Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

' launching their new mod els unt il Paris all except for Honda's new Africa Twin and Suzu ki's o wn TL1000-p owered Vtwi n end uro, bo th of whi ch are expect ed to be at Milan .) That still left Colog n e's m a ssi ve 'I FMA- fes t a lone in ev e n - n u m bere d l years as the o nly Wo r ld Show - until f next yea r, wh en it opens its doo rs o n September 30. Escala ting the dissa tisfacI tion of manu facturers from all over the wo rld rega rd ing IFMA's in cr easingly stee p costs, as well as the fact tha t th e mo torcycle ind ust ry ha s to s ha re th e shows focus wit h the concu rrent bicycle d isplay, has pro mpted the orga nization o f a new m o torcy cl e -on ly show in Mun ich next year - openin g three weeks ea rlie r, on September 9. Th ough the ea rly da te will go down very badl y in coun trie s like France and Ital y (w he re businesses close d own for the mo nth of r A ugus t du ring the crucia l lead-in time to such a sho w), it seems probable tha t mos t manufactu rers from around the world will launch thei r new 1999 models at Munich. Make yo ur hotel reserv ations now ... For His Majesty's Cycle Services King juan Carlo s of Spai n, a confirmed motorcyclist (he r id es a BMW K100, of te n tak ing s olo trips ro u nd Mad rid a nd in to th e Sp an ish co untryside, often preferring to do so without a bo d yg u a rd o n th e g ro u n ds tha t, w i th a full -face h el m e t, h e ca n' t be reco g ni zed !) has b een a wa rd ed a gold medal for services to moto rcycling by the AM. He's also interested in clas sic bike s and , d uring the recen t Spa nish F1 GP in Barcelona , spe n t th e ev en i n g before the race exa mi n- Segale tobuild two and four Ital ian chassis specialist Luigi Segale wil l launch tw o new mod els based on Honda 's latest sportbike mo tors at the forthco ming Milan Show in Sep tember - and, in doing so, will get a jump-s tart on other fram e builders such as Harris and Spondon, who are believed to be workin g o n other, simi lar projects. Like all previous Sega le models, these new Italian hyperbikes will be hand-built in the workshop attached to his flou rish ing Hond a dealership in Vigev an o, south of Milan , with prod uction of the first bike, called the Segale SR1000V, due to start in October. This wi ll be based on the Honda VTR1000 V-twin mo tor, here fitted in one of Seg ale' s tradem ark co m po si te chassis des ig ns, wit h the u pper chrome- mo ly tubul ar-steel spa cefra rne mat che d to aircraft alloy en gine plates com p rising the low er half of the chassis. The SR1000V wi ll feature one of Sega le's cas t-magnes ium , Sing le-sided swing arms, such as those he already sells as an aftermarket kit for the s tock CBR900RR, a nd o n his ow n CBR90Q-engined SR900, pivoti ng in the V-twin engine's crankcases, but, as on a Bimo ta OB2, also sup ported by the chassis plates to deliver added rig id ity. "I' ll retain th e side-mou nted radi ators, w hich ar e an ava nt-garde design featu re that works well and keeps the bike slim," says Segale. "The styli ng will be bas ed on the stock VTRl ooo bodywork, bu t with a fu ll fairin g, tw in hcadl am ps, and exha usts ex iting un der the seat, like on a Ducati 9 16. In this way, I'm su re our bike w ill resolve the mai n reason for the VTR1000's disappointing sales, in Italy at least, which is tha t it's not spo rty enough for the twin-cylinder cus tome r, and also overpriced for what it is - ove r 10 percent more expensive than a VFR7SO, for example. Ou r bike won't be cheap - but with an optiona l tu ning kit that we'll also be offering, it'll have the loo ks tha t peo ple wa nt, and performance to match." The SRIOOOV will also be the first twin-cylind er Segale design since the avantga rde, aluminum- ho neycomb mon oco que chassis he was commissioned by the Duca ti factorv to"bu ild bac k in 1980, but whi ch never saw production and which now lan gu ishes in a store roo m at the Bologna plant. . Sega le's other new mod el won't go in to production u ntil 1998, but it' s poten tially even more exciting than the SRlOOOV: A similar com posite chassis with cast-magnesium, single-sid ed swingarm , this time us ing the engine from Honda's CBR1100XX, an d close ly based o n the CBR900RR-engi ned SR900 design that's been in production for th e pas t three years - fo r which his biggest ma rket has , ironically, been ja pa n. "I don 't expect to have the com plete bi ke finished in time for II Salone," says Segale, "bu t for su re we'll have the rolling chassis on display, which I intend shou ld give the CBR1100XX mech ani cal package the spo rting handling it dese rves . But the styling will be im portant, too; we need to op tim ize the top- speed performance of this bike, but also ma ke it look distinctive." British d esign er john Keog h is alrea dy in contact with Segale to work out the sty ling package for th e si ngle-seat SR11OOXX, which is likely to se t new standa rds fo r h ig h- speed cr uising potential on Ge rma n autobahn s . T he b ike wo n ' t b e offe re d for sa Ie with H ond a's co n troversia l li nked -b ra ke sys te m, as is used on the XX. Year of the twin The Superniono class is now a well-established part of the World Superbike p rogram, wit h full grids of cutting-ed ge fou r-stroke singles providi ng thri lling racing yet sa les of single-cylinder sportbikes haven 't taken off to match this, in spite of the appeal tha t such bikes deliver in terms of reduced costs and pu n ty of handhng.. "Thi s is th e year of th e tw in , and that's wha t customers