Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

_~_ _---=----7), a n d it's a p pa re n t th e b ored a nd s troked m eg a -motor is a must-h a ve option for serious per form arice frea ks. One ho t lap of Will ow Sp rings' big circ uit is eno ug h to co nvi nce a ny d ou b t e r s : T his is w h at the H o n d a CBRll00RR could have been bu t isn' t a mi le-ea tin g mega-bike with muscle, a nd han dli ng . If you lived in, say, Fra nkfurt, Germany, and wanted to ride south to Monza for the weekend to spectate a t a World Su perbike rou nd, mixing fla t-ou t top-speed blasts along unrestricted au tobahns wit h switchback Alpine mou ntain passes, then the Raptor wou ld be the bike to bank on. You migh t need a crutch to hob ble in to the Autodromo th e next day to wa tch th e fac to ry G ree n Mean ie s chall e n gin g Hond a and Du cat i for world h onor s but o n ly if y o u h adn't b oth ered to re p lace th e surp risi ng ly planklike seat pa d on the Raptor with so me thing more co m fo r ta b le . Well, it is a ra cer with lights, I su ppose - an d this gives a new mean ing to the term "rid ing by the seat of yo u r pants." And anyway, on suc h a com pete nt all -around bik e wit h suc h ou trageo us real-world pe rfo rma nce, you' d be there soo ner, so you'd have longer to imbi be the medicinal local red lu brican t needed to soo the away the pain .... Wh er e the Ra ptor rul es is not necessa ri ly o n top s peed , though Mu zzys ' cla im ed 179 .8-m ph trap speed (that's ho nes ty for yo u!) wit h 16/43T geari ng isn't exactly slow - and could probab ly be raised to 182 mph or so with a sligh tly ta lle r gea r', says M u z z y s ' Dou g Meyer. No , th e re al buzz is the SB-850's midrange performa nce, wh ic h is absolutely awesome. The tor qu e figu res say it all: 69 It.-lbs, at 10,500 rpm for the big-e ngi ne d bi ke, aga inst a n al read Y: impress ive 55.9 at 10,250 rp m for the SB750. At 7500 rpm, the engi ne comes vivi dly a live - crack th e th ro ttl e w ide open be low tha t figure, an d w hile it doesn't exactly die a dea th, the Raptor seem s to pull abo ut as strongly as a trail-bike single, com pared to w ha t's on tap high er up . G,et the revs di aled up and it really sta rts to moto r: You' ll have a hard time keep ing the fro nt Du nlop on the ground if yo u gas it wide open, as the Raptor rockets ou t of turns, pullin g hard and fas t all th e way to the 12,800-rpm revlimiter, in a conv inci ng demonstrati on of the wo rth of the Mu zzys tuning package. This package includes a set of 2mmoverbore Ll.Si-ma de forged three-ri ng pistons (two- ring on SB-850 racers on ly) mou nted on 1mm-Ion ger KMC kit rods, fitted to a specially mad e cra nkshaft ca rved fro m solid bille t s teel (no t a weld ed -up stock crank), to deliver a 2.6mm-Ionger st ro ke . Ca s t-iro n cy lin der sleeves accom mod ate the overbo red p istons, w hich d eliver 13.5:1 compression with th e blue print ed cy linder head which Muzz ys insis ts is good enough to ge t by jus t as it comes from Japa n with- . ou t being ported or flowed, w ith only a se t of r a cin g ca ms h afts g round to Muzzy specs by Kawasaki and a racing va l ve jo b . Cha in ca ms ha ft dri ve is retained, thou gh if yo u want to speci fy the gea r cam d rive conversion used by the Mu zzy team in Am erica and the factory World Superbike squad, this can be a rr a nged, th ou gh a t s u bs ta n tia l ex tra cos t. How ever, the standard 38mm Keihin CV carbs are repl aced on the Raptor by a set of 41mm FCR racing flat-slid es from the same company, reworked for road a pplication (including being fitted with a cho ke), and e nclo se d within a 1OO - pe rc e n t- s e a led ca r bo n-fibe r a ir box that' s a replica of the one in the factory race kit, bu t reconfigured to use an air filter - the carbs a re pressure-balan ced to facilitate tuning. A bea utifully made all-titaniu m four-intoone Mu zz ys ex ha us t syste m, w it h p ressure-ba lancing tu bes to enhance midran ge p ow er an d a carbo nw ra p s ile ncer, co mpl et es t he pa cka g e . Th e s toc k six-s peed g earb o x is retain ed , thou gh you can specify the close-ratio cluster from the Kawasaki race kit if you wis h, at dealer-in stalled cost. If you rev the Ra rtor h ard (a n d it ' s tough to s to p do in g sol), th e stoc k gear rati os wo rk fine, thou gh it pays to take car e wi th your throttle hand in cracking the th rottl e hard open at low rpm: These a re ra cin g fla t-s lides, so whil e they deliver crisp, sharp respons e off the bottom at part-throttle, they'll hiccup if you gas 'em up hard below 7000 rpm. It jus t needs so me care - and a delica te, progressive tou ch at lower revs. Anot her key factor in the Rap tor' s mu scula r acce leration is its ligh t 422.4pound half-dry weigh t (451 with a full