Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Derbi is a w ell-ma na ged, far-s igh ted co m pa ny , as is evidenced by th ei r ea rly e xpansi o n in to As ian m arkets (w it h th e construc tion of a n e ng ine pl ant in Ta iwan in 1993), links with In di an and so utheast Asian partners, a n d th e s ig n i ng o f a jo i nt -ve n tu r e agreement wit h the loca l Huari co m pany to build a large factory in Shand ong, in the east of China , wh ich is cu r r e n tly n ear in g comple tio n . This w ill begin ma nufac ture of 50c c Derbi models in 1998, w ith a projected annua l production of 100,000 bikes by th e yea r 2000. In the w orld ' s la rgest bike m ark e t (s ix t im e s bi g g e r than Europe' S, with 9 million powered tw owhee le rs ma nufactured in 1996), Derbi is the leading Euro pean p layer - making the fact that they're s tar ti ng u p a North American operation in Miam i, sell i ng b udget- price d two-wh e eled basic-transpor tatio n·with·sty le und er the ir " Red Po wer" sloga n, es pecia lly s ignificant. f ~~ Supercharged! Official anno uncem ents of the Mu Z-Sw issauto 500c c G P lia ison left unsaid the r e a l re a s o n for th e tw o co m pa n ies ' orig ina l i n vo l v e m e n t wit h each o r he r which is und e r s tood to be fo r a very d ifferent kind of en gin e fro m a V-four 500cc two-str oke . O ne r ea s on th at H o n g Leong purcha sed th e bankrupt Mu Z co m p a ny from th e re ceiver la st year w as to es ta b lis h a -European e ng in ee ri ng ba se with a view to develo pi ng a range of la rge-capacity mo to rcycles fo r the in c reasing ly more soph isticated an d fast -developing Asia n mark ets, co m p a re d w it h th e m a in ly Yama ha- ba se d 50150cc uti lity machines curren tl y manufa ctured i n . Will we be seeing more ofthe superc harged en gine? Malaysia and China. MuZ wa s determined to d eve lop an a ll-ne w fa m ily of engine s for th is pro ject, but d idn' t have the resources to do so itself in-hou se - which is why it approached avant-ga rde eng ine speclah~t Swissa uto, who, aside fro m its 500ee V-fou r racing two-strok e mo tor, h~s d esl~ned and d e velo ped rna.ny kinds of innovat iv e power u n its, from a Veigh t tw in-tur bo offs hore p owerboat engine to a dua l-functio n elec tri c/ petrol microca.r motor. O ne. of SWiss~u to's best-known - if abortive - projects represented its first Involvem ent In G P racing w hen, in 1990, it developed a fuel-injected 250cc 16-v alve four-ey linder turbo engi ne for sideca r use, revv ing to 18,000 rpm wi th Jus t a 26mm stro ke, and deliverin g 230 bhp as raced by Markus Bosinger in the 1991 GP season. This unco vers a due as to the reason it's und erstood that Mu Z contacted Sw issa u to in th e firs t pla ce - because its brief w as ap pa re ntly to d evelo p a su percha rged, fue l:injected 750cc par all el-twin engi ne th at wou ld offe r an exceptiona l power -to-w el1\ht rati o In tarmac Or off-roa d form, with the possibility of decreas~ n g ca ~aclty ~ n u nsuperc ha rged gu ise for a low-cos t m idd le w eig ht roa d ste r, o r mcreasl~ g It In supercharged fonn for the ult ima te supertwin sportbike. It' s no t known If Mu Z plans to use the engine in a d evel oped ve rsion of the Seymour Powell-designed Kobra prototype po wered by a Yama ha TDM8SO motor wh ich MuZ lau nched three years ago but wh ich was never put into pr od uction, but it appears they plan a ran ge of all-new bikes using the Swissauto-d eveloped family of en!