Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

deliveri ng 80 b hp fo r a 431-poundmachine. Suzuki al so launc hed their VS600 Shadow Mi d dleweight V-twir. cruiser as a rival for Yamaha's top-sell ing XV535 custom, w hil e the watercooled GSXRllOO's development continues one step behind its 750 kid brother, with the adoption of magnesium crankcases and other detail improvements. Suzuki also launched their fourstroke scooter, the Spanish-built ANl25, as well as a more colorful version of the RF900 with adjustable forks, the RS2, to challenge Yamaha's Diversion. And, erthat's it: wait until next year for the allnew, possibly fuel-injected, deltaboxframed GSXR750 Superbike. We've been waiting for Kawasaki's 600cc Supersport con tend er fro m the ZXR family for some time, and at last it's her e to challe nge th e established H o nd a and Ya maha , a nd the new e r Du cati an d Bim ot a mo dels fo r Super sport su premacy next seaso n, on th e track as well as in the show room. Scaled up fro m the ZXR400 ra ther than d own fr o m t he ZXR7 50, the ZX-6R has a n ultra-short-stroke engine measu ring 66 x 43.8 mm (compared to the ZZ-R6OO's 64 x .46.6 mm), in spite of whi ch it's 15mm narrower than the existing 6OO's motor, with cyli nde rs inclined 28-degrees forward (13 degrees mo re than the ZZ-R) for low er center of gravity and increased downdra ft fo r th e four 36mm CKVD Keihin carbs, which are ram-air fed via twin air ducts thr ough both rails of the al uminiu m twin-spa r chassis. A flatter angle for the bigger valves, cam d rive up the righ t side of the engine, rev limiter set at 14,000 rpm, hollow camshafts and d eta il att ention to reducing inertia help stamp the ZX-6R's engine wi th the rac e-winning potential once the tuners get at it. The lightweight chassis - total dry weight is 400 po unds, 6.6 pounds less than the new Hond a CBR600 - has conve ntiona l 41mm forks wi th l2-s top rebound a n d ll -stop compress ion damping, 300m m se m i-floa tin g front d iscs and 3.50-in./5.DO-in. wheels. Looks good: green may be the color for toplevel Supersport racing in '95. The ZZR600 co ntinu es alongside the new model with detail updates. Alongsid e the all-new VN800 cus tom cruiser wi th 55-degree SOHC water-cooled V-twin motor and styling unashamedly based on the Harley Softail , Kawasaki also launched a budget version of their 1l00cc range, dubbed the GPzllOO and fitted with a detuned version of the ZZRllOO motor, m inus the ram-air sys te m w h ich im p ro ves peak power , and w ith smaller 36mm ca rbs and repro fil ed cams to boost m idrange. The motor is housed in a conven tional twin-cradle steel chassis, wi th kickedout 27-d egree head angle for lazier steering, and more restra ined stylin g with a sober choice of colors. But the price is right, making this a stem competitor for th e H onda CBR 1000 a n d Yamaha FZR1000. Kawasaki ha ve also completely revamped the KLR650 water-cooled four-stroke single, w ith detailed mechanical improvements and more jazzy styling, as well as producing a 600cc version of the Eliminator dragcruiser to try to cover all the bases in the Euromarket's current lust for Americanstyled street rods . Moto Guzzi know how to do the same thing for Italian V-twin customs, but with the new management concentrating on improving quality and rationalizing production, they presented an unchanged range for Cologne, with the 1100 Sport launched at Milan a year ago finally in full-scale manufacture. (Left) BMW Introduced their R8SOR and the unfalred R1 1OCR model. Otherwise they had a fairly quiet show. (Below) The Harris-framed Streelfighter single uses a bored-oul Suzuki DR engine. But if the wings of th e eagle on the Guzzi bad ge are at last sta rting to flap a little harder, wit h p rod uction sche duled to more than double in the next three years, thanks to increased investme n t form the new man agement (owners? nobody's saying), Laverd a enthusiasts have even greater cause for celebration, w ith the r eturn fro m the dead Part Three of the Italian m arq ue. Laverda were back on sho w in Cologne with a fu ll ran g e of th ei r fuel-i njected 650 Sport now in se ri es production at the ra te of 10 per w eek, r isin g to 25 per week from December, and joined by a specia l 200-bike limited ed ition Form ula mod el launched at the show. This has exactly the same relationship to the 650 Sport as the Duca ti 90055 Superlight ha s to the b a se 9005 5, with a 13 .2pound weight saving obtained with carbon fiber fenders an d exha ust silencer, as well as detail im p rove men ts to th e cycle parts. Th ese include mach in ed-out tri ple clamps for the WP forks, a remote pr eload adj us te r for the WP rear shoc k, twin 320mm Brembo di scs with rac eq ua lity calipers and master cylinder, and improved camshafts and EFI mapping to deli