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/127690
cy lin der market, using the same ovalsection alloy fra m e as the proto type racer, with a nylon fuel tan k under the engine to improve s tability an d cha nging d irect ion . Paioli sus pensi on and a single 320mm Brembo fron t disc combine to yield nimble handling on a bike whose red , orange and white color . scheme could do with a rethink. Maybe they could ask Sacha Lakic to spend 10 minutes doing a better one? Bimota's top-selling DB2 and SB6/7 ranges continue with minor improvements, the lalter with the adoption of the latest, lighter GSXRllOO Suzuki motor with magnesium crankcases. The FZR600 Yamaha-engined YB9 remains unchanged in standard form, but is now homologated for FIM Supersport racing, in which it's bound to be a strong contender next season; in recognition of that, Bimota are offering a factory race kit, and have also completed work on a fuel-injected version which they will develop next season in Italian events ready for 1996. Also entering the s u pe rpor t arena with a fuel-injected contend er is Ducati , taking ad vantage of the ne w FIM rul es p erm itting 750c c tw ins to co m pe te ag a in st 600c c fo urs , w it h no weight ad vantage, unlik e in the superbike class . Th e 748 otto valvole" d u ly ma d e its deb ut a t Cologn e, so ind istinguisha ble externa lly fro m the 916 on whi ch it's based that the bikes on show might just as well have been the Big Twin. Apart from on e thing: the yellow color of the sin gl e-seat 748SP racer-w ith-ligh ts, of which at least 200 w ill be bu ilt befor e March 1, 1995 to homologate it for the new World Series of Supersport racing, with a nother 3500 or so Strada street versions going into production in February. Using Ducati's traditional 750cc engine dimensions of 88 x 61.5 rnrn, rather than the more radical Ferrariderived ultra-short-stroke format once favored by designer Massimo Bordi, actually turned out to be a quick fix for Ducati, given that the "otto valvole" engine design actually made its debut in 750cc form back in the 1986 Bol d'Or, before being bored and stroked to 851, 888 and now 916 guise. No official performance claims were made at Cologne, but word is that the standard street bike will come in 100 bhp (delivered at 11,300 rpm) guise to avoid breaching that artificial barrier imposed in some countries - nothing that a quick change of EPROM chip won't fix, though while the racer will give over 110 bhp at the rear wheel. Should be enough to keep Honda honest. Engine and the lack of an oil cooler apart, there's nothing to . tell the 748 apart from a 916 inasmuch as chassis and cycle parts a re id en tic al, especially now that both have a nominal passenger seat pad atop the seat for short, sharp trip s on a cold da y. Either that, or make your partner wear asbestos pants to combat the effects of ha ving both exhaust silencers d irectly beneath that spot where the sun never shines.. . Ducati's well-publicized production problems have mad e them concentrate on satisfying existing demand rather than releasing any more new models, and with an all-n ew paint shop to replace the one that burnt down this summer, are on line to catch up on their many unfulfilled orders for the 916 by building 20,000 bikes in a year in 1995, for the first time in almost a qu arter-century. Induded in these will be 50 of the 955 Corsa replicas of Carl Fogarty's works superbike, selling for racers. These will be id en tical to the 35 or so already built in 550cc form , but Ducati (Above) The DucatJ 748cc "otto valvole" made Its debut at the Cologne Show· a virtual twin to the 916, except this one comes in yellow and not red. (Left) Cagiva's River 600 • a s1ngle-cy llnder that sits in a deltabox frame. The bike features such · items as a coin tray that sl1s atop the gas tank. U will offer a kit based on their works "evoluzione" engine, which will have revised 955-based camshafts, a bigger 102mm bore, and a quieter twin-exit silencer, enabling both old and new customers to keep up with development by rival manufacturers - including Bimota and Rotax. While development of the Ferrariinspired four-cylinder 750cc superbike continues in fast-forward mode in th e Varese factory race shop, Cagiva also marked time at Cologne, having launched their best-selling Mito EV cloned from the Ducati 916 mold earlier this year. Main attention was focused on the River 600cc four-stroke single with steel deltabox frame, in-built luggage penniers and a small plexiglass screen first shown at the Milan Show a year ago and due to enter production at last in .Ianuary. Designer Daniele Vitali has added detail refinements to a bike likely to get serious attention from both commuters and dispatch riders, including a coin tray atop the tank to save having to undress at tollgates, a luggage shroud that stays attached to the bike when you unclip the luggage, to stop what you're . carrying being filthy on one side, and so on. Practical flair. Also updated is the tarmac version of the Cagiva Elefant V-twin, which is now much slimmer around the tank with bet- ter-protected paintwork: but the Supermotam version with upside down forks and 17-inch wheels still hasn't appeared. On the Husqvarna range, Cagiva engineers have concentrated on the twostroke models this year, with a new frame design and suspension, and an all-new 12Scc reed-valve engine with HTS power-valve. For 1996, it'll be the tum of the four-strokes, with the longawaited introduction of the new 600ccplus motor with balance shaft. Finally, badged a Cagiva but built at the CZ factory in the Czech Republic in which the Italians now have a majority shareholding, is the new 200 Roadster launched at Cologne, with SOHC air-cooled fours tro ke engine mounted in cycle parts derived from the two-stroke Blues. . KTM already have their LC4 fourstroke single fitted with a counterbalancer, but no electric start as yet - wait for 1996. In spite of this handicap, sales of the Duke street rod have boomed so fast the Austrian company has been caught napping, with the 500 built this year way over-subscribed, and the 15% increase in production planned for 1995 almost entirely taken up by extra Dukes. KIM's streeter is now available in a variety of colors compared to the orange and black of the first version. The '95 model will be 35mm lower to make it a bit less daunting to straddle, and will be fitted with an automatic decompressor to aid kick-starting. Roll on the E-starter, though. Germany's restructured MuZ factory are another to di scover the market's appetite for fou r-stroke street singles, with their Seymour Powell-designed, Yamaha XTZ660-engined two-model Skorpion range selling out its 3000-u~t run in its first year of production. For 1995, company boss Petr-Karel Korous is targeting a 25% increase in production for his 24O-ernployee factory, with two new Skorpion models launched at Cologne. One, the Skorp ion Super Sport, is essentially just a fully faired version of the existing half-faired Sport, but the Supersport SS is a step up, fitted with WP inverted forks, a steeper head angle, high-rise exhaust with carbon silencer and British-made Saxon wheels with detachable rims to create a street-legal race-replica based on the MuZ Skorpion that Mike Edwards dominated British 50S racing with this season. The 55 embodies some of the racer's engine mods, too , with power raised 20% to 60 bhp in s t ree t form, and a planned race kit available from MuZ. The third new Skorpion model, the Country trail bike, has been delayed until the Bologna Show in December. The pride of place in MuZ's Cologne display, though, went to the prototype Kobra 850 Battle Twin roadster, the first-