\mes - and that o ne of th ese will be a full y faired Superbike. If this is the case, It seems the FlM (and AMA?) wi ll shortl y hav e to decid e wh at capaci ty loadmg to ap ply for supercha rged Superb ikes runn ing in the variou s di splacem ent classes for tw ins, triples and fours - hke 750cc su percharge d twins against lO00cc . u nblown ones, fo r exa mple...? With the ben efits of electro nic engine-m anagement sys tems a nd mul tipoint fuel injection, supercha rgin g is an old idea tha t' s back on the eng inee ring agenda as 'several pr esti ge ca r man ufact urers (from Jagu ar to Mer ced esBenz) are under lin in g wit h its all-new models (and , of co urse, like Benz, Mu Z is Ge rm an...). With th e new ge ne ration of com p a ct , hi gh -r evo lution co m p ress o rs, Sw issau tos e xper tise in s m a ll-cap aci ty fo rced-ind uction engines should ensu re th a t a s u percha rged Mu Z will ha ve lead in g-edge perfo rmance and to rq ue, wit hout th e throttle-lag, heat and we igh t pen alt ies of a turbo motor. Bu t d on 't exp ect the japan ese to be lagging behi nd on this new develo pment: Yamaha, for exa mple, ha s been working on s u pe r cha rg ed e ngines fo r the pa s t fi ve yea rs , m os t no tabl y thro ugh Its former Britis h R&D a ffiliate, RS Performance - whos e boss, Russell Savory, has succes sfu lly supercharged an XTZ660 single and YZF750/FZRlO00 fours . "This is a n idea whose time has come aga in," says Savo ry. > than a decade, while Kawa sak i sells Derbi scooters in ja pan. Th e Spania rds have a si mila r ar ra ngemen t with Ita lia n scoo te r s pecia lists ltaljet, w ith whom they a lso have a joint purchasing ag reement to hold d o wn co mponent costs. And in rece n t w e e k s, De rbi has forge d an ag ree ment wit h Cagiva whereby the Spa nish co mpany w ill manufacture some small-capacity twostroke m od els fo r th e Ita lia n brand, le aving Cl audio Castig lio ni free to co nce n tra te his company' s r esources o n ge tti n g th e M V A gus ta F4 a nd o ther new four-s troke m od els into productio n in Ital y. • (Right) The rad ica l ASP made Its deb ut at t he Birmin gham Show in England. Ten hand- b uilt units wi ll be pro du ced ne xt sprin g. TheASp· ASAP Shari ng th e limeligh t w ith the new Nor lo n 652SM s in gle a t th e Birmingham Sh ow was a ve ry differen t kind of limited-production s tree t bike: the ra d ical hub-center ASP, la u nched right on sched u le by co ns tructor Andy Steven so n . Powered by a Yamaha YZF1000 Thu nd erace eng ine a nd with sha rp s tyling by Sco tt MacFa rlane, th e ASP is the I'rod u ction versio n of th e va rious prototype race bikes th a t Steve nson and his br other jon ha ve been d ev elo p ing for th~ pas t fiv e ye~ rs, WIth success measured by race victori es and lap record s in British roa d racm g. . Now, su p por~~ by a Euro pea n Un ion innovation g ra nt and regiona l fund m g fro m th e . British go.vern ment, th e St e venso ns ha ve e~ta blis hed a fac tpry read y to begin prod uctio n of th e sna ke- ba dged ASP, the first 10 ve rsions o f wh ich will go o n sa le next s p r ing a t a hefty £24,950 ($42,000 ) each. Enti re lv handmad e to very hi gh s tanda rds, the ASP has no chassis, with the front wishbone sus pens ion and rear s wingarm bolted directl y to th e Yamaha engine, and th e ca rbo n- fibe r monocoque bod ywork acting as a subfra me for th e rider's seat as well as s hro ud ing th e Kevl ar-rein forced rubber fuel tank, whech can be seen ext ernally as part of the styling. Steering is by a fla p-type a rticulated linkage ~ I th twin universa l JOInts, WI th fully adj ustable Maxton monoshock su spen· sion fro nt and rear, a ~ d S tev~nson sa ys the ASP's entire chassis geometry and f~ 1I range o f s uspensio n setti ngs can be altered qu ickly and easily, like a race bike, T h e Side rad iators wo rk o n the sa me basis as th e Honda VF R a nd VTR1000, a nd hel p kee p th e b ike - w hic h we ighs ju st 385 pound s with a ll stree t eq u ip me nt - slim and sleek. With 145 bhp o n tap in sta nd a rd st reet form, th e ASP's po wer-to-weig h t ra tio rivals Ya maha's own ne w RI - but w ith th e added advantage, says Steve nso n, of even better handl ing, thanks to his in novali ve hub-ce nt er design. Produ~ti.on of the ~i rst batch of 10 hand -built bikes begins ne xt sp ring, wit h ea ch Ind ivi d ua ll y ta ilored to th e cus to mer a nd pai nted in th e co lor of hi s choice . r-, 0\ 0\ ,.... rr) ... Q) ,.!:l E Q) u Q) c 7

• Cover