Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

~~~~~~~=~~~,_.~~--~.- -- va ries fuel and ignition settings based on data obtained from sensors which detect air pressure, air/coolant temperature, and throttle position/ rat e of movement. Since th e com p u ter com pe nsa tes for the effects of cha nges in a lt it ude and a ir temperat ure, jetting changes ar e a thing o f th e past. Like a ll Pan tah motors, th e 851 util izes belt-d ri ven desmodromi c valve gear, a system wh ich does a wa y wi t h tr ad i ti on al va lve s p r i ngs, ins tead su bstituti ng rock er arms to open and close the valves. T he benefi ts o f desm od rom ics were grea t wh en they first a p peared o n a Du cati in 1958 - hi gher rp m capabili ties without fear of brok en or floating valv e sp ri ngs - but with roda v' s met allurg ists p rodu cin g hi ghl y du rable valve sp rings, desrnod romics are mor e a matter o f tradition tha n performa nce. Which is not to say that th e desm o' s performance isn' t on par with tod a y's preval ent co il-sp ring valve-closure system s on ly that th e advantages are not as clear- cut. key, listen to th e electic fuel p u mp slurp gas for a few seco nds, th en push the starter bu tto n arid the eng ine springs to life. The throttle needs to be blipped a littl e while th e motor's co ld, but once warmed it idl es fin e. And th e sound! True, the exha us t note can be co m pared to th a t o f a Harley-Davidson a t tick over, but a t full-song it sou nds like a ru naway di esel ! The gear whine and vario us mechanical noi ses emi tti ng from ben eath th e fuel tank o n ly add to the am bia nce, and exude th e a ura of a ca r ef u ll y-c ra ft ed m a chin e; th e m echan ical caco p ho ny . . . m ake th at caco -sym p ho ny reminded us of . a Ferrari. Pulling away from a stands till , the ta ll first gear and dr y multi-plate cl u tch cons p ire to cha tter, and stopa nd -go traffi c only makes it th a t " much worse. In sporting sit uations, however, th e clutch works fin e, a nd th e six- speed transmission is not onl y the slickes t-s h ifti ng It ali an gearbox we've sampled , it 's o ne o f th e best ever. On th e open road the temperature ga rrn pivoting in the engi ne cases in customa ry P an tah fashion . Th is a llows a re latively short 56-inch wheelbas e, in spite of the fact that the 90-degree V-tw in is on the long sid e, with the horizontal cylinder residing in close proximity to the front wheel. In habitual V-tw in fash ion, the mot or p u ll s from th e ba sement, "carb ure ting" cleanly all th e wa y, but still ha s a significant top-end ru sh beginning at 7000 rpm and pulling stro ngly to just short of the 10,000 rpm redline. If the EF I has one g litch , it 's a sligh t surge at 5000 rpm . H owev er, it 's not that offens ive; in fact, there are popular stree t bikes wit h far wo rse carbu retio n. - It 's smooth , too. Wi th th e excep tio n o f idle a nd th e su rgi ng point o f the midrange, -the motor is virtually vibration-free; in turn, the m irrors provide a clear view of the road behind, and the Veglia instrumerits remain rock-steady. On th e other hand , th e warning lights ar e hard to see due to the da rk di scs and sticky 120/ 70x 17 front HiSport slow you down in a rea l hurry. T he Marzocchi suspension components are no thing short of magnificent, and are also easi ly adj ustable via knobs on the fork and shock themselves, a nd o n th e remote shock reservoir (reached through the removeable bum pad opening in the tailpiece). R ide height and leverage ratio of th e rear unit can also be adjusted by a star wheel at the shock eye/ lin kage juncture. Our o n ly beefs were with the front brake lever, which felt mushy no matter how man y tim es one bleeds it , and with th e large-di ameter foamrubber grips, which made our hands cramp. Bu t th a t' s nit-picking. Oa~DpmaDShlp aDd the 851 The 851 is the first Italian motorcycle since th e 1970s to provide a truly viable alternative to a Japanese sport bike - one which does everything just as well, yet which maintains that individualistic quality which Ital ia n motorcycles have come to represent. (Below) Enpne _cement system compnter, remote reservoir for rear shock and tool kit are housed bebind a removable bam pad in the tail s ectio n ; (near riCht) as1 enpne is a maze 01 water hoses a n d electrical wiriDI; ( far riCbt) note odd placement 01 helmet lock - at least it h as one! Specif i cat ions Ducati 85 1 Superbike Engine type Four-stroke, liquid-cooled. DOHC 90° V-twin. w / Des modrom ic valve actuati o n Bore x stroke 92 x 64mm Displacement 851 cc Compression ratio 11 :1 Fuel system Weber/Marelli EFI/EMS Horsepower : NI A Torque N/A Valves per cylinder Four Starting system Electric Ignition Electronic Lubrication Oil. wet sump Redline 10.000 rpm Straight -cut gear Primary drive One certai n di sadvantage, however, is th e in creased co m p lex ity o f desm od romic valv e tra in s. Even with half as man y cylinders, th e eigh tva