Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127851
RIDING IMPRESSION Vee Two Squalo By Alan Cathcart Photos by J oh n Innes and Rick McDowell es, "Squalo" m eans "shark" in Italian: "Jaws." spaghern-seyle. It's a word with a sound that is redolen t of the killing machine it describes. imbued with the sleek m en ace of the finned mara ud er that cruise; the Vee Two Australia's Squalo, styled by John Keogh, carries Its shark theme through the whole desIgn. from Its rakish nose to Its gllled tall. fl ~ ~ oceans' hig hways hunting for prey, then poun ces unerringly on its target before dispatching it and sea rching for more. It's a grea t name for a m oto rcycle ~ especially gteat for a bike ma de in Australia, home of the Great Wh ite, but one fitte d w ith an Italian engi oe to d el iver spo rt bike perf o rm an ce co uple d w ith lea di n g-edge handling; a bi ke, in fact, like the Vee Tw o Sq ua lo ju st en tering p roduction in Perth, home of the world's lend ing a fterm arket tu nin g speci alist for th e two-val ve Ducati V-twin ran g e, Brook Henry's Vee Two Australia . Meet La Squalo Vcloce - the fast sh ark, newest predato r on Racer Road. Specialist chassis kits for mainstream manufacturer s' motors are no thing new in the m otorcycl e wor ld - that' s h o w m a n y marqu es, from Broug h Superior to Bue ll, have gotten the ir kickstart down through the years, after all. But apart from Bimota with its DBl /DB2 / Mantra series, no on e in the past quarter-century but the parent factory has ever marketed a series- production street bike based on a Ducati Vtwin engine . Sure, tube-benders like H arris and Spondon have m ad e lots of speci al rac e frame s for cus tomer s to build onc-off desmo kit bikes, m any of th em often more or less stree t legal. But that's not the some thing as developi ng a dedicated Ducati-powered road bike with a distinctive chassis design Some way ahead of w ha t the factory itself has to offer for the sam e motor, clothed wi th specially commiss ioned avant-garde styling cra fted by one o f the w orld's leading bike d es igners, then certifie d for stree t use in the p rincipal bike markets aro un d the globe a nd prod uced e ither as a com p le te mot orcycle wi th all- ne w com ponen ts (including the engine} or as a chassis kit that gives cu stomers th e option to upgrad e their ow n ex is ti ng two -valve d esmo V-twin package. Yet that's what Brook Henry' s been working on for th e past 12 months, in conjunction with Japanese chassis guru Ken sei Sato o f Over Racin g and British sty lis t John Keogh - and now th e Vee Two Squalo ha s hit the marketplace, with TsV complian ce in Germ any the first ste p toward worldwide stree t-lega l certification . Th e Squ alo is no kit bike, but a complete purpo se-built producti on ro ad model from a new manufacturer. It's also the righ t bike at the right lime. How so, w he n new Du cati o w ners TPG have anno unce d they're cutting off o utside supplies o f desmo engines e ve n to an established cus tom er like Bimota - so no more DB2s or Mantras? The answ er lies in the fact th at, with th e d ebut o f th e VTRlOOO Honda and TLl OOO Suzuki Vtwins earlier this year, there are literally hundreds of 900SS Ducatis in dealerships all over th e w orld with m os s growing under their wheel s - bikes wh ich. even before the ad ve n t of the Japanes e Vtw ins, w ere incr easing ly hard to se ll because the I'>-year-<>ld 900SS is w ell past " its sell-by d ate. "We know the tw o-valve Ducati market as well as the factory d o themsel ves, ma ybe better," says Brook Henry. "An d I've had my eye on thi s situati on for so me tim e . Ducati should have co mpletely revamped the 90055 at least twa