Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

EURO FILE" BYALAN CATHCART Britain's lar gest chassis specialist, whose bikes led the field in single-cylinder race design three years ago, but wh ose alloyfra m ed d eltabox design has now bee n su rp assed by its rivals in top-level interna tio nal raci ng - though Ha rris rid er Dave Morri s still won the Singles IT in th e Isle of Man earlier this mont h at reco r d speed, on his BM W-po w e red bike. . Wh ile brot her Lester conti nue s to run t he works Suz uki World Superbike team , the Harris withd rawal from SODec GP racing (after its three-cylinder prototy p e, powered by the Sw is s ADM engi ne, was refused an entry this season by IRT A) ha s prov id ed Steve Harris with the time to work on a new tubu larsteel single-cylinder chassis design . The bike will be equipped wi th Ohlins suspension, and Harris pl ans to d ebut it bef ore the en d of this yea r, read y to market for th e 1998 season and ab le to accommodate an y upright-cylinder (i.e., not Ducati) four-stroke single engine . A s treet ver sion will also be available to specia l-orde r. Frenchtwindebuts A s previewed earlier this year in April' s Euro File, th e new Fren ch Vo xan marq u e broke co ve r offici ally with a press co nfere nc e on June 6 during th e French GP at Paul Ricard, hosted by co m pany boss Jacques Gardette, w hose pre sentat io n confirmed t he details about the marq ue and its future product s a lre ady ou tline d in thi s co l- umn. Though t h e r e w as no s ig n of the prototype s ix-speed V1000 Ro ad st e r (po wered by t h e n-d e gre e liqu idcooled V-tw in engine which its eng ine R&D h ou s e Sod emo h a s h ad und er d evel o pment fo r th e pa st three yea rs) w hich Vo xa n will launch at the Paris Sho w in Sept ember, photos of th e bike have now been re lea sed . The cr isp , flow ing s tyli ng, d one by Sa ch a La ki c (w i th ch a ssis d esign by O Alain Chevallier ), id entifies the VlOO as. a next -generation Ducati M on st er, fir st o f a se r ie s o f fiv e b ik es which Vox an says it plans to laun ch in th e n e xt tw o yea rs . Thes e include th ree 1000cc ma chi ne s - th e Road ster neoM onst e r, a s po r tier Cafe Ra ce r, and ' New f ren ch mot orcycle manufact urer Sc rambl er s t ree t e n d u r o a n d tw o Voxan has finally unveiled Its first mo d els powered by a 1240cc vers io n of prototype , the V1000 Roadster. ns new th e s a m e Vvtwin en g in e - a Cru iser factory in central France should be on tou ring bike and a Custom s treet rod . line in early 1998, and the company All will b e o ffe re d with a th ree-yea r intends to market th e full lin eup In the unlim i ted-mileag e wa r r a n ty , and United States. Vo xan will com m ence production early in 1998 in a facto ry which has a lready been built in Isso ire, in ce ntra l Fra nce. Th e com pany's sa les drive is initially aimed not o nly {\1 th e Fren ch ho me market, but also at German y, Bri ta in, HoIlan d , Ital y, Sp ain, th e United States , a nd Japan, with an eventual target of seIl ing 3000 bikes per year by th e year 2000. Gardette und erl ines th at the company' s break-even point is 1200 bikes per yea r , a turnover which will be fatt ened by the sale of a ra nge of special Vo xan leisure wear a nd accesso rie s, includin g specially d es igned Fu rygan leather garmen ts and Sha rk hel mets. A Voxan Owners Club will a lso be fo und ed , holding various specia l even ts ea ch yea r, cat ering to cu stome rs of th e French marque. As predicted, this is ev idently a ve ry seri ous commercial und er taki ng w hich is se tjo add a new name to the lis t of hig h- profile, niche-market, q ual ity Eu ro pean bike marques. > Afresh new D ucati b\ 0\ ...... 