Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Handli ng Is light and precise , with supe rmono flickablJlty without a sacrtflce In stabili ty around high-speed sweepers. yea rs ago, but fo r re as ons w hich only became a p paren t late r, they didn ' t h a v e t h e res ource s to d o so . We d o n't expect or need to sell thousands of Squalos to mak e its d evelopmen t financially v iable, but we have dea ls in place aro und the world to source brand -new 9(X)SS bikes a t the right price, which we're splitting to source the engine an d o ther parts w e need for the Sq ualo production line . We 're only doing what Bimota did themsel ves in the ir early d ays, and we even have a mar ke t fo r the u nwanted s tock 900SS fra mes a n d bod ywork . The Du cati fac tory o ugh t not to hav e a problem w it h what w e 're d oing , because w e' re h elping th eir dea lers ea rn cashflo w and cl ear the ir floor p lans for the new 90055 they're launching in September at M ila n - bu t th a t won't affect Squalo production either, because w e're o ffering a quite di fferent motor cycle, with uprated handling and d istin cti v e s tyli ng, that w ill be m ore exclusive because it' s be ing bu ilt in smaller n umbers, We're catering for the h igh en d of the two-val ve market with our alloy space fram e bik e, whereas the new Terblanche-designed 9OO5S will be a steel -framed , volume-prod uction product that will also look q u ite different," Brook He nry has be e n down this road before, albei t o n a smaller sca le, with the Alchemy monos hock frame kit he developed a decade ago for the bev eldrive V-twin desmo engine in which his business then specialized . Around a hundred of these were p roduced before Vee Two Australia began to focus on the two-valve, belt-drive desmo market, with a range of race-developed performance products that has earned the company a worldwide reputation amongst discerning Ducatisti. This culminated in Vee Two wi n ning the 1996 World Series BEARS title with a DB2derived racer d evel oped in conjunction wi th th e Bim ot a factory, powered b y a Vee Two-t u ned 900SS-based e ngine delivering subs tantially more th an 100 bhp at the rear w heel. However, it was Henry's parallel shot at winning the European Supermono Championship (ru n as a World Superbike support class las t season) w h ich resulted in the birth of the Squalo, for the Vee Two-tu ne d Ducati sing le's bigge st rival for the title turned ou t to be Kensei Sato's Over Yama ha. In finish ing jus t two poi nts apart at the top of the tab le at the en d o f th e eight-rou nd series, th e two engine ers devel oped. a mu tu al respect and appreci ation of each oth er's talen ts over the course of the season. That led to a commercial link-up to develop the Squalo, usiog the trad emark Over OVlOA o val-secti on alloy space frame Sato had rec entl y developed for the 900SS Ducati motor. Having finalized his mechanical packag e, H enry now had to source some styl ing - ba sed on the Auss ie Shark theme on which he'd decided to focus the new model. British designer John Keogh - who coincidentally rides a latemodel 900SS o n the street - was chosen from the trio of in ternational des ign ers who submitted drawings for the project, and the Squalo's dramatic styling is the result of his nine months of labo r on the project. which included a six-week perio d in the 104 -de gree Pert h sum mer scu lpting the full-sized clay model of the bike in a non-air -conditioned stud io! But Keo gh's stin t in th e sweats hop paid off, as these photos of the prototype Squa lo now cruisi n' th e streets show . Quit e a pa rt from all th e fis hy d es ign de tail s - cou n t 'em: the shark-eye head lamps, trademark chin and mout h, gills in the sea t, and soft white underbelly - this is by any standards a dramatic, eye-ca tching piece o f tw o-wheeled styling, one that su btly changes its loo k, de pending on the light and surround ings. Two-wheeled art? Closest th ing to it since Tamburini's 916, in my book - even if I think the bellypan's pearl-w hite paint, intended to den o te the shark's underside, d oesn't quite come off. It looks like it's been primcred and prepped for painting. whereas some slashes of blue aro un d the "gi lls· wouldn't come amiss. But what a