Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

eTEST Ca~va V5!MICF Road Racer reduction in power and without a ny no ticeable effect o n the steering, in spi te o f the diffe rent gyroscop ic weight of th e two different mat er ials. The altered weigh t distribution, cou p led with a revised rear suspension lin kag e, ha s va stly improved t he Cagiva 's trac tion o ut o f turns, though in my case the ben efi ts were only a p parent for six or seven laps before th e rear Michelin - a product ion tire exactly th e same as I pay good money for to run o n my 8-va lve Du cati l began to object to all th e power it was being asked to transmit, a nd started giving som e quite lurid slides exi ting midrange third or fourth gear comers with th e revs up and th e bike cranked over. This was a functi on of the tir e rather than the chassis - a nd with Frankie Ch ili having ' his first Cagiva ride as well th at da y, and go ing th ough tir es faster than visor tearoffs, there wasn't a spare one for me - but before that happened I'd had a handful of laps that convinced m e that the latest chassis reall y puts the power down well out of turns. : Even continuing with the shagged tire and using a gear higher exiting more of a hi ccup th a n the half-built br ick wall of the 1986 V4 Cagiva which had a real problem in th is respec t, bu t sti ll bad enough in m y opi n ion to affec t acce lera tio n o ut of a slow tu rn , where the increased weight of the Ital ian bik e versus th e Japanese opposition this season at least wou ld also prove a handicap. But th e bi ggest improvement is at th e top end, wh ere th e Cagiva will now co ntinue p roducing very strong power for a nother 400-500 rpm beyond its sta ted maximum power output point of 12,200 revs - o n ly once the needle on the large, easily read tacho start to run over 12,700 rpm does the power The Cagiva's new chassis includes a new swingarm, also made of aluminum honeycomb mesh with carbon fiber facing. The Marelli electronic ignition has been replaced by a Kokkusan programable CDI. 18 th e turns so as to use less revs not only co nfirme d that, but also highlighted a nothe r unexpected ar ea of improvement in th e V590 over its predecessor - the power delivery o f its engine. T he re's no co mpariso n with last yea r's bike: the revised engine is bett er in every wa y, as well as being different in every way, wi th a slig h tly wider 70degr ee cylinder a ngle (ra the r than 65 degrees before) for altered reed val ve angle, and im proved br eathing fro m the 35mm dual-bod y Mikunis. The cra n kcases are more co m pact, new 7 in let/S exhaust port cylinders develo ped with altered operation of th e power valve a nd a comp letely new coo li n g system which pump fresh water to the exha ust port ar ea to main tain optimum engi ne temperature of. 55 degrees C, as well as a com pletely redesigned pair o f con trarota ting cra n ks plus two less clutch p la tes to reduce inertia and ena ble th e engine to rev faster and more freel y. Ths has had the effect of satisfying Fanali's quest for im pro ving rideability the engine will now pull readily from as low as 8000 rpm, though it has a slight but noticeable hole in the powerband from 9500-10,000 rpm - The Cagiva V591 Already up and running or a team which is su pposedly no t goi ng racing next seaso n, Cagiva are remarkably far advanced with their 199.1 race bike - indeed, says Ezio Mascheroni, engine designer and chief developmen t engineer, they've never been ready so ear Iy with their new motorcycle for next season in all the 10 years the company's been invo lved in racing wi th th eir own -bui lt machi nes! T he new engine has already been run on the dyno, and is a cra n kcase reed-valve V4 lik e its predecessor , but wi th a wider 9O-degree cyli nder angle to o ffer more space for larger reed 'valves a nd improved breathing. Bu t to prevent th e wider space bet ween the pairs of cylinders in creasing the b ul k o f the en gine, th e cra n kshafts have been rotated to co m pact th e engine, as hav e the gearbox shafts, to bring the m clo ser together . Larger 36m m carburetors are o n order with Mikuni, of a new design wi th electro n ic power jet as used by Suzuki this seaso n. R evi sed porting and new exhaust pipes have already been tested on th e 1990 engine, giving no less than 8 kph improvement in top speed, and improved midrange performance for better acceleration, says Mascheroni. F that i t did show up that hiccup in th e powerband, and su bseque nt lack o f