are looking for right now," says Dave Pearce, boss of Britain's leading Supermono chass is specialists, Tigcra ft, whose bikes pack the starting lineup at Sound of Singles races all over the wo rld . "But at th e sa me tim e, many of them wa nt somet hing indi vidual, w hich is cost-effectiv e to buil d, yet ha ndl es as well as a singl e. That's why we've developed the Tiga 100, to offer a middlew eigh t tw in-cylinder performance chassis for the 500 twins lik e th e Kawa sak i G PZSO , O Ho nd a CB500 and Su zu ki GS500. These bikes have been bu ilt in large numbe rs , selling at re as o nab le pric es fro m ne w . Kawasaki have mad e over 1SO,000 GPZSOOs so far, fo r exa m p le, a nd the Su zuk i is a to p -10 b est-seller i n Ger ma ny, Europe' s larges t bik e m arket - so y o u ca n p ick up a lo w-milea ge Eng lish chassis bu ilder Tlgcraft Is joining t he engine for one very chea ply. With a year of the twin, with an exotic GPZS()(). Tiga 100 roll in g chass is ava ila ble powered sportblke called the T1ga 100. Both fro m 4000 poun ds u p wa r d , d epending o n s peci fic a tio n, ou r street and race versions will be available. customers should be able to build a unique, ligh t spo rts twin for under 5000 pound s, then upgrad e the specification as tim e and money allow . The race versio n will also ma ke th e ba sis of a very competitive Middlew eight BaTT racer in the USA and elsewhere." Orig ina lly developed as part of Tigcraft's growing involv emen t in the Ameri can market, the Tiga 100 (Trium ph classi c bike o wners ,,;11 appreciate th e tongu e-In' chec k nature of the new bike's tagl) will en ter production later this year, in both rolling-chassis kit and fu lly built -up form. With Facto ry Design styling courtesy of Adam Whit e, w ho du ring his time at Seymour Pow ell played a key part in th e design of the MuZ Skorp ion, the Tiga 100 is available both in neoclassic Naked and semi faired Cafe Racer form, each with a single rou nd head lam p and stra ight onepiece handlebar (in road gu ise); th e BaTT race version has a full fairing and clipons. Both versions use the same 41mm large-d iameter 4130 chro me-moly steel- tube chassis format as the la test Tigcraft SoS/ Supe rmono design, but wi th the radi ator behind the eng ine for a cleaner, more classical appearance - just as is used for differen t reaso ns on the current Mod en as SOO GP triple, or, before that, the Saxo n Trium ph - cooled in traffic by a fan. . The proto ty pe curren tly u nd er construction em ploys the Ka wasa ki GPZ500 motor as its basis, but the same design will accept bo th Suzuki and Honda engines wit h only minor modification. Target weight for the complete bike wi th all street equi pment, fitted wit h the 115-pound GPZSOO engi ne, is 330 po unds, using the sa me carbo n-fiber subframe for the seat as a Tigcraft race bike , and a Ho nda NSR250 single-sided swingarm wit h O hlins shock and rising-rate linka ge. Forks are fa t 45mm conventional Showas fro m a Honda CBR900RR, fitted w ith a sing le 320mm PFM cast-iron front disc wi th AP's new six-piston caliper. A carbo n fuel tank will be ava ilable as an opt ion ; with an alloy tank , a bike w ith these com po nents and a new GPZSOO motor will cost just und er 8000 pou nd s (about $13,200), read y for the street: a bargain Bimo ta, mad e in England. Contact Tigcraft UK Ltd . at their fax nu mb er (+44 (0)1252-372649) for fu rther details. ing w hat is arg u abl y Euro pe's fin es t p riva te co ll e c tion of h is to ric raci ng moto rcycles, belon ging to a frien d (and subject!) of his who lives nea r th e Catalan ca p ita l. You guessed it : N ow, Hi s Majesty wa n ts to find o u t for himself w ha t it' s like to ri d e a Manx Nor ton o r a Yama ha TZ750 ! Expect a royal edict requ isit ioning the Mo n tmelo G P circuit fo r an afte rnoon, and wa tch for a red -and -yellow helmet with a cro w n pai nt ed o n it.. . Maico coming back Sogalo'. last effort at building 8 chass is for a V·twin engine was this aluminum· honey comb monocoque chassis for a Ducatl eng ine in 1980. Now the Italian chass is specialist Is planning on a VIR1000-powered mach ine, due in OCtober. Now back in prod uction agai n (under new owne rs) a re Mai co off-roa d b ik es . The m arq u e (fo r me rly owned by the fou ndi ng G!'rman Ma isch fam il y ) wen t ba nkr upt fiv e y ears ago, and was the n refounded in Oct ober 1995 by the Dutchbased engi neering compa ny Rod em . Though th e y launched a new ran ge of 250, 320, 440 and 500cc models (in both end uro and m ot ocross fo rms, powered by Ma ico' s own e ngi nes a nd fitted w i th Bre mbo brakes and Marzocch i suspension) at the IFMA show last year, Rod em appea r to have bee n undercapitalized for pr oduction , and ea rlier this year sold Maico Mo torcycles to Du tch entrepreneur Cor Jacobs, whose Xylofoon BV hol ding compa ny has moved the operation to a b ra nd-ne w, pur po se-bu ilt fac to ry at Venlo, in Holland , right on the Germa n border. jacobs, a d yn ami c businessma n with strong link s to the' off-road bike world , see ms to have go tten the company moving agai n w ith the restart o f produc tion and th e es tab lishment of worldwide di stribu tio n, as well as trademarkin g the Maico ' Iog o th rou gh ou t the wo r ld . Maico pla ns to return to com pe titio n again next year, in orde r to prom ote the marqu e's resurgence, but, in the mean tim e, expect a ran ge of new bikes to be actually d isp layed - as opposed to just ta lked abo ut - at the Paris Show in September. 0 5

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