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/126847
(Above) Water-cooled Cagiva WMX500 Enduro; (be low) Alazzurra Super Sport with 650cc desmo V-twin and new styling by Massimo Tamburin i. (Above) WMX500 Desert; (below) non-street- Iegal Ducati /Cagiva TT1, wh ich w ill be imported in very limited numbers for racing us e only. (Below) The desmodromic valve gear used by Cagiva includes rocker arm to open the valve (1) ; shim to adjust opening lash (2); valve keepers (3); shim to adjust closing la s h (4) ; closing rocker arm return spring (5 ); closing rocker a rm (6); camshaft including valve-opening and valve-closing lobes (7 1; and valve (8 ). zurra S uper Sport. Basica ll y the same bik e as the Alazzu rra Sport, the Super Sport reflects the styling trends of the 1980s, a nd is thefirst of what wi ll be a new series of Cagiva European road bikes, according to Cagiva spokesmen . , The c3giva/ Ducati TTl (called the F I in Europe) will be imported in lim it ed numbers in 1986, by specia l order onl y. Designed exclusively for Battle of The Twins (BoTT) and Formula I ro ad racing, th e TT l will not be cert ified for stree t use and will be so ld for racing on ly. It is powered by th e 750cc Duca ti four-s troke, goo V-twin engine, rated at 69 bhp a t 8000 rpm . It features kick and elec tric starting, twin 37mm Dell 'O rto pumper ca rb u re to rs, a 386-po u n d dry weight, 38m m Marzocchi forks wi th dual II -inch Brembo floating front dis c brakes, 16-inch front an d 18-inch rear Oscarn a lloy wh eels. Soft Damp rear sus pe ns ion wi th a single Marzocchi shock is used, along with a 1O.2-in ch Bembo rear di sc brake and Michelin tubeless tires. The finishing touch on th e TTl is a hand-made aluminum gas ta nk. I' By mid year 1986, two new stree t bik es are sched uled to be introduced, whi ch will mark Cagi va 's entry into the big-bore European motorcycl e market. These two new motorcycles are reported to be th e first a ll- new street bikes to be built by Cagiv a since their purcha se of the Duc ati factory. T he y are sa id to be technically in n o vative and will set a ll- new design trends. Also , a WMX 200 Enduro should be introduced within a few mon ths.: • The motorcycle according to Dr. TagHoni By John Ulrich Cagi va brough t legendary Du cati engine design er Dr. Fabio Ta glioni to L os A nge les for th e Octob er 29 press introductio n of 1986 Cagiva m od els. Cagi va now ow ns Du cati and Cagi va ow ners Gian Franco and Claudio Castiglion i recently brou ght Dr. Ta gl ion i out of retireme nt to head up engi ne research and development jor th e com pany. At th e press confe rence , Dr. Ta gl ioni present ed th e case for th e desm od romic valve syste m use d on vario us sp o rting models by Du cati (and now Cagiva) for 30 years; in the sys tem , valves are closed by rock er arms instead of sp rings . Dr. T'agl ion i's com men ts were spoken in Italian; w hat follows are those com me nts, as present ed by an interp reter . . . Editor. " T h is engine wa s born five yea rs ago, " said Dr. Fabio Taglioni , ta lking about th e la test . 649.6cc V-twin used in Cagiva street mod els. " a nd is th e res u lt o f expe rience from 20 years working on single-cylinder en g ines . This is th e result of ex perience gained in th e most exha us ting wa ys, suc h as in endurance races o f six. eig h t, 24 hours. "Th e ma in cha rac teristic o f this engine ca n be seen, which is sim plicity. It h as been mad e to elim ina te a ll pieces that a re not needed. Obviously, if you have a ver y sim p le engine , it's a lso go ing 10 ma ke maintenance si mpler , 100 . " Everybod y says a desmodromic syste m is mor e difficult to maintain th an a classic valv e sp rin g engine , but I a m here 10 dem onstrate that 's not true. II co u ld be made eas ier in orde r 10 adj us t th e valv es, but he wou ld have to in trod uce some ex tra pi eces, a nd th a t would enda nger the end u ra nce of th e engi ne. In recent tests th e engine has run 10,000 kil ometers (6200 mi les) a t full throttle wit hou t needing a ny adjustment at a ll. Of co urse, you cou ld adjust th e engine (va lves), but you co u ld run th e engi ne (on th e stree t) 100,000 kil ometers (62,000 miles) with out any adj us tment at a ll. "The best feature of the desm o engine is th a t you ca n run th e engine a t a ny rpm you want wi th out the possi bi lity o f ha vin g any trouble with sp rings. If yo u over-rev the eng ine , it is never th e cyli nder head or cams ha ft system tha t will be hurt , but ra the r some th in g else. " O bvio us ly, if someo ne doesn 't kn ow how 10 adjust (the desmo systern ), they ne ed someone 10 show 17