Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

G going? uzzi Aprilia showers m aybring V-four flowers Alongside news of the projected San Marino design house under Pierlu igi Marconi, and the kickoff of production of the new RSVlOOO Superb ike in April, the big word from Italy's larg est manufacturer, Aprilia, is of a possible link with car giants Ren ault to develop a range of V-four engines to power a new range of Aprilia motorcycles. The fact that Aprilia and Renault shared a stand at the recent Bologna Show (w hich attracted more than 1 million visitors before Christmas) this already led to speculation about a joining of the tw o, bu t it wa s dis missed by Aprilia as a joint ma rketing exercise aimed at targeting the yo uthfu l audience for both companies' products . But reports in the Frenc h press of a collabo rat ion be tween Renault Sport - th e Fre nc h giant's pe rfo rThough Aprilia is definitely man ce-e ng ineerin g divisio n - a nd t h e Ita lian bi ke co mpany appear to ha ve bee n bo rne o ut by events, commiled to its RSV1000 Vwith French motorcycle magazine Moto journal qu ot- twin-powered s uperbike, the ing Ap rilia race boss Ca rlo Pemat as ad mitting there Italian company has ev idently have been d iscussions. , been in contact with Rena ult "Yes, it' s tru e we've had con tacts w ith Ren ault," about possibly producing a Vhe says, "as we ll as with Cos wo rth a nd Ferra ri. But four engine to powe r an we've spen t m ill io n s of do lla rs d e vel op in g th e a~dltional line ~f la rgeRSV1000 en gin e with Rotax, and we're not going to dIsp lacement bikes . throw that away. Quite sim ply, we' re planning for the future and want to see what's d one elsewhere - Ap rilia isn't an engine manufacturer, so we need to see what's on offer from companies with the necessary know-how to meet our needs, I'll admit we' ve kicked som e ideas for futu re engi nes around wi th Cosworth, but nothing firm' s corne ou t of it and we're still looking aroun d. That' s why we ' re talking to Renault." Cos worth w as o rigi na lly co m miss io ned by Aprilia in 1996 to ex tra ct co m pe titi ve horsepower from the su pe rbike race versi on of the RSV1 000's 6O-degree V-tw in Rota xdes igned engine, the lack of which caus ed the launch of the new bike to be held back at least a year. The British engine specia lists succeed ed in doin g thi s - but in doin g so a ttracted the att ention of Ren ault Sport boss Christian Contzen, w hos e V-I 0 engi nes, fitted to the Benetton and Williams tea ms' cars, hav e dominated Formula On e GP racing for the past half-decad e. But at the end of '97 Ren ault withdrew officially from Formula On e car racing (as w ell as from top-l ev el rallying), gi vin g the V-l 0 engines to outside specialists Mecachrorn e to lease and run for another cou ple of seasons - and this means that Contzen is eager for outside work, to prevent a bra in-drain of his top engineers to rival compani es. Hence the contacts with Ap rilia, which sources in France insist hav e resulted in an agreement to dev elop a V-four engine in capacities fro m 750 to 1200cc, which wo uld power a range of Ap rilia sport-touring, tou ring, custom and , ult imately, performance bikes. With the RSV1000 so close to entering pro d uc tion, Aprilia ha s no inte ntio n of throwing its massive investment in the new V-twi n four-stroke ran ge aw ay, but appears to conside r the Rena ult link a wise option for the future. es ini w heels and Magni's tradema rk parallelog ra m rear suspens ion . Th e BV Sfida 1000 will cost 3,000,000 lire (abo u t $1700) more than the pushrodeng ine d bike, and w ill replace the fu llyfa ir ed 8V A ustra lia model in th e Magni lin eu p for 1998 prod uction . Laverda going global Laverd a's comeback fro m the dead over th e pas t fo u r yea rs h a s be en e n tirely th an ks to the d edication an d deep pocke ts of tex tile tycoo n Fra nces co Tog no n, w hose huge investment in company wi th hi s pa rtners, cheese-m aking millionai res Paolo and Valentino Bra zzali, has s een production increased to a planned 4200 bi k e s fo r 1998 to be so ld around the world and now, this yea r, fo r th e first time al so in