Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

BenetD's first step Rules were meant to get tighter The official FIM Bulletin has now been published - a little late in the day! - confirming the revised rules for various Championship classes that were implemented after the Bangkok Congress last year. It makes interesting reading - especially the small print regarding superbike and supersport rules. 1997 superbike regulations require the displacement capacities to remain as per the homologated engine capacity - increasing the bore size to within the class limit is no longer allowed. So if you have an engine that doesn't use chrome cylinder bores and you want to go to the next oversize piston, you can't - well, that's what it says by implication in the bulletin. Of course, this is aimed at stopping Ducati from progressively increasing the engine capacity of its twin toward the 1000cc limit, as they've been doing for the past 10 years, and is a classic case of shutting the stable door, ince of course the 996cc Sf'S launched at the Cologne Show took care of this in advance - and bikes homologated bfifore 1997 are specifically exempted from. this restriction, anyway. You have to ask yourself - why bother? More interesting are some other points. One: "The method of earn drive must remain as homologated, unless a complete kit is available through normal commercial channels." (Got that, Kawasaki - and Yamaha?) Two: "The method of valve retention must remain as homologated." (No . pneumatic retention devices are allowed, unless fitted to the homologated model.) Sounds like the new Australian Hunwick Hallam V-twin has the lock on this technology for the foreseeable future, with its nitrogen chambers for the pneu-. malic valve gear integrated into the cyJi.nder-head casting of its XIR Superbike. Finally, "the only material not allowed for brake discs are carbon fiber or carbon composite materials." Thi explains why Brembo is understood to be experimenting with metal matrix disc materials which, though extremely costly (the whole reason why carbon discs were banned from superbike racing), have a much lower unsprung weight and reduced gyroscopic effect on the steering, especially when combined with motorcycle versions of the ultra-lightweight beryllium calipers now being used in Formula One car racing. In the supersport section, an interesting paragraph reads as follows: "As of 1-1-98, the power of supersport machines is controlled by a maximum diameter over a minimum length: An induction tract restriction will take place in the carburetor/throttle body. 600cc four-cylinder: maximum diameter of 36.5mm over a minimum length of 27mm. 750cc twin-cylinder: maximum diameter of 44mm over a minimum length of 33mm." Did you know the FIM was imposing an intake restriction on the most popular race class in the world - even for those countries with a strict 600cc limit, where 750cc twins don't race? Well, you do now! I:.'\' An Adventurer in his own right Ever since he started selling the British bikes five years ago, Triumph's Italian importer Numero Tre's boss Carlo Talamo has taken a cue from the HarleyDavidson marque he also imports, and converted stock Triumph roadsters in Italy t{) offer a series of small-volume custom specials. Ta,lamo isn't afraid to present his bikes as ideas the British factory should have thought of but didn't, and his latest two models are no exception. First up is the Numero Tre version of the slow-selling Adventurer, with what Talamo terms "just a few inexpensive modifications to get this bike more in line with modem tastes." These include a low, flat BMW-type handlebar, a new aluminum speedo bracket holding just one gauge, front Italian Triumph importer Carlo Talamo headlight brackets reversed to make the has his own Ideas of what Triumphs front fork look longer, and a two-tone should be. Shown is his restyled and paint treatment for that controversial rear re-engineered Thunderbird, built to a fender to make it look less heavy. more supersport-type spec. Talamo is building 40 copies of the revamped Adventurer (or should that be Avventura?). Fax him in Italy at 39-2-93581922 if you'd like to know more about it. The second umero Tre special is more radical, but this time it's not for sale. "The Thunderbird Super Sport is just a styling exercise, but in my opinion, there's no bike in the market at present which has the right retro-look, heritage and interesting performance, like this one has," Talamo say . "It would be too expensive to modify a stock T-Bird into a Super Sport, but if produced at factory level, it could be a very interesting bike." The extensive modifications include uprating the 900 triple motor to 80-bhp Tiger spec, with a ix-speed. gearbox instead of the stock T-Bird five-speeder. Trident 750cc pistons are fitted to increase compression, with Super ill camshafts and ignition, and Speed Triple carb rubbers. On the chassis, the fork stanchions are Speed Triple outer tubes with T-Bird inners, with stiffer springs front and rear, 17inch Marvic wheels, Brembo front disc and pads with a Daytona caliper, rearset footpegs and gear linkage, and a lower Tommaselli handlebar. • The Triumph parts-bin payoff comes in the performance, says Talamo. "I love riding this bike, which is absolutely different than the stock Thunderbird and frankly a lot more fun. She's fast, precise-handling and very, very stable, as well as long-legged. It's a classic-style bike you like to cover good ltistances on. 1 know from being at the sharp end and talking to customers that there's a market for such a version of