accelera tio n .at a crucial point in th e power del ivery: doubtless Cagiva will be working hard to o verco me th is for nex t seaso n, but o ne thing the y don 't have to wo rk o n - for the first time in abou t four years! - is improv ing the gea r cha nge. For in sp ite of all that extra power, th e V590's change ac tio n is far smooth er than before, without the not ch in ess that has been a feature o f Cagiva cl us ters since 1987, yet with H o n d a- like p recision : A bi g improvement. But it's not a H onda th at the Cagiva that I rode a t Rij eka is so strongly rem iniscent of, but the '89 Yama ha YZR500: ha vin g sam p led such a bike the same day I was fortunat e enough to rid e o ne a t Laguna Seca la st December, I wonder if Fast Eddie doesn 't ag ree? Apart from that h iccu p (a nd th e su bseq ue nt tra ns it io n into the real power ba nd, which is more fierce than is ideal as a result) o n the dgiva, the engines o f th e two bik es seem rea lly simi lar now in terms o f delivery a nd start to tail off, bu t on a hot day at Rijeko it would still ru n to 13,000 rp m a nd even a little over before it sto p ped pull ing co m p le te ly . That's rea lly im p ressi ve, a nd a great tribu te to eng ine designer Ezio Masch eroni and h is team , that th ey should have wrought this considerable increase in u sabil it y wh il e at the same tim e screwing a noth er 10 bhp out 'o f th e engine and getting mighty close to O rien tal horsepower levels. The way th e Cagiva engine p icks up revs from 10,000-12,000 rpm is espcially impressive - blink, .and it's almos t tim e to cha nge gear. O r not becau se that new ly-fo und overrev capacity ena bles yo u to hold a gear on th e Cagiva like never before, li ke a long th e short straight aft er the left-ha nd hairpin at th e far end of the tra ck, before the chicane, wh en after coming ou t of the slow corner a gear higher to save th e rear tir e, I fou nd I cou ld hold the same gear (th ird) all th e way al ong the straight, scr eamin g the engine on 13 grand wi th out th e power falling off and so able to make back some of the time I'd lost, by saving two unnecessary gear changes. The only thing wrong with doing this was The new ch assis for th e '91 engi ne h as a lready been co m p le te d, a n d follows th e basic geometry of th e 1990 bi ke closely , but wi th th e engi ne moved 15m m fu rt he r ba ck in the chassis a nd rotated 8mm upwards in front, to p ut more weigh t o n th e rear w heel. The head a ng le ha s been widened half a degree. Cagiva intend to be right o n the new 130 kg . weight li mi t with th e new bik e with an alloy chassis - th e carbo n fiber fram e won 't be used for development since it can't be altered readily, said Fiorenzo Fanali: a n alloy ch assis can be cut and welded to change geo metry, while a carbo n fra me has to be basically remade, a m ore co stly a n d tim e-consuming process. But Cagi va plan to return to th e com posite chassis co ncep t later in 1991 in co ll abora tio n with Ferrari Engineering, says Claudio Castiglioni, th ough th eir ex peri men ts with electronic fuel injection in conj u nctio n with Weber/Marelli have been halted, .at least for the time being, to enable full a ttention to be put into making the bike as competitive as possible for the race track in 1991. But of course - they're not going racing, are th ey? CN performance, with th e extra power of th e 1990 Cagiva perhaps outweighed (litera lly!) by its exta weight versus the '89 Yamaha. In handling, th e two are a lso very similar, both very stable but eq ua lly fast -handling, with th e carbon fiber Cagiva may be a bit easier steering, espceciall y at my sort of speeds. But to be alrea dy so clos e - or even a little bett er , says Fanali ! - to the bike acclaim ed as th e best all -ro u nder o f its generation, which in 1990 form won th e 500cc World Champion ship title, is a gr eat ach ievem en t, Like I said - th e Cagiva is too good for th e tea m to sto p raci n g now : pl ease , signori - th in k aga i n! And Mr. La wso n, sir, p lease ta ke th e rid e: after four World Champi o ns h ip ti tles we kn ow you're the grea test, so you've got nothing left to prove. And besides, riding for Cagiv a would surely gi ve you a leg u p o n th e Ferrari F40 delivery list, as well as g iving you first shot a t a two-wheeled Ferrari, wh en Cagiva la unches th eir 750cc stree t bike with fo ur-cy li n der 16-va lve Ferrari designed en gine next autu m n! CN

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