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/127860
SHOW other new mod els, the powered-up 9005 and a po lished-up Cromo 900 - all part of the Americanization of Ducati, as practiced in Milwaukee. With no sign of the promised 5T4 otto va/vole versio n of th e ST2 - offici ally, because th e ST2 was la te in to pr oduction, and Ducati wanted to give it a free run for a ye a r befo re in troducin g th e cigh t-v alv er - o the r d esm o upd ate s included the 748 SPS, an improved versio n of the SP .wi th titani um connecting rods and o ther race-derived hardware. There is also the 74BR, Duca ti' s Supersport race con tender with the complete gearbox a nd clutch as sembly from the 916, a sintered clutch , and various carbon goodies . However , th e 748 now has se rious Ital ian twi n-cy linder Superspo rt competition - in the form of the new Laverda 750SF Form u la . Th is is a p u rposef u llookin g bl ack-and -oran ge Su pers port ve rs io n of th e fu el-injecte d, wa te rcooled 750cc tw in that entered produ ction this summer. The bike produ ces a claim ed 92 bhp a t 9200 rp m in street fo r m , a nd co ns iderabl y m ore w hen tu ned for racing. (Above) The Ducall 600 Monsler Dark Is a strippeddown version of the Oucati street rod with a planned range of accessories to be made available. (Righi) The new VertemaU VR500 molocrosser Is Ihe product of a jo int venture between Vertimatl and Rlm ln ~based Bimota . r-, 0\ 0\ ...... a3 .... Q) .c o ~ u o 26 (Left) The molocross version of the Vertfmatl four-valve single will have a I hree-speed geartlox. wh ile the enduro model will have live. design team). the completely resty led 9OO5S still uses the air/ oil-cooled 904cc version of w ha t Bo rd i terms the "cla ssic" two-valve desm o V-twin engi ne. It has now, however , bee n com pletely r eva m ped a nd is fi lled w ith Webe rMarelli fuel injectio n like the wa tercooled 5T2 sport toure r.. The fron t pari of the tubula r- steel spaceframe chassis is the same as before , but the rear section is all new, with a revised ri ding position, th o u g h th e rumored rising-rate linkage for the monsh ock rear end hasn' t materialized . H orsepower is up 6-8 bhp, says Terblanche, w ho also oversaw the exten sion of Ihe Monster range to includ e the 600 Dark - a stri pped-out, malle-black version of the Ducati street rod , designed to be sold at budge t prices for the owner to cus tomize accord in g to taste. At the other end of the Monster ma sh are tw o Also debuting in Milan wa s the first bik e in Laverda ' s G host nu d ie-bik e range to carry the 750cc molor - the 85, bhp G hos t 750 Strike. With d is lincliv'i handlebar fairin g and the same Bakker.' derived tw in-spar aluminum frame (co mple te with 320 m m Brembo ra ce brakes and o ther hardwa re) as the Formula , the Strike is set a part fro m the o the r tubula r- steel- fra m ed G h os ts . H owever, Ih e h alf-faired Dia m an te 75 0cc spo rt bike, u si n g th e lu bu lar frame, was presented in prototype form at Milan. Unlike Laverda's other new models, it won't enter production imme-diately. Th rea tening to pro vide a n equally_ stiff commercial and sporting thr eat til Du ca li's tw in-cy lind er Superbike (as o p posed to Super s pori) d ominan ce is the long-awaited Aprilia RSV Mille (as in 1000cd, w hose 60 -deg ree V-tw in ,