ver more midrange power below 7000 rpm from the oil-cooled 180degree parallel-twin engine. Each Laverda is sold with a 2o-minute vid eo tape showing the basic steps .o f essentia l maintenance and servicing - other makers please copy - w ith 1500 b ik es planned for production next yea r . Twenty of these may be the much-touted re p lic as of the fabu lou s V-six endurance racer, the one and onl y version of which was on the Cologne stand, awaiting customers with around $35,000 to sign up for one. It ma y happen, bu t d on't bet your bank loan on it. An Italian com pany with no troubl e fi ndi ng cus to mers for their to p- line model is Aprilia, currently riding th e crest of th e GP wave in both 125 and 250cc classe s an d now at last capi talizing on it with Suzuki's help - wi th the launch o f the ea ge r ly await ed RS250 s tree t re p lica of Ma x Biaggi's World Ch ampionship wi nni ng 250. Powered by a revise d version of Suzuki's RGV250 V-twin engine to which the Japanese manufacturer fitted different cylinder heads, ignition, air filter and exha us t system designed by Aprilia and yield ing an extra 9% more power than the stock RGV2S0, th e RS250 has a beam alloy chassis and hunchback s w inga r m almost directly derived from the wo rks GP racer, not to mention the distinctive sty ling and trad emark factory race livery. Th is is the closest thing any European manufactur er has e ver got to putting a GP bik e-with-lights on th e street, an d with 1000 bikes planned for Italy alone at a ve ry competitive p rice next year, and a larger bu t unquantified number for export, the Aprilia looks set to be the class lead erIn the showrooms as we ll as .on the race track for some time to come. And I assure you it's even more beautiful in the metal than it is in ph otos... Meanwhile, th e only other n ew model from the It alian m a rqu e at Cologne was the uprated version of the 650 Pegaso, now more tarmac-ori ented with low e r fr ame and sea t height, improved sus p ensi on and a n engine retuned to give m ore sporting performance, as befits the five-valve motor in GT form . But we' ll have to wait until Bologna in December for the d ebu t of the new Philippe Starck-designed roa dster powered by the same engine, which Ap rilia - whose production exceeded 100,000 units this year for the first time are confiden t will break new ground for street singles. We'll see. Eleven thousand of the 113,000 bikes which Aprilia are bui lding in '1994 will have been BMW F650 singles, a model w hose success ha s ta ken the German manufacturer a little by surprise . BMW had a quiet show, co nce n t ra ting on ex pa ndi ng th eir 8-valve Boxer range with the new smaller-capacity 70 bhp R8S0R variant aimed at lower insurance ratings, and the likewise unfaired 80 bhp R1100R model, using the detuned engine fitted to the R1100GS trail bik e. At the s a me time, BMW gav e fo n d farewell to their pushrod Boxer d esign, with four c1assic / retro versions marking the final yea r of pushrod production . But in a comer of the stand was a b ik e perhaps representing the wa y ahead, an RllOOR5-based design for a single seat spor ts bike that m ay yet reach producti on so me time in th e future. Presumably BMW will be taking a closer look a t the sim il a rl y engined Bakker-BMW Bomber di splayed elsewhere in the show, to see how that does commercially before they decid e whether to build the ir own single-seat version of the born-again Boxer. The Bakker wasn't the onl y limiteded ition special on d isplay, with Swiss constru ctor Fritz Egli displaying his new Suzuki GSXR1100-eng ined spo rtbike chass is, as well as his usual range of turbocharged Kawa sakis and n itrousassisted V-Max Yam ahas. Harris's German importer had his Magnum 5-Duo on display, powered by a 1215cc version of the big Suzuki motor, also with NOS, and fitted wi th carbo n fiber bodywork, alongside the new Streetfighter single, fitted with 855cc bored out Suzuki DR big engine. The British-built Hyde Hornet was also launched w ith th e same a ll-new Harris chassis a nd q u it e d istincti ve stylin g, but fitted wi th a Rotax engine instead of the Suzy megalump. Among th e many Taiwanese manufacturers at Cologne were PGO, who two years ago debuted a 1600cc V-twin tha t ne ver ma de it into production, but this year had alongside their w ell-established scooter range a 125 streetbike with steel ·twin-spar chassis, single cylinder reedvalve tw o- stroke engine a nd catalyst exhaust; they're working on fuel injection to further combat emissions. At the other e nd of the sca le their Kahena rivals displayed a 1600cc flat-four solo with air /oil-cooled motor more suitable for sidecar use. David and Goliath which is where we came in... cr ~ C\ C\ ,..., -.D N ~ ell E u o 23

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