Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

F650ST (as in "Strasse") whiCh the Italians build for the German company, and which debuted at Cologne alongside the all-new flagship K1200RS model. After building 135,000 K-model fourcylinders since the Flying Brick was launched back in 1983, BMW has broken several self-inflicted barriers with the new sport tourer, which is the first BMW to be fitted with an aluminum chassis (a Bimota-derived alloy beam frame), the first with a six-speed gearbox, and the first to deliver more than 100 bhp. It's also the first four-eylinder model to be fitted with the distinctive Telelever front end introduced on the Boxer range, but with the wishbone locating strut mounted on the Chassis rather than' directly on the engine as on the Boxers, This is because on the K1200RS, the long-stroke 70.5 x 75mm 1,171cc Bosch Motronic fuel-injected engine (delivering 130 bhp at 8750 rpm) is rubbermounted in the frame rather than used as a fully stressed chassis member like on the twin-cylinder bikes, another BMW first to eliminate vibrations from the in-line four-cylinder motor, which does not use a counterbalancer. With distinctive, aerodynamically efficient full-enclosure bodywork delivering an impressive top speed of 152 mph, the K1200RS weighs 527 pounds dry, has ABS as standard as well as twin closed-loop catalytic converters (standardized on all BMW models in tlte future), and offers individual adjustment of the chosen position of windshield, handlebars, seat Iteight, footrests and clutCh, brake and gear levers, Production begins early in the new year, of wltat is certain to be the first step in the evolution of a new family of Big Bricks. Tltree years after its debut, the same process already is at work on the F650 single-cylinder range, witl'l the basic Funduro (of which 30,000 have been built by Aprilia to date) now joined by the more tarmac-focused F650ST, This uses the same essential format as the trail version, but with an 18-inch front wheel rather than a 19-incher, shorter wheelbase, revised rear suspension more suited to road use, shorter handlebars and at 30,9 inChes, a O.6-inch-Iower seat height which can be further reduced by an extra two inches witJ::! an optional retro kit. This gives a hint of an important target market for BMW with the ST, whiCh is women riders in Germany and abroad - 30 percent of those registering for motorcycle-riding lessons in Germany last year were female, and women comprise 13 percent of bike owners there, and the figure is rising. MuZ is already ahead of its German compatriots in this respect, with its lady works racer Elli Bindrum placing a close third in the 1996 European Supermono series on the works RennSkorpion. With news of the takeover of MuZ by Malaysia's giant Hong Leong Industries combine confirmed at Cologne, the future looks strong for the Eastern German marque, which launched its new Seymour Powell-designed 125cc fourstroke scooter at IFMA, likely to be built in Hong Leong's factory in China using Yamaha engines. But another SP product, the 125cc Bantam prototype which should originally have carried tlle BSA name - and still may - also appeared at a major show for the first time, ilnd is sclleduled to go into production in September, 1997, in both Germany and China. The SOCC Mosquito scooter with Minarelli motor will be built Out East, though, but the latest variation on the XTZ660-powered Skorpion theme was actually being designed on the MuZ stand as the show proceeded, a soft enduro/fun bike Street Scrambler due to begin production next April and aimed squarely at the best-selling BMW Funduro. World Open Motocross champion KTM already carved its own special niChe in the funbike class with its hardedged Duke single, shown in updated form (i.e., different colors) at Cologne, alongside designer Gerard Kiske's ideas for the next generation of the Duke family - the fabulous-looking Unit street rod and the softer City Crosser (well, sounds (Above) Making its debut at Cologne was Laverda's new 750cc parallel twin sportbike. (Lett) Moto Guzzi continued its mythological theme begun with the. Vl 0 Centauro with the V7 Ippogrifo, a 750cc sport custom. (Below) This is designer Gerard Kiske's idea of what the next KTM Duke should look like, called the Unit. more original than Street Scrambler), both powered by the electric-start - balance-shaft-equipped latest version of the 610cc LC4 four-valve KTM four-stroke single. WP suspension is standardized on the four-stroke KTM range, bu~ Ohlins will be used on the two-strokes, apart from the new 125cc Sting, a junior budget version of the Duke sharing the same way-out styling. Also new was the LC4 Rallye, derived from Kinigadner's rally-winning desert racer with bodywork to suit. Among the many specials on display as usual at IFMA was Fritz Egli's latest and greatest, but tltis time not an outrageous turbocharged Kawasaki 1300 or supercharged V-Max, but rather an authentic neoclassic pushrod singlecylinder cafe racer with twin-loop frame and '60s styling - powered by an Indianbuilt Enfield engine. Egli is the Swiss inlporter for the Indian marque, as well as the engineering consultant: the EgliEnfield - finished just a couple of days before the show - must be the sub-continent's equivalent of a Binlota. And finally - save the best till last? Well, judging by the crowds on John Bloor's IFMA stand, that's what many visitors thought the new Triumphs were. The fully faired T595 Daytona and street fighter-styled T509 Speed Triple naked bike made their world debuts in Cologne, both fuel injected and sharing the same oval-section tubular extrudedaluminum perimeter frame which weighs 22 pounds and uses the. heavily revised tltree-cylinder engine as·a structural member. With styling of the Daytona undeniably reminiscent of the Ducati 916, the Italian connection goes further still wi th the adoption of a single-sided swingarm a nd a Showa rear shock as on the Ducati, and 45mm Showa cartridge forks. Based heavily on the existing Bloor triple, which continues in production on other models, the new engine ltas thinner, stronger yet lighter major castings, as well as an accent on weight saving on almost every internal component. With capacity punched out to 955cc thanks to a 3mm bigger bore than the 885cc T509 naked bike, the 79 x 66mm Daytona delivers a claimed 130 bhp at 10,200 rpm. with a high, 10,700-rpm rev ceiling obtained thanks to stronger semi-forged pistons. The cylinder head has been developed in conjunction with Lotus Engineering to determine optimum port and combustion chamber shapes, with new cam profiles and a freer flowing 3-into-l exhaust system. With an ultra-sophisticated, Frenchbuilt Sagem engine management system boasting the most powerful compute~ ever fitted to a motorcycle, processing three million instructions per second, the indirect sequential EFI has one twinjet injector per cylinder and is clainled to allow the T595 to present itself as a serious competitor to Honda'S class-leading CBR900RR in the hypersports category, as well as the costlier Ducati 916, which does, however, have the added kudos of World Superbike supremacy - a challenge Triumph has evidently quite deliberately chosen not to accept, by endowing the new 436-pound Daytona with an engine 55cc bigger than Superbike racing's tltree-cylinder cutoff. Meanwhile, the 108 bhp delivered at 9,100 rpm by the 431.2-pound Speed Triple's more torquey engine has been obtained by reprogramming the fuel injection to obtain greater midrange punch at the expense of lower peak power. But if ever a motorcycle was built to be the wheelie boss of the boulevard, it's this one, retailing in Britain for 8,800 pounds ($13,816), ir\cluding 17.5 percent tax, compared to the Daytona's 9,695 ($15,221). Cologne showed the Europeans are back in business, with an array of competitively priced, individually styled, mouth-watering bikes that rival the best from Japan. But the biggest message from IPMA '96 is that Suzuki means business - and has the products to back up its determined quest for that coveted number-one slot in mainstream motorcycling. So, when do we see the new GSXRl100 that'll out-teCh and outrun a Honda CBRl1ooXX? "Wait till Paris"? l~ , ~ l-< Q) ..n o .... u o 13

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