Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

GSHOW IFMA Cologne Show 1990 CBR600 , with smaller and lighter engine breaking th e "ton" power barr ier for the 600cc class for th e first time, delivering a claimed 100 hp at 12,000 rpm . Bigger 65mm bores are stacked closer toget her for a narrow er engine, wi th su bs ta ntia lly bi gger valves, 35mm carbs, a sma ller clutch with more plat es, and revised cams ha ft drive. T he chassi s is still steel, but with a fatte r yet li ghter swi ngarm and completely restyled body, hera ldin g Honda 's atte m p t to regain control of e ~ Q,) ..c o ..... u o 20 (Left) In a dd iti o n to di rt bikes, H usaberg ga ve attend ees a look at its works road racer that is eq ui pped wi th a Harris alloy twin- spa r chass is. owners Gilera chief eng ineer Federico Martin i! Another prototype, the 59cc ' Te nder poc ket bike imitates the Honda EZ-9 theme, with the important addi tion of a lockabl e compartme nt for. an 'ope n- face h elmet , whi le th e 50cc Bimodale scooter has both petro l and electric motors whic h the rider can a lte rna te between as necessary, O f more dubiou s attraction was the last of th e q uart et of Gi lera -Piagg io novelties, a so-called thr ee-wheeled scooter th a t in rea lity is a fo ur-w hee led minicar powered by a new 280cc fourstro ke single-c yli n der engine th a t would appea r to offer noth in g that a Fiat Panda 30 can' t do already, except less space. More immediately prac tical are the Piaggio group's fuel-injection developments, shown at Cologne in both direct an d indi rect form on singlecylin der I25cc engines an d likely to be introduced on their street ran ge in 1992. Before th en , Gi lera plans to launch th eir Cx production range, fitted wi th the" monotubo ' front end debuted on the ir '89 Milan Sho w drea m bike, at Bologna in December, thus proving tha t their avan t-garde prot otypes do make it through to produ ction in sho rt term. Wheth er such a futu re awaits Yamaha's Morpho multi -adjustable dream bike, shown at Cologn e [or th e first time outsi de j apan, is less certa in, bu t together with the oval-pis ton NR750 Honda protype simi larly making its European debut o n an adjoini ng stan d, the Morpho re p rese nts th e leading edge of japanese altern ative design technology. More immediately available is the long-awaited 5-valve Yam aha single, launched in 660cc enduro form at Cologne as the top of th e Tenere single-cylinder lin e. The IOOx84 mm water-cooled engine is based on the works Paris-Dakar machines of recent years, and if Yamaha doesn 't market a roadster equipped with the same engine very soon, there are lots of small European 'chassis manufacturers who willl Meanwhile, the XTZ660 is presently available in enduro form only, slotting in between the air-cooled ZR600E and twin-cylinder XTZ750 SuperTenere, both of which continue in updated form . At the top of the Yamaha line, the FZRIOOO now has upside-down forks, uprated brakes, revamped, more aggressive styling and a slimmeddown chassis, while the FZR600 is similarly restyled, and fitted with a beefier swingarm and 'wider wheels, shod with low-profile radials. Completing the major changes for '91 from the company wh ich is number one ahead of Honda in the German market is the uprated Fjl200 tourer, still air-cooled but slightly restyled and now fitted with electronically- train , lightweight and narrower crank with the cam driv e moved to the right side, magn esium outer castings and pumper Keih i carbs. The new chassis is a pressed alloy twin- spar fram e, fitted with upside dow n for ks, bigger 320mm brakes (bu t not th e six-p isto n calipers seen on Rob Phill is' work s bike this season) and wide wheels with low profile ra dia l tires. The resu lt, clothed in the same bodywork as the works ZXR7 endurance racer, loo ks likely to have to be ball asted in racing form to reach the 363 lb. Superbike minimum weight limit, and to provide potent competi tion for the RC30, OWOI and 888 desmo nex t season as well as to leave Suzuki fut her out in the cold, a t international level; at least. . Alongsi de the ran ge of Zephyr controlled ABS, the first japanese productio n bike to be so, at a supplement of DM2000 over the stock Fj 1200. No sign of the TZR250, which now appears to have died. Suzu ki hasn 't given