fu e l load ) co mpa red to the s tock ZX7R's 448 po unds dry. This comes than ks to copious use of carbon fiber, not only for the airbox bu t also for the intake ducting to the carbs, licen se-p lat e hold er, an d swingarmpivot cover, and above a ll making th e d istin ctive bodywork in the same lightweigh t, hi gh -s tren gt h fiberg lass composite used on the Muzzy superbike racers. Th is was desig ned in clay by Rob Muzzy himself, and in d oing so he was at pain s not only to improve the aes thetics, but also to optimize the ra m airflow to the pressu rized airbox , as well as to improve the ques tiona ble aerodyna mics of the stock Z X-7R w it h its twin sidemounted ai r intakes. Mu zzv has slim me d d own the bike in Raptor gu ise by mounting a lon g, single in take under the twi n fox-eye hea dlamps, a nd further red uced the fro ntal area via a low-cut Targa screen. Squa tti ng d own on th e (stock) fue l tank and bl a st in g d o wn th e W illow front stra igh t, wa tchi ng the speedo need le d ance above the ISO -mph mark but still 3000 rp m shy of the redline in top gear, then bra kin g hard and changing down tw o gears for the turn-one sweeper, confirmed tha t there's still good rider prot ection from the altered bod yw or k bu t the main ben efit is per haps psychological. With out the bulky-lookin g twin s ide airducts of th e s to ck ZX-7R , th e Raptor seems mu ch sma lle r and mor e ag ile when you' re sitting on it, enco urag ing you to take full ad vantage of the o ut st andin g handlfn g th a t Mu z z y' s changes to the cha ssis setup have delivered alon gsid e. The street Raptor is available in any color you like so long as it's black (okay, green also, to specia l-order as a $325 op tion), and on arrival at Mu zzys each donor ZX-7R is stri p ped d own to th e bare chassis, which is then painted black to su it. The optio na l RAM sing le-sided sw ing arm (at a 540mm nominal length, th e sa me as th e con ventional o ne it ~~J (Above) Want the closest th ing you can get to rid ing a superbike on th e st reet? look no furt her than the Raptor. (Below) Full wet weight for the Raptor is 451 pounds. Couple th is w ith 148 rear-wheel horsepower and you've got one of the most exh ilarating street-legal rides available anywhere. re p laces) can th en be fitt ed if d esir ed. However, wh ile th e s ing le-s ided swi ngarm loo ks trick, and allows yo u to sho rte n the w hee lbase if you wa nt by up to 35m m on the ecce ntric ax le piv ot in pursu it of more traction , Mu zzys admits it brings the sa me problem in juggling chai n tension with rid e height, wh eelbase and sus pension-linkage settings as the simi lar rear end of an RC45 Honda o r 916 Du cati - w h ic h mu st b e w hy Ho nda has looked at junking it for '98 . Raptor ow ners can, too, and save $3749 on the price of the bike. With s tock s wi ngarm o r optio na l Fre nc h- ma de "mon obras" (the Raptor wea rs Marches in i whe el s to s u i t), Mu zzys could alter the swi ngarm-p ivot locati on to give ad ded grip and traction , but d oesn't. It's fixed in the stock position - thou gh with the big horsepower numbers the Raptor d eliver s, wh eelspin w a s d efinitel y some th ing to contend w ith, eve n with the sti cky D207 Dunlops. Mu zzys fits the sa me Type 4 Ohlins pi ggyba ck rear s hock u s ed o n C ha ndl er' s su perbi ke to th e street Raptor, complete with rem ote hydraulic springpreload adjus ter, and reworks both the rocker arm and linkage to deliver a less progres si ve ra te aimed a t im p roving sus pension co m p lia nce over bumps. I had a graphic illustrati on of that eac h lap as I su rfed the sea of rip ples exiting the Willo w hairpin. w here (jus t like the cars that presumabl y caused them) the Raptor rode smooth ly over the bumps with the power on, wi tho u t skip ping or cha ttering the rear tire. Control. In spite o f its lig ht er we igh t, the whole bike felt very tight and together . over th e bumps, too: Not a ll Bimo ta s have th e sense of soli di ty in their construction that the Raptor offers - or the quality of finish of the test bike. Up front , th e s tock 43mm Ka yaba up sid e-d own fo rk ha s its int ern al s re val ved to Mu zz y 750cc Su pers po rt specs and fitted with d iffer ent sp rings , then mounted in adjustable-offse t tripl e cl amps CN C- mac h ined by Mu z z y s from so lid a lloy bill et , th en a nodized black. The 30mm offset Mu zzys speci fies (4mm more than stock) reduces trail to 101mm, a nd, cou p led with the substa n tia ll y increa se d rear ri d e h ei g ht w h ich reduces th e effec tive s teering head angle fro m 25 to 24 d egrees (producing apparen tly limitl ess g rou n d cleara nce as a bonus), makes what is a 750 with the power o f a 1000 handle like a 600.

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