Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

good Mo rini, the "3~ Sport" model with just over 500 miles on a fresh engine and Axtell-flowed heads. The m..Jlll didj i o th ing' radical , just a general cleaning-up. On the dyno, this engine read 24.5 horsepower at 5,000 rpm, and just over 25 hp into its 8500 rpm red-zone. (It could buzz freely up to ten grand, if you'd let it.) So part of the Morini's secret is in a smooth, almost flat power delivery over a broad rpm band. It's done with seemingly tiny valves set in a perfectly flat head. The combustion chamber is sunk into the piston crown; thus the small valves m ake efficien t use of every bit of their available area in high-velocity flow, because they're not shrouded by t heir own co m bustio n-ch am ber pocket. With ports that are nearly spot-on from the fact ory, a Gilmer-belt cam drive and otherwise straightforward top end design, the result is a deceptively quick motorcycle - one that doesn't feel fast, but is fast. The rest of the engine is the height of sophisticated simplicity, cylinders ang led a t 72 degrees for co mpactness an d smoo th p o wer delivery (compared to the-':'i deal" 90 degrees). T he cy linde r axe s are "double-desaxe " - intersect ing below t he crank to further shorten t he engi ne ; then rods and piston pins are offset carefully to balance out engine inertia forces. The split rods with plain bearings lie side-by-side on a co m mon cran kpin as you 'd expect on a Detroit V-8; but t he crank itself is mounted on ball bearings. The clutch is dry and air-cooled; the alternator (also air-cooled) has five coils for Iighting(charging and one to power the solid-state ignition. The battery ma y be removed for racing. The electrics are supplied by Ducat; Elettronica and (we hope) will be come a new standard for the Italian industry. They are t hat good; pl ug -in, modular and co lor-coded so even a dummy couldn't get lost in the circuitry. The two 25mm square Dell'Ortos feed from an odd-shaped but effective thin-section air cleaner stuffed up under the tank. There's an automatic solenoid fuel shutoff that opens a petcock whenever the ignition is on, snaps closed when it 's off. Reserve is a mnaual petcock on the opposite side of the tank. Electric main J -box is under one side panel, battery is under another. Tools are in a deep glove box under the seat. All these things attach(remove with fat plastic thumbscrews. _ The chassis is impossible to criticize. It does nothing wrong. Alloy rims and a four-shoe front brake are standard. Cast alloy wheels and front disc can be had, if you beg. The. whole thing weighs about 320 pou nds, may be a tad less. Oh, yeah - there 's a 500 in the works, and it's o nly m arginally heftier than the 350. But you 11 .have to wait for it, because, as has happened with other It alian m achinery , th e American left-shift require me n t has caused an in terru ption in supply an d screwed-up inven to ries. Par ts are plentifu l, but not bikes. So what's a Morini? It's a rare. compact. smooth, quick. rather unique motorcycle that will deceive you into going around comers faster than you thought yourself capab le. It probably won't p ull off the line with an RD350, but after five to ten min utes hard , co n t inuo u s racing, I'd pick the Morini to run any stock RD into the ground . Is it fun? Sure is, especially if you enjoy humbling bigger machinery in the mountains. And what's ",orse, it's v probably even practical. What's a • Mo rini? A Morini is a trip. • The Mor in i earning its $ 1995 price tag. Derbi ZOOZ/6V The Spanish asphal: earholer didn't die with the Metralla, it just went underground . . . c By Lane Campbell You probably can't buy it here, but this little Derbi street bike, created by the Spanish firm that has carried away several small-bore Above . full-loop cradle fra me ; bel ow a stylish profile . An e nticing blend of J ap ane se and Span ish concepts. road racing World Champ ionsh ips. is significant enough to warrant at . I . least ~ side ong glance by us p~ed Amencans. Tested by the Span ish magazine Motociclismo (yes, t here's an Italian Motociclism o, too ) this slightly Oriental-looking 187cc six-speed twin is an indication of what m igh t have been if the Spaniards had no t abdicated the roadrasher market to build dirt bikes. Underneath its uniquely-styled heads and side-eases, the engine is strongly sugges t ive of a pisto n-p o rt Yamaha CS-5 , r ight d o wn t o the vertically -s plit c r an kcases . T he crankshaft hal ves are sp lined toge ther in the mi ddle where th e extra seals and bearings also lie. T he re's a multi plate wet clutch, helical gear p rimary, an d w hat looks like an in te rnal-ro tor Mo toplat solid-state igni t io n. In du ct ion is via a pair of ti ny 22 m m square-ba rrel Dell'Ortos, T he Spanish testers rated the handling "like a train" and the brakes super-powerful, but criticized the rear brake as grabby, lacking in feel, and possibly just plain overkill. The fro nt b rake on this mode l is a tour leadin g-shoe d o uble backing plate design wi~ an unusu al c~b le-pull anchorage. r.he magazine. was somewhat ambivalent about engme performance, in spite of a claimed 23 horsepower at 8, 0 00 rpm in the spec. Laid down. feet on the bac k p ~s , they clocked a true 13 8-140 Km (h (about 8 1 mph) in six th gear, though the highly optimistic speedo was registering 150-155 Km(h at an indicated 7,000 rpm. Sounds like the bike really wasn't pu lling sixth like it should, though gearbox ratios of 2 .916(1.823(1.350( 1.09 1(0 .920( 0.8 15 look rig ht o n paper. Apparently the testers' judgement (if o ur Spanish isn 't slip ping) was that there must be more to be had out o f t he little 240-lb. twin, given so me loosening up and so me judicious tuning . The factory must th ink so, too , as th ey 've promised a " Sport " versio n wi th di sc bra kes an d a bit more suds. T he version teste d looks like a neat "cooking" consumer bike that could be brought to this country if they saw fit to export. Else why the le ft hand shift and the electronic console-mounted gear indicator (a la Su zuki)? It is just too cute, t o o trick, too expensively turned-o ut, for the Spaniards to be keeping fo r the ho me market alone. 25

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