Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

I~SH_:-,----W-,----:-'-----"----'---'--_:I O 1995 Milan Motorcycle Show • ners Ules aeI Guzzi: The target date for Centauro pro- . duction is September '96. With the bikes that won Moto Guzzi two National BOTT titles racing in Europe this season also on display at Milan (the Raceco Daytona 8V that Aussie Paul Lewis won the British title on, alongside the Valentini 4V ridden to the Italian crown by Domenico Iannetti), Guzzi's sporting credentials will be further underlined by more new models to be launched next February which weren't ready for Milan - a fuel-injected version of the 1100 Sport, as well as a born-again version of their original Le Mans [ Superbike, updated and relaunched to mark the 75th anniversary of the company's existence. These will, however, go into production next May, (Left) With major Italian manufacturers like Caglva and Aprllla keeping their most exciting projects on hold, Moto Guzzi stole headlines at Milan with the debut of their new fuel-Injected Centauro V10. By Alan Cathcart Photos by Joe Bonnello and Kyolchl Nakamura t's been a very long lime since Moto Guzzi took the starring role at a major international bike show, but that's what happened with the new Guzzi VI0 Cent'auro unveiled at the Motosalone di Milano which opened in Italy on November 21. After more than a decade of slumber and steadily declining sales under De Tomaso management, the reverse takeover of Moto Guzzi by Italian investment house Finprogefti is starting to pay dividends - and the Centauro is the first sign of that. Named after the mythological centaur - half-man, halfhorse - the aggressive-looking new mus.clebike is aimed full-on at Ducati's Monster and the unfaired Triumph triples in the European naked-bike category, where its aggressive looks and performance specifications are bound to carve it a unique place in this growing niche market. Using the fuel-injected eight-valve engine from the Daytona 1000 - delivering 90 bhp at 8200 rpm and massive midrange torque peaking at jl1st 5500 rpm - Guzzi has concocted perhaps the ultimate V-twin street rod by enlisting the services of noted Italian industrial designer Luciano Marabese. Marabese is the Italian counterpart of Frenchman Philippe Starck (the man responsiple for the Moto 6.5 street single for Aprilia shown a year ago), and has, like Starck, a world-class reputation as a designer of kitchen equipment and house furnishings. The Centauro represents the first time his talents have been applied to motorcycles. Using the Daytona's steel-spine frame with cast-aluminum rear uprights for the box-section swingarm, the Centauro is fitted with a fully adjustable WP rear shock and upside-down forks. Wheelbase is a rangy 58.1 inches. Big 320mm Brembo brakes and four-pot calipers are used - and for the first lime' on a Daytona-based model, 17-inch wheels front and rear, shod with Metzeler ME-ZL rubber. The raised, flat bars give the mean machine quite an upright riding position, with a detachable pad for a passenger seat, to deliver a boulevard bomber par excellence. A.vailable in red, blue or charcoal, all with silver panels, the Cen- I (Above) New European Union licensing regulstlons brought the Mlto-framed Caglva N1 Into existence. Machines limited to 15 horsepower can be ridden by anyone with a car license. Can you guess how much horsepower the two-stroke N1 has? (Below) A reanimated Laverda came forth with their oll-eooled, parallel-twln-powered 668. tauro's VI0 tag (l000cc V-twin) aims for a tenuous connection, admits Guzzi marketing boss GianJuca Lanaro, with the V-I0 Renault engines that reign supreme in Fl car racing, as well as the fact that the Ferrari that Michael Schumacher will be driving next season will have a V-10 engine for the first time! As the man charged with revitalizing the fortunes of Italy's oldest manufacturer, maybe Lanaro can persuade Schumacher to swap the Ducati Monster on which he currently cruises the streets of Monaco for a Centaur - but even Schumacher will have to wait a while before going says Lanaro - and there'll be more new models in a year's time. The eagle's wings on the Guzzi tank badge are starting to flap a little harder. And while this may be true, Guzzi's new musclebike got star billing at Milan only in the absence of the much-anticipated new models known to be under development by Italy's leading marques. Japanese, British and German manufacturers already launched a plethora of new models at Paris in September, where only Laverda matched them with the debut of their Ghost cruiser. The Italians were expected to get star billing at Milan - but instead the understudies - in the shape of Guzzi, Bimota, Segale and Laverda - took over. The lesson has finally sunk in about leaving too long a lead lime between the show debut of a new model and its actual appearance in dealerships, leading to a fit of realism by the Cagiva Group and Aprilia especially. Aprilia has the first models in their V-twin, four-stroke range ready - a 650 custom and the fuel-injected superbike but won't reveal them until next year, much closer to the production start-up date. Cagiva is still working on its fourcylinder F4 Superbike - especially the styling in light of new headlight regulations in key markets like the USA and Japan - though the engine and tubular steel chassis are finalized. And chronic production problems - now apparently resolved - at the Ducati factory have persuaded Cagiva Group bosses to concentrate on catching up with desmo demand in 1996 rather than introducing new models, forcing them to delay the debut of the new Miguel Angel Galluzzi-designed ST2 and ST4 sports tourer replacements for the 907 until Cologne a year hence. Ducati's only new model at Milan was The 900M Special, a limited-edition (500 examples) superMonster with a clear plexiglass headlight fairing, uprated brakes, leather seat and various other bol t-on goodies. ApriJia had nothing new at all. Cagiva on the other hand did display two new models aimed at the basictransportation market at the show - one long overdue, the other ahead of its lime. One year late in matching Aprilia's successful Scarabeo in the big-wheel scooter market is the Cagiva Cucciolo .' the name means "puppy dog" in Italian and is cheekily borrowed from the Ducati history books: This was the name of the first Ducati motorcycle ever, a 50cc four-stroke launched back in the 1940s. Designed by Turin-based IDEA Design consultants rather than in-house by their own designers, the Cucciolo uses Cagiva's own all-new 50cc crankcase reed-valve, two-stroke motor, and is 100 peroent made in Italy, without using any parts from Cagiva's existing suppliers in Taiwan and elsewhere. The clean, rounded styling takes the 16inch-wheel scooter concept a step further, with a 125cc four-stroke version also planned for the future. Production begins next May. Sharing star billing with the Cucciolo on Cagiva's stand at Milan was the Nl, a prototype 125cc naked bike designed by Miguel Angel Galluzzi and targeted not at teenage wanna-be road racers as you might expect, but at an important new market for all manufacturers. Due to come into effect on July 1, 1996, is a law in the 14-nation European Union that will permit car drivers to ride motorcycles with a maximum 15-bhp output without need.i.ng to take a test to obtain a separate motorcycle licence just as was the case in Great Britain for so many years until the present bureaucratic hash. The Cagiva Nl single is the first bike to be specifically targeted at this new market, with its 125cc twostroke engine detuned to meet the new regulations, but without 3l\Y sacrifice in street credibility, only performance. The Nl's polished aluminium twin-spar Mito chassis is fitted with revalved Marzocchi upside-down forks from the River 600, and a Boge rear shock from the Canyon. Dry weight of the new bike, which Galluzzi began work on when the new regulations were announced exactly one year ago, is 231 pounds, so it shouldn't be too sluggish; that is, not too sluggish until you remove the tailpiece

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