Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

GNEW M L The 1993 Milan Motorcycle Show ODE S ~ o ... ~ a ~ (J) E (J) :::- o Z 14 By Alan Cathcart Photos by Kyoichi Nakamura fter the ons laught of new mod els from Jap an ese manufacturers and BMW at the Frankfurt and Paris sho ws, it was Italy' s tum to respond - a t the '93 Salone di Milan o which opened on October 18. The sta r: th e mos t eage rly awaite d new mod el to co me fr om a n Ita lia n manufactu rer in ma ny years, Du cati 's s uccessor to the World Supe rb ike Champion 888 "otto valvole" - the 916. Desig ned by Nossimo Tamb u rin i, the new bi ke not on ly e mploys a longers troke, 94x66 mm version of the fue linjected d esm o engin e, de livering 114 hp at 9000 rpm with improved torque, but also delivers much sha rper ha ndling than the old 888 Strada, via an all-new chassis en clo se d by svelt e bodywork wh ich sets new stand ards for allu re and appeal, and probably delivers a ben chmark for rival d esigners Out East to follow. At 56.4 inches, the 916's wheelbase is al mos t an inch shorter than the 888's, ob tained by rotating the V-twin engine sligh tly backw ar d s to offer a slig h tly steeper head ang le and less trail. At 429 pounds d ry, with full street equipment, the 916 is 15 pounds lighter than th e 888, and uses improved, fully adjustable, 41mm Showa upside-down forks m ated to a single-sided rear swingarm with a s u s pe nsio n layout carefully designed to avoid infringing the parts of the ELF/Honda patents dee med valid . There are a host of innovative detail features on the 916, enough to fill this report on their own, but if impressions de livered in ea rly testing by the prototype are mirro red by p roducti on ve rsions, Tamburini has p rod uced a lan dmark in two-wheeled des ign, bo th from an aesthetic and a technical sta ndpoint. Prod uction is scheduled to begin in January, for March d elivery of the firs t of th e 3000 bikes sc heduled to be b uil t before the factory closes for its August holiday, with a nother 1000 machines planne d for constructio n before the end of the yea r. In addition, 200 SP versions will be bu ilt wi th ca rbon-fiber bo d ywor k and uprated performance, nominall y for Sport Production racing but equally for stree t high- rollers who can affo rd the substantially increased cost over the stock 916. No prices for either have yet been announced . The other main novelty on the Cagiva Group stand was the 60 0 Riv er . (Reve re? Ge t it?) s treet single, which use s th e la test version of th e T4 tr ail bike motor with a balance sha ft, slo tted into a steel d eltabox chassis painted to look like alumini um, and fitted with two ve ry p ractical - and elegant - luggage sad dleb ags each capable of taking a br iefcase, and eac h fully d etachable. The clear plastic han dlebar fairing gives some degree of weather protection on a bike that' s aim ed to become eq ually popular w ith cour ier s and the s ma r t co mmuting se t. Designed by Daniele A Vitali, the third of the triumvirate of the Ca giva Group's young designers wh o h a ve a lready given us the Mo ns tro (Miguel Angel Galluzzi) and Su permono (Pierre Terblanche), the River wiIl be keenly p riced to compete with the new CBSOO Honda, says Cagiva commercial d irector Luig i Giaco me tti, but may not enter production until June '94. In that case, the start of deliveries may well be deferred until Octobe r of next year, making it a '95 mod el year product. A 400cc version will also be available, targeted at Japan and other countries where licen ce o r insu ra nc e considera tions apply. Apart from a new 12Scc crankcase reed-valve engi ne for the 125 Husqvarna ra nge, there were no other major novelties on the Cagiva Grou p stand. oth er tw o rep resenting a return to the link wi th Suzuki which end ed a decade ago wi th th e SBS. The new water-cooled GSXR1100-p owered SB6 es tablishes designer Pierl uigi Yorconi 's new d irection for Bimota ch assis d esign, by refi ning the alum in iu m twin- s p ar ch assis concept, which Bimota was the firs t to in trod uce to the stree t d ecade ago, to its ult ima te logical con_ elusion. The deep-but-surprisingly-thin spars now run d irectly in a straight line from steering head to swingarm pivot in a ra tio na l d esig n w hic h g ives ad de d stiffness, b ut saves weig ht and improves we ight di stribut ion, say s Marconi. The ho rizontal Ohlins rear shock is offset to the righ t to save space, resulting in a short 55.6-inch wheelbase, with multiadjustabl e s uspension a n d chassis geometry se ttings tha t maybe altered by eccentric bushe s to change the head angle, and an adjustable rod on the rear shock to vary th e weight distribution and -ride heigh t. The stock Suzuki 1100 engine still uses carbs (an injected version is in the cards for the future, but not immediately), and is fitted in compl etely st ock for m, as received from But n ex t doo r at Bimota i t w as all change, as the Rimini company un veiled the mos t d rastic overhaul of its range ever realized, with a heavy emphasis on conventional chassis technology, rather tha n the radical hub-center Tesi, which continues in production with Birnota 's longstroke version of the eight-valve Ducati motor . No sign of the company' s own twostroke 500cc Tesi, either, whose future is under exa mina tion, but inst ead a more striking color sche me for the fuel-injected DB2sr launched at Paris; the option of Paioli forks at reduced cost on the YB8e and Fu rano models, which have an altered fairing de sign for improved aerodynamics; and three new models one Yamah a-engi ned, like the existing non-Ducati powe red range, a nd the (Above) Naked and nasty - the Ducati 916 Superbike. The 916 uses a longer stroke, 94x66mm version of the fuel -injected Ducati desmo engine and delivers a clai med 114 horsepower at 9000 rpm. It weighs 429 pounds in full street clothing - 15 pounds less than the 888. (Below) The 916 get s a single-sided sw ingarm for 1994.

• Cover