Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

mph) a drag. Cagiva says it is aware of thi s, a nd plans to o ffe r a n o p ti o na l screen for taller rid ers - thou gh I'm not sure it isn 't the airflow on the undersid e of the screen, ove r the top of the welldesigne d, ult ra-legible dashboard, that isn' t to blam e. When Cagiva offers this screen, hop efully one of th e' best idea s featured on the sma ller Canyon will be incorporated, one that su rp risi ng ly has bee n left off the bigger bike : the flap in the blind screen that fold s out to accept maps, freeway tickets and ev en paper money wit h which to pay tolls. This is a good ite m that sho u ld have mad e the transfer across. An item that tha nkfu lly didn't ma ke the tran sfer over fro m the si ngle, ho wever , is th e spring-loa ded sid estand . The GC is fitted ins tead wit h an ignition cutout and proper sidestand, a lesson Duca ti cou ld learn . And while the re 's n o cen ters ta nd on the Cagiva, the side-mo un ted one is pretty stu rdy. The well -p a dded sadd le has good space for a passenger - this is a tru e twou~ s po rts roads ter, wit h pillion gra b ha n d les cle ve rly in tegra ted into the su perbly de signed luggage rack, wh ich takes a bungee cord from an y an gle you wa nt to a ttach it, and has a 22-potind load ca paci ty , th ough if yo u wa nt to ca r ry m or e th a n that, Ca g iva ha s an optional top box big enoug h for ma kin g pizza d eliveries - or for·ca rry ing two fu ll-face helmets! Like on the 600, the Gra n Canyon 's twi n u pswep t exha us ts exit u nd er the sea t, th eir quite bulk y ov al silencers tu cked away w ell a n d v is ually more handsome than th e cumbe rso me items Duca ti ha s fi t te d to g e t it s n ew 900 Su pe rs p ort p a st th e noise p o lice though to be fair, there 's quite a difference in power between the two mod els. Yet, to be equally fair, it's not as though you 'd notice in everyday riding conditions: I'd bet on getting from point A to point B fast er along a twisting country road - especiall y if it was bumpy - on the Gran Canyon than on the 900 Supersport or S1'2, in spite of the fact the fuelinjected air/ oil-eooled two-valve 904cc d esmo engine makes just 66.5 bhp a t 7500 rpm in Gran Canyon guise, comp ared to 80 bhp in its comparable 900SS application, or 83 bhp in partially watercooled 944cc gui se on the S1'2. Th is is p artl y b e caus e the Gran Canyon really capi talizes on the narrow build o f the V-twin engine a nd feels very slim and man euv erable as a result, partly the extra sense of com ma nd you get from that raised riding position and the qui te high and pu lled-back bars , and ' partly the reall y incredible respon se of the desmodue motor do wn low, thanks to Cag iva ' s w ork on remappin g the fu el injection - and it do es have quite a bit of experie nce of w orking on EFI, remem ber, thanks to d ev elopment of th e MV Agus ta F4. By trad ing some power and revs up high for more bottom-end grunt, Cagiva chief engin eer Andrea Goggi has d elivered what seerris to be a torquier engi ne packa ge than the new 900 Supersport's, bu t wi th the same vivi d response fro m the ligh t-action th ro t tle . In fa ct , t he . Cagiva's motor feels like a mor e precise and responsive version of the old carbureted 90055 desmodue in that it picks up really cleanly low down and has a very meaty mid range, without wan ting to rev much 'over 7500 rpm. Thi s is not a top-end bike, and I never found the revlimiter. But it ha s ve ry usable pow er d own low , pulling cleanly from 2000 rpm on part throttle and 2500 rpm wide open, without a hint of th e o ld bike' s tra ns mission snatch if you tried to d o the same thing. Some of this response is (Right) The Ducat l 90055der ived, alr/ollcooled two-valve desm o powerplant features a Weber enginemanagement system and Is tuned for low-end power. Throttle response Is vivid. (Left) Das h layout is tastfully restra ined with easy -to-read gauges and a clock. (Right) At 480 pounds dry, the Gran Canyon is no lightweight, but the narrow chassis and wide bars "nonetheless provide a nimble mount. du e to the revised mapping, and the rest is thanks to Cagiva havin g gea red down th e Ca nyon b y fitti ng a 45-t ooth re a r sp roc ket, whe reas the new 900 Supersport wears a 40-tooth one (and the old 9005S carried a 37). The result is a bike th at , w hile not being di sgraced at th ree-figure speeds, is incred ibly easy and relaxing to rid e in - eve ryday road conditions because it's so torquey and responsive, with the offbeat lilt of th e V-twin motor further add ing to the laid-ba ck feel. You catch yourself riding much of the time in fourth gear not only because the motor is so flexible and forgivin g, but because the low overall gearing makes the big gap between fou rth and the two overdrive top gears more apparent, so y ou en co u n te r i t more often in normal riding. Still, the gearchange is reall y smoo th and sw eet-sh ifting, thanks to Ducati' s new selecto r drum, and the stiff-action clutch isn 't as notic eab le as it is on the 900SS - if on ly bec ause yo u probably chan ge ge a r less often w it h th e more flexible Cagiva pa ckage. But w he re the 900GC wo ul d really score over its similarly engine d Duc ati rivals in a shootou t alon g Racer Road wo uld be over the bumps - because the Elefant-derived frame not only has fat, 45mm Marzocchi leading-a xle cartri dge fo rks, but al so a ri sing-rate rea r end with Sach s-Boge shock adjust able for spring preload and