the Un it ed States, Canada and the Ita lian horne market, too. The all-new Iiquid-eooled 750cc pa rallel-twin engine designed by former Ferrari engineer icola Materazzi and his development team hired from the Lambor ghini Fl p roject is no w in production in two levels of performa nce - the basic 78 bhp 7505 and the 92 bhp Formula - while La verd a's all -new fuel-injected 12-valve th r ee -cylinde r engine for t he j o ta 900 .Su p e r b ik e a n d 1200cc cr uise r / to urer sp inoffs is nearing com pletion, rea d y for bench tests to begin in j une, p rio r to a confirmed launch at the 1999 Mila n Sh ow a nd facto ry invol vement in World Superbike racin g in the year 2000. To keep Laverda 's growth on track, T o gn on h a s ad ded a co u p le o f ma jo r investors to th e co mpany - though co ntr ary to some reports, he insists th at he p ers o nally ha s retai ned co n trol of th e com pa ny. "My life is in Lave rd a ," he insists, "a nd I "ill kee p my hands on the hand lebars to s tee r it into a s uccessfu l fu ture." Bu t the wealthy ind ustrialis t ad mits he has so ld a substantia l stake in the co m pa ny to tw o o ther close frien ds, co usins Na d ir a n d Rob erto Spezzapria, w hose Venice-based company Forgital produces hig h- tech metal components for the ae rospace and nuclear ind ustries - as' well as now prod u cin g all major engine castings for Laverda motorcycle engines. With its p roduction certified to ISO 9000 s ta ndard, Forgita l's invo lv ement wi th Laverda will bring added quality to its two-wheeled products , as w ell s treamlining p roduction at the Zane factory , which the Spezzaprias are now effectively charged with overseeing. With the Brazzali brothers su pe rvising th e com pa ny's administration, th e handso n in vo lve men t of h is partners has left To gnon free to concentrate o n the two a re a s of most co nce rn to h im : product develop m ent, sales and marketing. With N ico la Mat erazzi 's contract to bring th e 750cc engine to production now co mple ted, the elderly enginee r has no w taken his reti rem ent (though he still con tinues to wo rk as a consultant for Laverda), and has been succeeded as technical di rector by 44-year-old An tonio Ca lgado, him self a n en thusiastic m ot orcycl ist a n d twin cy linder sportbike fan. "Ing. Ca lga do's task," says Tognon, "is to contin ue refining and developing the 750cc tw in -cylind er range, as well a s to bring Laverd a 's three-cylinder ra nge to the market place. We 've chosen well- he'll do a good job." C~ Ital y ' s oldes t exta nt mot orcycl e marque, Moto Guzzi, is all partied o u t, h a ving ce le b ra te d it s 75th birthday last yea r with a big bash at th e hist oric lakeside fact o ry at Mand ell o d el Lario, ne ar Leece . Next tim e a rou nd, the party may ha ve to be held so mewhe re else, th o ugh - because, th ough Gu zzi management wo n' t confirm it yet, • reliable sources in s ist th at Moto Gu zzi is abo ut to move. Wh en new mana gin g director O scar Cecchinato took over at G uzzi last s p ring, it wa s after a It now appears the Moto Guzz i will be mov ing five-year stint in a similar role at fro m its historic factory in Mandello to a bigger, Aprilia, w here he laid the foundation for a four-fold increase in pro- mor e modem fac ility in Mo nza. How significant is th is? Think of Harley-Dav ison mov ing out of duction by tran sferr ing assembly from the cramped, obsolete Noale Milwaukee . co r p o r a te h e a d q u ar te r s to a brand-new, purpose-bu ilt ma nufacturing p lant a t nearb y Scorze , Upon his ar rival a t Gu zzi , Cecchinato wa s un a fraid to as k the imposs ible: Sho u ld Guzzi continue w ith the process of trying to mode rni ze their ram bling , decaying factory beside Lake Co mo - or cut their losses and move elsewhere ? It seems the di ce hav e now fallen in favo r of a move to a new factory nea r Monza with subs tantia ly more room and much mor e modern facilit ies. Whil e parts of the old factory have a pleasantly traditional feel, and areas like the famou s wind tunnel are pra ctically nati on al monuments, othe rs are frankl y dingy and decr ep it, making the improv ements begun by Cecchinato's