Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

launch the new sportbike in time for the 1998 European selling season, but .that has now been revised in favor of a more conventional launch as the star exhibit of the BMW tand at the most important bike show of the year, in BMW's home base of Munich in September. Deliveries will apparently begin soon after. TIger gets new stripes The imminent sales launch of the Ducati 900SS-powered Cagiva Grand Canyon in Europe, a much m re tarmac-focused version of the Elefant enduro, is set to draw a swift response from another European manu facturer - this time with a three-cylinder motor ratl1er than a twin. Abetter superbike recipe? A significant potential nile chan~e to superbike machine eligibility is being tried out in Japa11 this year, and, if successful, it could be adopted for World Superbike in the year 2000 - and if it is, it could transform the category into a sort of hyperbike class, one that would finally see the world's best-selling oneliter sportbikes lined up against each other on the race track at the world level. The 1998 All-Japan Superbike Championship will be run to a combined set of rules, allowing works RC45 Hondas to compete against tricked-out CBR900RRs, a factory Yamaha YZF750 like the one with which Noriyuki Haga won the 1997 Japanese Superbike title stacked up against tuned versions of the new YZF-R1, Kawasaki's new ZX9R going head to head with the company's existing ZX-7R superbike - or, indeed, Ducati further stretching the capacity of the 916 desmo V-twin to more than 1000cc (if it can!), in pursuit of a new lease on life against tl1e Japanese four . The new rules combine existing F1M Superbike regulations with the successful X-Formula class run in Japan for the past couple of year based at the Suzuka circuit, and have now been adopted nationally. Ye , of course - it' Triumph, which, alongside the so-called "TFR" fuel-injected sport tourer developed to compete with the new Honda VFR800 and the new Ducati T4, is working hard on one other major new 1999 model - an all-new version of the 885cc Tiger dual sporl. In recognition of the fact that precious few Tigers are ever seen to prowl off-road, Triumph is understood to be making the new bike almost completely tarmac-oriented, with only nominal off-road potential. This means a lower seat height, an inverted fork, uprated brakes and tires, and less-bulky styling aimed at making it feel Ie top- Triumph'S current "dual sport" Tiger, shown heavy to ride in traffic than the bike here, is evidently in line for a redesign to make it replaces. U this sounds like the it more street~riented. long-awaited Triumph triple street rod, there's a good chance that's what will be unveiled in Munich this autumn, putting tl1e new Tiger heads-up against not only the Ie s-sporty Grand Canyon but also the rumored new super dual sports based on the Honda VTR1000 and Suzuki TI1000, as well as (perhaps most exciting of all) Aprilia's RSV1000-derived trail bike, understood to be due in tl1e year 2000. X-Formula machines have a capacity limit of 800 to 1350cc, with no restrictions of any kind on -modification beyond the fact that, as in superbike, the production machine's basic engine cast- ings and external visual silliouette must be unchanged. Until now, the Suzuka . Constructors Association (essentially the four Japanese manufacturers plus leading tul1ing houses) decided on the list of models eligible to compete, but this R6 set to come first? With Honda now confirmed as launching an all-new fuel-injected CBR600 at the Munich Show this fall, word c6mes from more than one source in Europe and Japan that this has caused Yamaha to rethink its new-model strategy in the wake of the arrival in the marketplace of the best-selling Rl. Contrary to the original plan of introducing the socalled R2 750cc fuel-injected supersport bike based on the R1 in 1999, with the all-new R6 600cc version to follow a year later, Yamaha is understood to ha ve reversed this decision for commercial purpo e . Thi would see tl1e R6 debut in a dead heat with its Honda rival by making its debut at Munich this September. 11 is not known at this stage if the R6 will also be fuel-injected, but with Honda raising the 600cc supersport stakes in this way, it seems unlikely Yamaha will be able to avoid playing a matching suit. In theory, this means that the.R2 will now be launched at either Paris or Milan in September 1999 - but another source insists that Yamal1a may well be thinking of canning the R2 project entirely. The 750cc Sportbike class increasingly only exists as a means of homologating superbike contenders, and if the eligibility rules for superbike racing are reshaped (see accompanying item), Yamaha may decide to focus all Apparently after hearing news of an allits efforts on the 600cc ana 1000cc ver- new CBR600, Yamaha has evidently sions of its leading-edge four-cylinder decided to bring out the so-called R6, Its sportbike family. The extra year's very own all-new 600Cc supersport breathing space before this tough deci- contender for 1999, instead of the 750cc sion mu t be made, obtained by bump- version. TIme will tell. ing the R6 up to the top of tl1e la unch queue, was probably another factor in the decision - but one guy who won't be pleased at the news is Scott Russell, widely believed to have hung around for another season of vintage superbiking with Yamaha only because the R2 was supposed to be on the horizon in 1999. Well, now it seems it won't be. © JOHN KEOGH Design '98 function has now been taken over by the Japanese motorcycling federation, the MFJ. In practice, though, any street bike bigger than 800cc is eligible - but with no differential capacity limits for twins, triples and fours, as in superbike regulations. So what's the catch? 11 stands to reason a good big one is always better than a good little one - so why isn't Honda . junking the RC45 in favor of an HRC- developed CBR900RR? Easy, really: XFormula racing has a claiming rule, in which any bike taking part must be capable of being bought for no more than 3.5 million yen, or about $26,000. However, thjs hasn't deterred a whole host of Japan's leading tuning houses including those such as Over/Yamaha and Moriwaki/Honda, traditionally regarded as the back doors to factory race operations - from building bikes to take part. It was Over that proved the compatibility of X-Formula bikes at World Superbike level when it tuned Yamaha YZF1000 finished 13th in last year's Suzuka 8 Hours - against a field stacked out with factory racers. Similarly, Mamoru Moriwakj has already announced he'll be contesting this year's Japanese Superbike Championship under X-Formula rule with his Moriwaki VTR1000 V-twin, which under superbike rules isn't allowed to run the fuel-injection p,\ckage he's developed for the bike (and is selling on an aftermarket basis), whereas in X-Formula this is permitted, and even welcomed. There's no doubt that all parti~ concerned will be closely watching the Japanese superb ike series thi year to ee how the expanded category of admissible bikes works oul. The manufacturers are eager to have a world-class arena in which to race and promote their best-selling large-capacity sportbikes, as well as a means of race-testing performance modifica tions to them while still going for championship success on their smaller-engined fourstroke GP racers, on which no claiming rule will apply. Promoters will like the variety, as well as the full grids the extra dimension is certain to ensure. And F1M be s Francesco Zerbi, who would like to have a greater differentiation between Grand Prix and World Superbike racing, should welcome the closer emphasis on superbike's street roots that he has gone on record as pushing for. However, the biggest potential beneficiary stands to be Joe Public, able to watch the bike he rode to the race on stack up against its class rivals out on the track. With liter-class sportbikes comfortably outpowering their 750cc kid sisters in the sales charts, this looks like the way to go - if the dry run that this year's Japanese series represents proves successful. . a ao 0\ 0\ .--<, L.rl N ..g ... ~ ,£; 7

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