excuse : " We recognize that the styling of these bikes can be q uite co nt ro versial," ad mitted the compa ny's new ch ief design er, Ange lo Ferrari , " But we wa n t people to sta rt talking abou t La verda again, as well as to develop o ur own mod ern image for the 1990s. With o nly a short tim e available to prepa re new models for Mil an , we ' ch o se to bu ild so me d ram ati clookin g m achines. I th ink we succeeded." Sure d id . Em pl oy in g a yo u ng Fren ch sty li st o f North Afri can descent named Djamel Mercheri, Laverda showed a ra nge of rounded, bluff-fronted bikes quite unlike any on di spl ay. Mos t Mila n show-goers' ini tial reactions were to sh udder , especially with th e peculiar choice of Spanish model nam es such as Navarra, Hidalgo and EI Cid. But the n th e sty li ng grows o n yo u , especially the El Cid end uro, which has been fitt ed with a bored and stro ked (78.5 x 69mm) 668cc version of th e 18-degree, eight -valve parallel twin Alp ino engine that started life as a 500 mo re than a decade ago (remem ber th e Mon tj uich ?) This is now fitted wi th Weber/Marell i EFI, too , with twi n in jecto rs per cylinder" and de livers a claimed 67 bhp a t 7500 rpm at the wheel in this form. A roadster version is also being developed, wi th more powe r a nd almost certai nly a 360-degree cra nk. T he com pa nion Hidalgo is a well styled lowrider custom wit h the same engi ne, but wi th 36m m Keihi n car bs, in which guise it delivers 50 bhp at , the whee l. On th is one, the engine vibes a re probab ly part of the neoH arley-Davidson appeal. On the hori zon are more exciti ng projects, in volving a long-awaited com mercialization of the legen dary Laverd a V6 pro to type, no t only in 1000cc six -cylinder, mega bike form, but also cu t into .sectio ns 'to make a 750cc V4, 600cc in-line th ree: . cylinder, an d maybe a 500cc V-twin, all wi th water-cool in g, four valves p er cylinder , a nd EFI. Welco me back, Laverd a! As one famous nam e in Italian mot orcyclin g awaken s, anothe r is already climbing out of bed: Mo to Guzzi. After years of decline, th e Guzzi eagle has come ou t of its no sediv e tow ards obscur ity, a nd with new i nves tme n t a va il a ble th anks to owner Alejandro de Tomaso's recent sa le of Gu zzi' s sister com p any , Ben elli , Guzzi is on the mov e again. Spearheading thi s revival is th e long-awaited 1000 Daytona , th e aircoo led, eig h t-val ve Su perbi ke with belt-d ri ven SOHC, u n iver sa ll y known by everyo ne (excep t the guys tha t choose G uzzi's mod el nam es) as the Dr. J ohn 's . Rep lica, after the success in U.S. Pro Twins racin g obtained by development engineer Dr. J ohn Wi ttn er and rider Doug Brauneck with th e prot ot ypes of this machi ne. O n ly 500 DJRs will be , bui lt in 1990, wit h a choice of either Weber/Marelli EFI o r 40m m Del' ana ca r bs avai lab le, b u t a ll em ploying the Dr. John steel spi ne frame with monosh ock rear sus pe nsion a nd float in g drivetrain th anks to hi s parallelogram linkage. At almost 19 mill ion lire (over $14,000), th e"Daytona isn 't exac tly Chea p, but then it is less th an an eigh t-valve Du cati (in It al y), and hopefully won't hav e so many teething problems . Forza Guzzi! Other V-twin novelties at Milan were G uzzi's first monoshock enduro , bi ke, the massive Quo ta 1000, which most ri ders wi ll need a ste pladder to 'get aboard un less they lo wer it a little in productio n form, powered by a slig htly detuned version of the 950cc Le Mans engine ; the 750 Nevada basi cally an upra ted custom bike based on th e Florida; and the svelte ' 750 SP, a downsized, two-valve versio nof th e 1000 SP tourer. Wh ile Guzzi's styling may no t hav e the flair of, say Bim o ta , o r maybe even Duca ti/ Cagiva, not everyone has the sa me taste, and those who criticize th e slightly o ld-fashioned looks of th e Guzzi range a t Milan now ha ve ' th e opportunity to put their money . wh ere th eir mouths are by bu ying a Laverda. Or maybe not. . I was recently tak en to task for devoting too much space in my wr iti ng to th e products of th e Italian mo torcycle ind ustry, and no t enoug h to th e products of ot he r count ries. Yes, bu t what o the r co u nt ry in Europe or anywhe re else can a mass the sheer nu mber of manufacturers a nd th e va riety of products tha t the Ital ians can? Mil an '89 proved tha t th e . Ital ian industry conti n ues to pro vide a more effecti ve co un ter to th e domin an ce ' o f th e J a pa nese mak ers tha n all th e o ther mo torcycle' m a n u factu r i ng co u n tries . in th e world put together. Wha t's more, th ey'do so wit h flair and innovation - as well as that mos t essent ial aspect of all: th e p ure lo ve o f motorcycles. _