predecessor, Arn ulfo Sacchi, hard to achie ve. What's more, the layout of a factory de signed in the labor-in ten sive da ys of han d-built motorcycles is incom pa tible wi th mod ern CNC machin e tools, au tomated assembly and CAD computers , making a move to a new factor y a ll the more appropriate. The re's no timetable yet available for the likely move, but the in trod uction early next century of the new range of overhea d-cam engines cu rre ntly und er d evelopm ent gives a clue as to w he n it w ill need to be completed . To non -Gu zz i en thusiasts, such a switch may not seem par ticul arly notable - but for Mo to Guzzi to move from Ma ndello is in every wa y the eq uiv ale nt of Harley-Davi dson forsaking Milwaukee, Du cati leaving Bologn a or, in the old days, Triumphs being bu ilt elsew he re tha n in Merid en. Mandello means Moto Gu zzi, and vice versa. Still, by moving to Monza , Ital y' s most hist ori c bike marqu e will end up a stone 's throw from the Autod ro mo race track wh ere so man y of its GP race wins were achieved . Cagiva steps up One step a head in the matter of mo vin g ho use is Guzzi's nei g hbor, Cagiva . whose new fac tory at Cassine tta, across Lake Varese from the com pa ny's present base in the old Ae rmacchi sea p lane factory at Schiranna, is now opera tiona l. Inaugu ra ted there on ja nua ry 19 is a new, fully compu terized and au to ma ted Cagiva / H us qv arna sp a re-pa rts o pe ra tio n, occ u pyi ng five floo rs and co mp risi ng 160,000 sq ua re feet in tot al, wi th 24ho ur o pe ra tio n a nd a gua ra n teed 48-h o u r tu rna ro u n d ti m e , says co m pa ny bo ss C la udio Castiglioni. "This is the ba p tism fo r Cassinetta," he says, "bu t in March we w ill sta rt up ou r first prod uction line the re, a nd by Sep tem ber this yea r we M il hav e a total of five assembly lines operating in the new site. Our existing factory in Schiranna will fro m then on be ent irely dedicated to engine manufacture - everything from 50cc two-stro kes to ou r new fou rcylind er F4 range will be built there." Cag iva ch ief Claudio Castiglionl Cagiva is o n a roll after breaking its links with sits on his company's flagship Ducati, with produ cti on now in fu ll flo w at the bike , the MV Agusta F4. existing factory, turning out 120 bikes a da y (mainly Production of the 200 hand-built the new 125 Plan et and vari ou s Hu sk y models), and machines is set to begin th is the backlog of demand (especi ally for Hu sq varnas) April. is now being satisfied . The first new bike to be built in the new Cassinetta plant will be the Hu sk y 610 End u ro and the street-oriented Super Motard, Husqvarna 's lon g-a waited answer to the KTM Duke, com plete with electric start, proper oil pump and vibration-sa pping balan ce shaft in the all- new four-valve HVA motor. Thi s will be followed in April by the fuel-injected 90055 Ducati-powered Canyon 900 and in May by the long-delayed start of production of the Cucciolo big -w heel scoo ter launched three years ago but d elayed by the Cagiva Group's cash-flow crisis. Cucciolo production will be substantial: 10,000 units in the first fou r months alo ne, according to sa les boss Luig i Giacometti. . Butof course it's the luscious MV Agusta F4 tha t everyone' s wa iting to see o n the streets, and Castiglioni insists that d evelopmen t is right on schedule for hand -bu ilt prod uction of the first 200 numbered bikes to begin in April as plan ned . While roa d and track tests continue of the o rig inal pro to types clad w ith 916 Ducati bod yw ork, Massimo Tambu rini has now constru cted roa d- ready vers ions of th e Milan Show bik e, wi th the 750cc version of the fuel-injected rad ial-va lve in-line fou r-cylind er motor now giv ing 124 bhp at the gearbox, accordi ng to factory sources. Work is now acce lerating o n th e 900cc version d ue to equ ip the power-up versio n, likely to be badged as a Cagiva and compe te with the Rl Yama ha , ZX-9R Kawasaki, Hon da CBR900RR etc. O n the dy no , this engi ne now produces more than 140 bhp at the gea rbox, but unlike th e 750cc MV, has n't yet bee n ru n in a chassis. . ~ ~ ~ 5

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