great piece of overall and detail d esign. On the basis of the Squalo, Keogh h a s jo ined t he u p p e r level of motoncycle stylists. But don't get the idea that the Squalo is all show, no go. Tw o d ays of testing the prototype street bike, as the first person from outsi de Vee Two to ride it, convinced me this is a serious op tion for the desmo sport rider - especially at the p rice. Henry is retailing complete Sq ualos at $22,000 Australian ($ lS,Soo American) fo r his Au stralian ho me market, including 20 percent local tax, agai nst a list price Down Under for the curre nt 900SS of $19,000, which is expected to rise for the new model coming on line next year. Altern atively, yo u can pay $12,000 Australian ($9000 American) for a Squalo fra me kit, in cl ud in g . chassis. sw ingarm, all bodywork, rear subframe, he ad li g h ts (from a H onda CBR250RR, certified for street use worldw ide), bi g -bore SOm m ex ha ust system with Foran carbon ca ns, Over footpegs an d rearsets, engine bolts, tripl e clam ps, rear number plate and light, mirrors, and tu m signals (not yet fitte d to the prototype). Excluded fro m the kit are the 904cc engine, wheels, brakes, suspension and electrics, all of which are sourced from a n ew ze ro-m ileage 900SS on the full y built -up b ike, which is sprayed to th e custo mer's choice of colors (maximum of tw o, following the design of the prototype) . Bu t for those who want something a little more upmarket, Henry is offering a third option. in the form of a 944SP Squa10 retailing in Australia for $27.sao Gust under $21,000 in the United States) and including WP suspensio n, the Dymag . wheels as fitted to the prototype, and an engine spec based on a street version of Vee Two's 944cc BEA RS Wor ld Series champion. This engine is fitted with a lightened, rebala nced crank; high-compression, ceramic-coated pistons (2mm oversize); ported, flowed cylinder heads wit h Vee Two camshafts; reworked combustion chambers; and reangled oversize valves > as we ll as a Vee Two six-speed close-ratio gearbox. The resu lt will d eliver more than 100 bhp at the rea r wheel in street form - abo u t the same level of performance as a stock 916 Biposto otto val- vole, w it h s ubs ta nt ia llv improved m id ran g e compared to th~ standard 900SS. The prototy pe Sq ua lo is the ba semodel version, how ever, and was in fact d eri ved from a 13,OOO-mile M900 Monster an Ita lian adven turer bo ught in the United Sta tes (hence the m iles-per-hour speedo) a nd ro d e roun d Ca lifo rnia before shipping it to Australia, where he then toured around the islan d continent before ending his trip in Perth an d selling the bike to Vee Two. Nicely run in by then, the stock engine was freshened up by Vet! Two with a light tuneup, retaining the stock 904cc capacity, but with higher-compression 10.5:1 pistons and Vee Two's hightorque street cam grind, pl us lighter, reshaped valves that are the same size as stock. While the result delivers enough performance to lift the front wheel quite easily when you gas it up wide open in the bottom two gears, m aking a track session at Perth's Wanneroo race track very enjoyable, it was a tri p into the winding roads of the hill country east of the city th at really brought to light the ad vantages of the Over-chassised Squalo vs, a conven tional Bologna-built two-valver. Having raced the firs~ frui ts of the Over /Vee Two collabo ration for the joint venture's two pa rtners in Japan las t Nove mber an d e n ded up fifth in a Tsukuba H UGE-I main event on the Vee Two-engined OV -I0A tw o-val ve racer agains t all th e lite r-pl us fou r-cylinder Japanese Sumobikes, I d idn't need any convincing about the h andlin g performance of the Over frame in a race track context. The Wanneroo o u ting on the Squalo con firmed that. But it also underlined w ha t a d ifferent pa ck age the Vee Two str eet version is, both from the Ove r racer and a stock 900SS. The Squalo feels low and small to sit on, but though the ridi ng position of the 54.7-inch-wheelbase bike is compact, it's also extre mely comfy and not cramped even for a taller rider. Designer Keogh has taken a pa ge out of the Ducati Supermono book and narrowed the rear of the distinctively sha ped fuel tank so as to let yo u tu ck yo u r knees