the Triurilph naked-bike family - but the tough job is persuading the factory to think the same way." Or rather, perhaps, persuading Mr. Bloor... With Rumi's revival nearing reality, another historic Italian marque has already taken the first steps back into business, with the launch of the first new range of scooters carrying the Benelli name to be produced after the Pesaro-based firm was acquired exactly a year ago by wealthy industrialist (and former supersport racer) Andrea Merloni, boss of the Ga ttalone Superbike team which this year will run a works Ducati for Pier-Francesco Chili in the World Superbike series. As recently as three months ago, Europe's huge scooter market was the M~loni was talking about returning Benelli to the marketplace in the Impetus for Benelll's 491. Sales are likely to be 1998 model year - but his develop- strong for the aggressively styled scooter, ment team headed by FIM World thus infusing the company with cash to fund Superbike technical inspector Fabio future motorcycle production. Fazi has pulled off a minor miracle in bringing the range of three aggressively-styled, sporty Benelli 491 models powered by 50cc Minarelli crankcase-reed-valve two-stroke motors from ground zero to prer duction-ready in less than 12 months. Manufacture will begin later this month in the new, 32,OOO-plus-square-foot purpose-built Benelli factory in Pesaro emp!oying 50 people in startup phase, with the intention of building 10,000 scooters this year, to be sold in Italy, France and Germany, with production gearing up to include a new 125cc OHC four-stroke range to be launched in 1998. But in an exclusive interview Andrea Merloni has confirmed that his plans are to restart Benelli motorcycle manufacture early in the next century, provided that his aim to capture at least 5 percent of the million-plus European scooter market in the next few years - thus providing the cash flow to underpin motorcycle production - is attained. He also confirms he plans to build a Benelli Superbike and go racing with it - but remains tight-lipped about the rumored three-cylinder 900cc engine reportedly under development. However, confirmation of Merloni's future plans for Benelli comes with the identity of the latest recruit to head up his engineering team: Riccardo Rosa, the former Ferrari and Alfa Formula One race engineer who worked with Eddie Lawson and John Kocinski to turn the 500cc Cagiva into a GP-winning bike, then headed the Cagiva fourcylinder SUperbike development program, before leaving to join Benelli last December. Rosa surely doesn't plan to spend the rest of his professional career working on scooters: A full range of Benelli motorcycles powered by its own four-stroke engines must not be so.very far away, given the resources of the privately owned 'Gruppo Merloni - Italy's largest white goods manufacturer - which now owns 55 percent of the Benelli company. Why scooters first, not motorcycles? A look at the '96 sales charts for the Italian scooter and moped market explains why. Last year, no less than 528,000 scooters were sold in Italy, representing a massive 48 percent of an entire European scooter market of 1.1 million units. Of the total of 586,000 mopeds and scooters sold in Italy during 1996, 173,000 were built by Piaggio, followed by Aprilia with 128,000 (now you know how they could afford to go GP racing in three different classes!), Malaguti with 74,000, MBK/Yamaha with 60,000 and Honda with 25,000. The market stayed solid, with a 1500-unit increase over 1995, already a record year for sales. As more parking and traffic restrictions are enforced in European cities, the market is expected to grow still further, not ,only in Italy but especially in northern European countries like Scandinavia and Britain, where in spite of not having such favorable year-round climatic conditions for two-wheeled urban transport as Italy, the scooter has now made the breakthrough as a usable fashion object in terms of practical chic. If and when this particular Euro-fashion ever spreads to America, Italian scooter manufa~ers will all be able to afford to start building motorcycles. Vdue you later, DB2 go With a two-month delay in starting production of the Vdue 500 two-stroke, because of a holdup in supply of components from outside suppliers. Bimota has used the time to build a final batch of 100 DB2 sportbikes powered by carbureted 90055 Ducali engines. The DB2s will be finished in a grey and red paint scheme, and will be available from Bimota importer from April Bimota is producing a final run of 100 Ducatl-powered DB2s. These will probably be the last Ducati-twinonward. Selling in Italy for powered Bimotas, since Ducati won't be selling Its around $13,600, each of the powerplants to outside manufacturers anymore. final series of the street version of the bike which WOIl the 1996 BEARS World Series title will be individually numbered, and sold with a certificate stating it's the last of the more than 600 twovalve desmo Bimotas produced in both carbureted and fuel-injected form since the model was launched back in 1993. With Duca'ti boss Massimo Bordi on record as saying that no more desmo V-twin engines will be supplied to outside companies (with the exception - for the time being - of Cagiva), this looks like the end of the line for Bimota's twin-cylinder range - until the new SB8, powered by the Suzuki TLlOOO V-twin motor fitted with an alternative fuel injection package, is launched at the Milan Show in September and comes on line for the 1998 model year.

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