4 In the wake of the recent p u rch ase by American ve n ture cap ita lis ts TPG of a contro lli ng in terest in Ducati , a m ajor rea ssessm ent of the Ita lian co m pa ny's ma rketing strategies and int ern al organization is taking p lace - the d etail s of w hich I'll be reporting on as they happen. One fun ction of this is to separate Duca ti's operation entirely from its former Ca gi va paren ts so th at , althou g h the tw o com pa nies will cont inue to be cust omers of eac h o the r's (Duca ti w ill still supply engines to Cag iva, for example , and buy its frames from the Cagiva Telaii chassis factory as before), criti cal ar eas of prod oct pla nning and ma rketing are being tak en in-house, to ensu re that Ducati has complete control over its ow n destiny. As part of th is opera tion, Ducati is in th e proce ss of est ab lis h i ng it s own desig n s tu dio in th e Bolog na factory, head ed up by new recruit and for me r Cagiva em p loyee Pierre Terblanche - . creator of the benchmark Ducati Superm o n o, as w ell a s of th e m ore r ecent Cagiva Canyo n 600 single a nd 900 Vtw i n - who ha s no w join ed the n ew Ducati Mot or co m pany to head up its new styling departme nt. Terb lanche formerly worked alo ngsid e Massimo Tam bu rin i in Ca gi va ' s CRC R&D studio in San Marino, but has now left to work fu ll time for Du cati, wh ere he' Il oversee the ev olution of the compa ny's new mo dels. Some of these ma y still be contracted out to CRC - or els ewh ere - but wit h Terblan che in char ge of overall design, a scenario that could happen with any othe r major car or bike manufacturer . . Ho w e ve r , firs t up is the urge n tl y need ed rep lacement for the 90055, sa les of which ha ve com e almost to a stands till in the face of keen ly priced competition from the new Japan ese V-t w in s and with the Du cati design studi o sti ll u nder cons tru ction in the win g adj oining the drawing office in the Borgo Paniga le facto ry, Terblanche was force d to rent space and facilities in Britain to do the job , a t the award-winning Fu tura Design stu dios in Birmi ngh am. Th is has a llowed hi m to per son a lly com plete a comp rehe ns ive red es ign of th e air / oil -cooled two- val ve s por ts model in the sp ace of just two months, rivaling his six-week blitz in producing the Super mono five yea rs ago! While retaining the sa me ove ra ll spa ce-fra me cha ssis design as on the current 90055, with up rated rear su s pen sion and a revised rear subfra me, Ter blanche has given Ducat i' s bigg est- selling volumeproduct sportbike a rad ical, fre sh , distinct ive new look which is unmistaka bly Du cati ..yet likely to set a new trend in spo rtbike design - just as Tamburin i' s Pa so d id a decade ag o, and, m o r e recently, as the 916 did . To be marketed in both full y faired and half-faired versio ns, as it is presen tly, the Nuova 90055 (which is likely to be fit ted with a carbu re ted ve rs io n of the ST2's 944cc two-valv edesm o V-twin eng ine, but still in air / oil-cooled guise) will be launched at the Milan Show in September, a nd will begin p roduction soon jlfterward . It wi ll p erhaps carr y a name rat her tha n co n ti n u i ng w ith the nu m e r ical m odel designa tion, whic h TPG ' s m arketi ng gu ru s are known to question es pecia lly wit h regard to the Un ited Sta tes, w hich is o ne of th e co m pany' s key target markets. But g i v e n Terblanche ' s dyn ami c res tyli ng job, and the grea t strides made by Du cati engi neers in improving th e m echan ical tw o-va lve desmo package (as evidenced by the well-received ST2), pe rhaps anyone who hasn't yet bought a H onda VTRlOOO o r Su zu ki TLlOOO, and is in the market for a V-twi n sportbike, is abou t to have their choice mad e mu ch har d e r . Du ca ti fight s ba ck ? Believe it! Tho ug h the 900SS replacement will initiall y be so ld with a conve ntio nal double-sided rear swingarm (similar to the p resent bik e ' s