right in, all owing p lenty o f ro om between the seat an d screen to stretch out comfortably, like on the desmoquattro single. Unlike the stoc k 900SS's ungainly riding position, the Squalo has the Over foo trests properly set back in the correct position. and yo u don't have the sense of reaching up to the handlebars with your knees grazing y o u r e lbows - the big d ra w back of the 900SS's flawed stance. Coupled. with a substantia lly low er ride height front and rear co mpared to the Over /Vee Two facer or any Bimo ta DB2 road bike, the result feels much more like a Supermono to sit on an d ride than a Vtwin. and it also han dles like one, too. W ithout th e tiring effect o f undue body weight on yo u r forearms, the Squa1 rid ing pos ition helps load up the front 0 wheel. in tum help in g yo u to max out comer speed and maintain momentum in tu rns . so m ething the outstanding Metzeler MEZI Racing-compound tires (sou rced for the prototype fro m Vee Two's TLl OOO Suzuki d e ve lopment racer, bu t standardized on production versions) pla y their full part in achieving . When I saw the bi g 190-section rubber filled to the S.5-inch-wide rea r Dyma g, I th ought th e Squalo was over-tired, but riding it proved this isn't the ca se . The steering is light yet pinpoint-precise • much more so than a stock 900SS, whose steering lock it emulates, except tha t yo u catch yo u r h ands un d er th e screen w hen maki ng a tight tum, whi ch is inconvenient rather th an dangerous. Moreover, yo u use every inch of the rear tire's trea d and all bu t h alf an inch of each side of the front 120/70 rad i- : al. Yet in spi te of the considerable lea n angles those grip py tires deliver, the Squalc's ground clearance is faultless provided you're prepared to prop it u p against a wa ll when you reach yo ur destin a tion, because the way th e sp r in gloaded Ducati su icide-stan d is fitted on the left no t only interferes with upward gearshifts, but also touches down very quickly in turns. We ended u p removing it for serious riding, and Henry promises a much better system of propping up the bike for the production version. Scaling just 16.5 pounds for the basic alloy space frame, p lus 10 pounds for the braced-up swingarm, the Over chassis o ffers a vastly improved stiffness-toweight ratio over the stock Ducati stee l stru cture, enabling the street Sq ualo to weigh in at 348 pounds with all street equipment . H e nry sa ys he expects a BoTT version to scale u nder 310 withou t th e use of any exotic m at erials. Maybe it's not su rp rising to learn that the Ducati factory o rdered an Over frame for analysis via its Japanese importe r, even if the new 900SS coming next year will retain the tu bul ar-stee l form at. But the real payoff from the beautifully made Ja panese-built frame comes in the way the SquaIo changes d irection so easily in race track chicanes or hill-eountry twist s and turns. Th e bike's lower center of g ravity and reduced rear ride height (even com pared to the Ove r racer I rode in Japan) makes it as effortless as a Supermono to flick from side to side, as well as helping it sh rug o ff bu m ps on fast, sweeping turns. Yet that nimble handling hasn't been gained at the expense of stability, ev en under the exceptional braking d elivered by the top-grade 320mm Brembo floating discs (sourced from a 916SP). Thanks to the Squalo's reduced weight trans fer, even a very hard squeeze at Wanneroo 's first tum didn't have the back wheel off the g round o r the rel atively lo w -ren t upside-down Showa fo rks from the M900 d on or bike tucking the front' wheel under as yo u lay the bike into the bend. Turn-in is very precise, aide d by the rationa l steering geometry obtained by m at ch in g the 2S-degree head angle of Sate's or iginal design to the increased trail obtained with the stock M900 tri ple clamps, w hich have Smm less offset than on the 900SS forks; production Sq ualos will be fitted with special Vee Two triple clamps to replicate this geo metry. . Yct in spite of the cantileve r rear suspensio n (u s in g a s to ck 900SS Sh o w a sh oc k on th e proto ty pe, th e sa me th at w ill be fitt ed to the p ro d uc tion bikes), ride quali ty on the Squalo is very good, due partly to the Metzel ers' so fter side>

• Cover