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
/ 1994 IFMA Cologne Motor Show By Alan Cathcart Photos by Kyoichl Nakamura up ersports a nd Su per naked s were t he m a in attraction of the IFMA Sho w in Cologne, Germ any, which opened on Octob er 5: Sports Illustra ted meets Playboy on two wh eels. In an even-n u m ber ed year when there is no Tokyo Show and the Japanese manufacture rs la u nch th e ir new ranges on the worl d stage in the main event of the show seaso n at Cologne, it was a surprise how little really new things they had to display. Kawasaki gra bbed most of the atten tion with their long-awaited ZX6R sup ers po r t challenger and a born-agai n GPzII00, matched by an all-new Vulcan 800 custom cruiser. Honda' s cla ss-leading CBR600 has been done over, and their unabashed Shadow ripoff of the Ha rley- Davidson design manual was formally launched. Yamaha and Suzuki appealed to Captain Sensible with their well -previewed XJ900s Diversion and N600 Bandit user bikes. For real excitement, thou gh , you had to head to the stands of the bu oyan t European man ufacturers, most of wh om are now enjoying the best of all possible p ro blems - they ca n' t build enoug h bikes to meet wo rldwi de demand. Trium ph, KTM , Ducati, Aprilia, MuZ, Bimota, BMW and even Moto Guzzi are all cranking up production to satisfy the increasing sales of their more narrowly focused model ranges - just like Harley-Da vid son are doing in the U.S. - at a time when the much bigger p roduct lineups of the Japanese makers are suffering a sales slowdown, both at ho me and in Europe, fueled by recessionary pressures an d the skyrocketing yen. Euro b ikes are the flavor o f the moment - and if the Japanese Goliat hs were s h o r t on s picy new models at Co logne, th e European Da vids more than made up for it. Star billing was shared between two bikes that between them take the Nakedbike cruiser concept a stage further, but in very different ways - the Triumph Thunderbird and Bimota Mantra. To mark their long-awaited return to the US. market, Triumph have revived not only the Thunderbird name that used to adorn their Meriden-built twins 40 years ago, but also a cluster of design features from the same era. The result is a spectacular blend of old and new supposedly aimed at American sales, but certain to be a worldwide hit Using the 900cc three-cylinder motor in five-speed guise and detuned to deliver just 70 bhp at 8000 rpm (compared to the 98 bhp at 9000 rpm of a likewise unfaired Trident 900), the Thunderbird has an unpainted engine with the classic sandcast look, and the water-cooled cylinders are cleverly finned to provide a traditional apearance without looking contrived. The chrome sidecovers, wire wheels, single front disc, dual seat and even the retro-type tank offer a host of reference S ~ 0\ ,..-.j -.D C'l I-< (l) E u o 20 points to Triumph's glorious past, combinin g with modern'engineering to erea te an a ll-r o u n d motorcycl e fo r t he 1990s The British Way . With a new chassis, still based on Triumph's trad emark spine frame design, offering a lower seat height'matched by a 16-inch rear wh eel and high-rise 'bars, this is for many the bik e that Triumph shou ld have built wh en they returned to the marketplace four years ago " a charge dismissed by Trium ph USA boss Mike Lock. "We had to show we were looking forward when we re-launched th e Tri- umph marque, not backwards," he says. "That meant creating a range of modem designs with the latest technology and styling, and getting them established in the marketplace to show we were serious . Having done that, we could afford to glance behind by making the Thunderbird, without people thinking we were only going to be building retro-Triumphs." With 2275 bikes allocated for the U.S. from Triumph's 1995 production of 15.000 units, Lock won't be the only one eagerly awa iting completion of Triumph's 4O-acre second factory which is under construction and due to come on line in two years. Meanwhile, the rest of the current 10-model range continues essentially unchanged. Bimota are equally under pressure to expand production, thanks to skyrocketing sales that doubled this year over last The Italian marque is also prepar. ing to move into a second factory near their existing one in Rimin i to help achieve this. Judging by their '95 lineup displayed at Cologne, they better hurry u p, because the drama tically syle d Mantra street cruiser's plinth was perpe tually surrounded by slack-jawed ad mirers staring in unashamed lust .at this most sensual of naked bikes . An orgy of carbon fiber, teak (for the d ash), alu mi n u m (for the oval-tube ' chassis) and inspi rational styling, the Mantra - the word means a "thinking man's tool" in Nepalese idiom - is the w ork of the you ng French d esigner Sacha Lak ic, whose d istinctive sty le is alread y familiar from the several Boxer Bike specials he's created. Po wered b y an unmodified 90055 Duca ti engine, the Mantra retains the same chassis geometry and suspension of the similarly engined Bimota DB2, but represents Bimota's first-ever venture into any other sector than the sportb ike market they 've become famous in. Dubbed a sports-tourer by the company, the Mantra is aimed at multi-purpose use, from commuting in style to the office (there's space above the tank for a documents folder), to spirited sports riding with a touring slan t provided by the optional windscreen and soft luggage bags that will be available once production starts early in ยท1995. "No p rice for the Mantra has been fixed yet, but we expect to position it between the DB2 and the fuel-injected DB2sr with the same engine," says Bimota sales boss Aurelio Lolli, who admits to having opened negotiations wi th Lakic after seeing- the French designer's Triumph-engined Boxer Gladiateur, with a similar distinctive alloy chassis, at the Paris Show a year ago . Triumph couldn't sup ply engines for tha t mod el, so the project fell through: Bimota's gain . Also new on the Bimota st and in street form, but already seen in prototype guise in single-cylinder racing this season (it finished second in the final round of the World Superbike support series at Mugello against a fleet of Ducatis and the works Rotax) is the Bimota Supermono. Powered by the Rotax-built BMW F650 engine supplied as part of the Italian firm 's growing links with the German marque, but not The Triumph Thunderbird wlll make Its way to the Unltecl Statas In 1995; 2275 of the 900cc triples have been allocated for distribution hare. to be known after all as the BBI (or even RBl.. .), the Supermono roadster uses the 652cc four- valve motor for the time being in stock carbureted form, in which guise production will begin in December. But an optional race kit will be available which in cl ud es the TDDI Weber fuel-injection system developed on the factory prototype racer, which raises output from 48 bhp at 6500 rpm with twin 33mm Mikuni carburetors, to 58 bhp at 7000 rpm with EFI. Other improvements such as a close-ratio cluster for the five-speed gearbox and a bigbore kit will also be available, to ensure the "Bimono" is a potent challenger in Supermono racing to the established Ducati. In street form, though, the bike represents Bimota's first foray into the single-