s w i n ga r m ), there are moves afoo t to prod uce a mo re expensive single-seat SP version of th e bike, wit h Termig no ni carbon cans and other detail refinements - and a 916-type single-sided swin garm: There are even suggestions that such a bike could be buil t and sold in an individually nu mbered , limited ed ition, painted green and silver, to commemorate the 25th annivers ary of what was arguably Ducati's mos t significan t race win - Paul Smart's victory in th e Imo la 200 in April 1972 over teammate Bruno Spaggiari, thus registering a histori c 1-2 which esta blished the thennew Du cati des mo V- twtn's performa nce credentials. TPG's as tu te mar ketin g m en a re still gett ing up to speed ; hence the fact that, at the recent Misano World Superbike ro u nd on almo st the same day as Smart's win 25 yea rs ago, there was no commemora tion of this significant milestone victory. Bu t a limited editio n of 944SPs - with the fu el tank signed by Paul and Bruno - would be a Smart (ouch l) move. Wai t for the Milan Show to see if they go for it. H arrissingle again "We' ve ta ken our eyes off the Su permono ba ll, and th e tim e's co me to get back on the case aga in wit h an all-new design . The class is getting rea lly welles ta blis hed at all different lev els, and we're still selling bikes - bu t Tigcraft has stolen a bit of a march on us , wh ich we need to do someth ing about." So says St eve H arris of H arris Pe rforma nc e, Benelli m ovesforward The r ebirth of Italy' s h is to r ic Benell i marque - in the hands of wealthy former Su p ersport ra cer / nowad a ys ' works Du cati su pcrbike team o wne r Andrea Merloni - is right on sched ule, with production of the SOcc Minarelli-p owered 491 scoote r range having begun in May. Pr od uction at Benelli's new Pe saro fa ctory h a s n ow s ta b ilized at 60 ma chines a day, with the 491' s rad ical looks evi de ntly a hit in scooter-mad Italy - the 491 is back-ord ered while the fact ory struggles to meet demand. This is a go od sign, since Merloni plans to generate the cash flow needed to rest art the ma nufactu re of Bene lli motorcycles eariy in the next millennium wit h prof, its ge nera ted by this and other scooters . Exports of th e 491 to Fra nc e begin thi s m onth, and to Germany ea rly in 1998 - but before then, Benelli pl an s to d ebut stage tw o .of its comebac k p lan , w it h th e u n veil ing of a new ra ng e of 12S cc sc ooters (a s w e ll as a Str e et Enduro versi on of the 491) at the Milan Show in September, w h ere th e y ' ve booked a hug e stand tha t is two-thirds th e size of th e mu ch m ore establis hed Aprilia marque. Merloni obviously means busi ness and, with the Italian bike scene buzzing wit h co nfirmatio n tha t Benelli ch ief engineer Riccardo Rosa is hard at work d evelop in g a un iqu e V-three 900cc s u per b i ke e n g ine (as e xcl u s Iv e ly revealed in Euro File earlier this year), Bene lli looks set to become a serious player on the European bike scen e very soon. Show time? The ba ttle of th e bienn ial Bike Expos tha t's been sim mer ing fo r so me yea rs loo ks set to exp lode in 1998. For many years, the November Milan Show (held in od d- numbered yea rs) alterna ted wit h Co log ne's Octob er IFMA d isp lay (in even-nu m bered yea rs ) as th e chosen venue for manufacturers from all countries to launch their new mod els on the world s tage - tha t is, until the Fren ch decided to upstage Milan by staging a major show in Paris in Sep tember, still on a biennia l basis. Milan re spond ed this yea r by moving its da tes forwa rd to mid-Sept ember, upstaging Paris by two weeks (However, the debut of the long -awaited Cagiva F4, Aprili a RSV1000, a nd Bimota SB8 superbikes make it probable th at most Japan ese man ufactu rers will hold off on

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