up on the 250cc two-stro ke sports bike, though, an d a heavily revised version of the 250 Ga mma appeared a t Co logne, now kno wn as the RG V250 to align it with Kevin 's V4 Can no n and boasting a "banana" swinga rm. to allow both exhaust pipes to exit on the right side, as well as inverted front forks, a new chass is with smoo ther edges, wider wheels and tires and hefty 300mm front brakes. Suzuki claims a wider power band for the 62PS bl ue streak : wonder how much their new 250 V-twin GP bi ke will deliver? ' At the opposite end of the product (Above) Triumph showed they haven't forgotten their past as they unveiled new models bearing names like Daytona and Trophy. (Left ) The new Ducati 900SS features Mikuni carbs , rather than Webers and Showa upside down forks. spectrum is the new GSXIIOOGG, a "nude" version of the sh aft-drive tourer with meaty looks and oil-cooled 16-valve engine, though the bornagain Katana many had been amicipating ra fter its relaunch in japan strangely did not appear. With VX80like steel chassis , the II OOG is the company 's Euro-retro bike, with power limited to 100 bhp for all markets, not only those like Germany where voluntary limits apply. Equally environmentally-aware is the fact that the RGV250 can now be ordered with a catal ytic exhaust: first time Ior a few decades that Suzuki and MZ shared any sort of world first. Meanwhile, the GSX-R750/1100 models have been restyled slightly, especially at the from end, and fitted with a new, more efficient cylinder head as well as other minor changes. Honda had confidently been expected to launch the eagerly-awaited successor to the RC30 at Cologne, so much so that the show organizer's official press release included the RC40 in the list of new models debuting at IFMAl Bu t no sign thereof, attention instead concentrating on the all-new th e 600 class they form erly dominated with the CBR600's predecessor. , There was little else new from the Big H at Cologne, apart from detail changes to the various existing models: most visitors just stood and stared with a mixture of awe and longing at the NR750 prototype. . Displaying a distinct affinity with the NR750's aggressive styling was Kawasaki 's main new model, a completely redesigned version of the ZXR750 which reflects the company's realization that their existing model (wh ich continues to be avai lab le alonside the new bike) is too streetorientated to be an effective tool at world-level Superbike racing - Doug Chandler's victories in the U.S. and japan aboard Rob Muzzy's bike notwithstandingl Kawasaki have therefore gone the Ducati/ H onda route, and then some, by building a 750cc fourstroke GP bike and homologating it for the street, complete with shorterstroke 7I x 47.3mm engine, bigger valves set at an u ltra-flat 20-degree included angle and using only one spring each yet the same maximum rev figure thanks to a lightweight valve " nude" bikes makin g their European debut, Kawasaki also displayed the new KLE500, a twin -cylinder enduro emp loying the 74x58 mm engine from the GPZ500S and heavily orienta ted towards road riding and commu ting, a fact whi ch Kawasaki 's publicity for the model emp hasizes, terming it "an urb an bike whi ch con nects city lift and nature." Among the smaller European manufacturers, H usaberg confirmed their growing success as Sweden' s bornagain off-road manufacturer with a 350cc version of their established ISDE gold medal-winning lightweight 500ce four-stroke single, as well as displaying the works 50S racer with Harris alloy twin-spar chassis which may well . open up new tarmac fields for them. KTM's range was essentially little altered, though they too offered a glimpse at fu ture tarmac applications on a factory basis for their LC4 600c!i four-stroke single by displaying Wolfgang Felber's title-winning 50S racer, with steel tube frame that already exists in prototype form for the street. SoS and BoTT race bikes , project bikes and street specials abounded on the ancillary stands at IFMA, powered by everything from SuperTenere engines - like the Cavaletta dream bike on the MO magazine stand - ~9 the Wasp parallel-twin sidecar motor and even hub-center BMW Boxer designs. IFMA CologneShow '90 had it all - except that elusive RC40. Maybe Paris? CII

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