lve Du cati twin has th e sa me number o f roc ker a rms , cam lobes a nd sh ims as a 16-valv e four, with co m parable service requirem ents. Real world performance T he mod ernizati on o f th e Pantah ha s resulted in a n engine wh ich produces in th e neighborhood of 80 hor sepower ar th e rear wh eel , but which feel s much more pow erful. Part of th at is d ue to the bik e's ligh t weight (Duca ti claims 405 lbs. dr y), but much of th e cred it must also go to the power characte rist ics . It do esn 't matt er how much hor sepower you 've got if yo u ca n' t get it to the grou nd, and in that respe ct th e Du ca ti has few equals. In an era wh en many four-cylinder spo rt bik es produce peaky power at the top of their powerbands, making them ex tremely demanding to ride, th e Duca ti is easy to ride fast. Starting the bike is a cinch because there's no choke lever ; just turn the g auge n eedl e s tayed pl ant ed at 90°Centigrade, but around town it climbed to as high as 11 OOC, tho ug h with no noti ceable loss of po wer. In turn, th e electric radiator fan ru ns for as long as five minutes a fter th e engine is sh u t o ff. The 851 ' s seat in g po si tion is characteri sti c of a race-derived spo rt bik e with a high solo seat, low , narrow clip-on handl eb ars, a nd high, rear-set footpegs. How ever, its narrow engin e (as co m pa red to a n in-line four - it's ac tua lly quite a bit wider than previ ous V-t w i n Ducatis) permits the footpegs to be p laced further inboard than o n a typical four-cy linder sport bik e, and the result is the rider 's legs are much less splayed. This, more than th e heigh t of the pegs, is the biggest a n tago nist toward tall er riders' comfort, a nd in this respect th e 851 is quite liveable. Holding the front and rear wh eels together is a c h ro me m o ly -s tee l tubular-spaceframe chass is, painted a tasteful shade of wh ite, with th e engine acting as a stressed member and the box-section a lu mi n u m swin- Final drive . . , Cha in NI A ",inal drive rati o Chassis . .. .. Tubular chro memoly steel sp ac e frame Rake 24.5 ° Trail 3 .76 in. Front suspension Marzocchi Fork tube diameter 42mm Front wheel travel 4 .0 in. Rea r suspension Swingarm w ith single Marzocchi un it Rear wheel travel . . . . , . , . . 4 .4 in. Front brakes . . Dual 320mm discs w /Brembo four-piston calipers Rear brakes .. Single 245mm disc w /Brembo two-piston cal iper Front wheel 3 .50 x 17 in. Rear wheel 5.50 x 17 in. pl astic da sh panel in front of them; the low-fuel light co mes on as you pull a way from th e pump following a fill-up; the fuel float 's electrica l wires are easily foul ed by th e pump nozzle; and since th ere's no baffl e behind th e headlight, light leaks into the cockpit at ni gh t, making for a di stracting ride. On th e brighter sid e, th e 851 is one o f the best handling ma chines we've ridden. Exploring th e ac tio n-packed road s of Harriman State Park in upstate New York showed just how well-mannered it rea lly is. Steering is so neutral it's aweinspiring, and combined with the limitless cornering clearance makes for a rea l thri ll ride; we never touched anything down , in spite o f o ur best efforts. Exiting corners is a ru sh - just whack on the throttle and ho ld on, the smooth power and gigantic 180': 55 x 17 rear Michelin Hi-Sport Radial hooks up to send you o n your way to a premature a p po intment with the follow in g co rner. Once th er e, th e dual Brembo fouropposed-piston brak es with 320m m 1 2 0 / 7 0 ZR 17 Michelin Hi-S port Radial Rear t ire 180/55 ZR 17 Michelin Hi-Sport Radia l Claimed dry weight 396 Ibs . Overa ll lengt h 80 in. Overa ll width N1 A Overa ll height 44.8 in. Wheelbase 56.3 in. Seat he ight. 30.4 in. Ground clearance 6.0 in. Fuel capacity 5.3 gal. Color Red Retail price $1 0 ,900 Importer .. ', Cagiva North America 5 Washington Ave. Fairfield, NJ 07006 Front tire 201 /882-9141 But it doesn 't come cheap. The original 851 racer boasted a whopping $20 ,000 price tag, a nd the subsequent Strada street version (for Europe onl y) wasn't much better, as it netted $ 18,000 o n th e U.S. grey market. Now, that price tag has happily been slashed to a much more rea sonable (thoug h still expe nsive) $10,900. For that, the bu yer receives a refined product which boasts a number of improvements over th e original 851. These include larger wheels a nd brak es, improved steering geometry, relocation of the battery to lower the center of gravity, better- looki ng mirrors and a superior overall finis h. The primary reason for the 851's price red uction is the adaptation of mass -production techniques: rat her th an bei ng hand -buil t in the racing " dep artment like th e original ba tch , th e new bikes are now being b ui lt on a n assembly line. That doesn 't mean that there will be one on every co rner, however, as Cagiva North Ameri ca plans to import fewer than 300 examples. Get you r order in soon . •

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