rebound d amping, here fitted with a link sp eciall y d eveloped for th e Grand Canyon' s a lmost completely tarmac-related use. . The result gives an almost lu xuri ous 6.69 inches of suspension tra vel at both en d s (co m p a re .tha t to th e 4.7 inches . front /5.3 inches rear of Ducati 's mu ch t auter ca ntilever fr ame on the 900 Supertight), justifyi ng the use of Ca giva's trademark "Soft Damp" ep ithet on the bike becau se it de livers ou tstanding rid e quality over every kind of road surface - if you have to rid e to wo rk along a concrete fre eway with bad joints, th is bike's for you. And th ou gh th e lon g 60.25-in c h whee lbase wo uld seem to be a recipe for unwieldi n e ss, the Cagiva is in fact remarkably agile, tha nks perhap s to the skinny 100/ 90-19 fro nt w heel and just 92mm of trail. This isn' t like Du cat i V-twins of old wi th wh eelb a ses th a t stre tched fr om Bologna to Rome and back agai n, where you had to almost send them a telegram to change d irection. The Canyon is prac- tically nimble and certainly easy-steering, plus it' s extre me ly sta ble a t speed over bumps, which its su pple su sp ension just shrugs off almos t casua lly. And the Nissin brak es haul off spee d impressive ly well, wi th the sort of bite from the 296mm fron t rot ors that Brembos used to have in their cast-iron da ys but have now sacrificed in fav or of a mor e p rogressi ve actio n. In op ting for the Japa nese brakes, Cagiva has give n itself th e best of bo th wo rl ds, b ecause y ou can stand the Canyon on its nose if need ed in which case the soft fork settings cause quite a lot of dive - or else you can just squee ze the lever lightly for a more progr essive response. Did you get the idea I enjoyed rid ing this bike, .may be ? Hones tly, I'm trying hard to find fault... Yet the Cagiva's rear suspension is also very comp liant scoo ting o u t of turns on th e an gl e, la ying d o wn the V-tw in e ng ine' s torqu e y power thr ough the rear 150/ 70-17 Pirelli MT80 tire. The Pirelli rubber used on the GC is reall y only nominall y dual-purpose, in sp ite of the off-road tread pattern, because (like the bike it's fitted to here) it has a heavy tarmac bias, with a loo se-surface potential a t be st , rather than tru e off-road capability. But there's en ough gri p on the road for you to not wis h too hard for a set of supers po rt tires, th e kind of tires th e Gr an Ca nyon inv ites ha ving put on ev en th ough th e obvious St ag e Two fu tur e version of this bike wo u ld have to be a full-mo nty tarmac street rod with upsid e-d own forks, cast- alloy w heels, a 17-inch fro nt tir e a nd a set o f Pir elli Dragons to replace the MT80s, all in the cau se of added street cred and nominally imp roved handling. Cha nces are that if Cag iva doesn ' t make this mega-m otard, its cu st om ers will, es pecially sin ce th e ultra-rea son able price of the Gran Can yon (20 percent cheape r than Du cat i' s 900 Su persport in Ita ly) will en cou rage man y to follow the sa me route as with the similarly we ll-p rice d Yamaha TRX850 and take ad vantage of its cheap entry ticket to twin-eylinde r sp ort-biking to personalize it as bu d get and inclina tion allow. Spea king of the TRX underlin es what Cag iva has done here, carvi ng themse lve s a significa nt slice of the sportsroa dster ma rket wit h a unique mod el that has only one real rival - the TRX's s ister , t h e Ya ma ha TO M. Th e Gran Can yon is in every wa y a V-twin versio n of the TDM, following in its rea l- wo rl d tire tracks to crea te a true a llaround, everyday mo torcycle that's fun to ride as well as p ra ctica l to use. The up right riding position on wh at is quite a tall b ike d elivers a fee ling of confi de nce tha t will give ma ny riders a sense of being in charge of the bike ra ther than intimidated by it, as they might be with a su persport race replica. That in turn will translate to poin t-to-point journey tim es that will sati sfy an d maybe su rprise - ye t at the sa me time , the Gra n Canyo n is a relaxing ride, one you can cru ise or boulevard on a s happily as scratch with. You don't feel you have to prove anything wh en you' re aboard it no t to yo u rself an d es p eci ally not to anyone else. . The Cagiva is just a bike to chill out on, one that you' ll relish riding around on for the pure fun of it. I did. ." Cagiva 900 Gran Canyon Specifications Engine . . .Air/oil·cooled90° V·twin fourstroke w/two desmodromically operated valv per cylinder es Displecement 904cc Bore" stoke 92 x 68mm Compression retlo 9.2:1 Carburetlon/lgnltlon Weber electronic engine-management system wI single indirect injector per cylinder Horsepower 66.5 hp @ 7500 rpm Torque 53.5 ft.db, @ 5000 Trensmission ..6·speed. constant-mesh Clutch Multiplate dry Chain Flnel drive Suspension Front . . . .45mm Marzocchi leadlnq -axle telescopic cartridge fork: 6.69-inchestravel Reer Single Boge shock w/spnnq -preload and rebound-damping adjustment: 6 .69-i ~ches travel Brakes Front ., Dual 296mm discs w/two-piston Nissin calipers Reer .sin9le.240mm disc w/two-piston Nissincaliper Wheel sro..s Front . ..2.15-in.-wide spoked alloy rim wI 100-90 19 Pirelli MT 80 RS Rear . . . .4.25-in.·wide spoked alloy rim w/150-70 17 Pire/ll MT 80 RS Wheelbese 60.25 in. Reke/trell 27.so192mm Beet height 33.5 in. Dry weight .480.6 lb. Fuel cepeclty 5.3 gallons . U.S. Distributor Ca9Na USAl901 Davisville Rd.. Willow Grove. PA 19090. 215/830 -3300. FAX 215/830 -3301 37

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