Cycle News

Cycle News 2019 Issue 30 July 30

Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles

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PATON S1-R LIGHT WEIGHT TRACK TEST R I D E R E V I E W P94 The standard Kawasaki six-speed gearbox is retained, but is now matched to a Suter Racing slip- per clutch that's fitted with stiffer springs to handle the engine's extra punch, coupled with a one- way Dynojet powershifter for wide- open upward gearchanges. PATON S1-R LIGHTWEIGHT TRACK TEST—HANDMADE EXOTICA Boasting the slogan Hand Made in Milano alongside the badge of that city on the well-padded SIR single seat with a carbon fiber base, the Paton's lightweight chrome-moly tubular steel open-cradle chassis designed by Andrea Realini uses the Kawasaki motor as a semi- stressed member. This allows the S1-R to scale just 348 pounds with oil/water, but an empty hand-beat- en 4.2 gallon brushed aluminum fuel tank with classic-style cutouts for the rider's knees. That's a hefty 35 pounds less than the bike its motor is sourced from, split 52/48 percent for a forward weight bias aimed at helping the rider to max out turn speed, the number-one asset of the Paton's chassis package that lets you make the most of the modest horsepower—well, by four-cylinder 600 Supersport standards, anyway. While slightly spreading the front downtubes to make room for the Japanese engine's single gear-driven counterbalancer—re- tained on the Dunlop TT-winner to reduce rider fatigue—Realini has slightly modified it compared to the original S1 Strada, while pre- serving the same identical steer- ing geometry and weight distribu- tion. This is to make space for the stock Kawasaki airbox and filter, the use of which has enabled Paton to homologate the S1-R by passing noise and emission tests both speedily and cost-effectively, thanks also to the SC-Project performance exhaust coming complete with a catalyst. The Paton S1-R Lightweight carries fully-adjustable Ohlins sus- pension—including for both low Patton History Lesson For four decades from 1958 until he passed away in 1999, Grand Prix race mechanic Giuseppe Pattoni—aka "Pep- pino"— dedicated his life to construct- ing the distinctive green Paton race- bikes, working long hours into the night in his small workshop on the wrong side of the tracks in Milan to craft them practically single-handedly for a select roster of custom- ers, as well as his own race team—latterly with the help of his son, Roberto. In the 1960s and early 70s, a mere dozen of the Italian DOHC 500cc parallel-twins were built, whose high-revving motor with 180° crankshaft (one up, one down, piston- wise) delivered a distinctive exhaust note that sounded both muscular, yet high-pitched—"a castrated Casanova" of a racebike engine, as one journalist described it! In due course, Pattoni followed the tide and switched to building two-stroke GP bikes—again, entirely creating both engine and chassis to his own design, leaving his swingin' 60s four-stroke Paton Bicilindrica racers to compete in the fast-growing world of historic racing, with some success. The first Paton—pronounced as spelt, so Pah-ton, NOT Pay-ton!—appeared in 1958, a spinoff from the demise of the works Mondial GP team at the end of 1957, when after winning the 125cc and 250cc World Championships, the Italian marque owned by the aristocratic Boselli family pulled out of racing. Peppino had been chief mechanic for the Mondial team, responsible for preparing the bike with which Britain's Cecil Sandford had won the 250cc world crown. Out of a job, Pattoni was bankrolled into building the first-ever Paton by Count Boselli, who gave him free access to the Mondial parts shop and the services of former Mondial engineer Lino Tonti, the man later respon- sible for creating Moto Guzzi's family of shaft-drive V-twins still in production today. Together, the men produced a 125cc twin-cam racer for the 1958 season, which was es- sentially a production SOHC Mondial engine in a one-off (Above) Paton (right) with his son Roberto with the Paton 4V115 in 1984. (Opposite) Vittorio Scatola takes the 500cc Paton to victory at Misano in the 1989 European 500cc Championship.

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