Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

T riumphcrankingup Also clocki ng up the miles on prototype s of forthcom ing new models are Trium ph's test riders, with the immine nt launch at the Munich Show in Sept em ber of the British marque' s sports touring rival to the H on da VFR800, the T695, as well as a com plete ly revamped , m ore tarmacorie nted Tiger 900, w hic h - powered by a detuned version of th e fu el-in jected T509 Speed Triple motor ~ will provid e a po te n t a ltern a tive as a tw o-wheeled Range Rover to the new Cagiva 900 Gran Canyon 1II0to totale. Also expected is a revised version of the four-eylinder 1200 Trophy touter. to be fitted with Sagem fuel injection based on th e sy stem featured in th e T595 Daytona and T509 triples. But it' s the T695 o n w hich most a tten ti o n will be focused, representing as it does Triumph's long-awaited step into a poten tially lu crat ive market sec tor for th e Britis h firm . Already, tantalizing detail s are fort hco ming about the new model, which employs a rev ised version of the T595 Daytona ' s 955cc second -genera tion thr eecylinder engine, still fitted wi th Sagem fuel injection but detuned and remappe d to deliver arou nd 110 bhp at the cra nks haft rath er than the Daytona's 130 bhp, w ith the benefit of a wider spread of pow er and im proved tor qu e of around 72 ft.-lb . . For the first tim e ev er on a Triumph, the T695 will use a GP-style twin-spar aluminum chassis that is cheaper to manufacture in volume than the Daytona's more laborin tensive tubular alloy frame, and while the first prototypes that have be en spotted in action have sported a T595-type single-sided swingarm, word is that this may be rep laced by a conventional twin-sided design in production, again on grounds of cost. Showa suspension will most likely be used, but with the probability that this will be electronically controlled for a "sem i-active" ride, varying the rebound and compression damping acco rd ing to road speed and pavement conditions. Th e new Triumph sport-touter's bodywork has been wind-tu nnel -developed to optimize both aerodynamics and rid er protection, and has a distinctive "face" as on the Tro ph y an d Daytona. Rumored top speed for a tw oseater bike und erstood to sca le 450 pounds dry is over 150 mph, and at a projected price of 8500 pounds (a bou t $13,800) in Bri tain, the new Trium p h T695 will be very com petitively pitched at its Hon da VFR800 rival, which costs 8650 pound s in the UK. Also being test ed is the rolling chassis of the T806 Falcon, Triu m ph 's projected en try into the 600cc Supers port clas s, which is d ue to be la unche d for th e 2000 m od el year. H owever, while the DO HC 16-val ve engine of Britain's fuel-injected four-cy linder con tin ues d ev elopment, where it's under st ood to be making 115 bhp at the crank, Triumph h as fitted the Falcon's cha ssi s with a Kawasaki ZX6R m otor fo r on- the-road testing . Also targeted for a 2000 launch , but not yet spotted in the metal being tested on th e roa d, is th e bike that is arguably the most eag erly awai ted p rod u ct to com e from John Blo or ' s born again Tri umph company an all-new 750cc Bonn eville twin, much- rum or ed ever sin ce Bloor acqu ired the Triumph marque back in 1984. The new Bonnevill e is set to ech o its air- co o led pushrod pred ecessor 's classic loo ks, bu t with a modem engine package to accompany the retro styling . Like the old air-cooled We may finally see a pa rallel twin from Triumph once again. Styling will be reminiscent of the Bonneville of old, but naturally featu ring all the latest Triumph technology, much in the same vein as the Thunderbird. include experience of running a bikemanufactu ring company, the new owners a re understood to have signed up one of Italy's lead ing motorcycle executives to run Bimota for them, and to have alloca ted majo r funds to R&D, includi ng the development of new models as w ell as a fac tory ra ce effort in th e World Superbike Cha mpions hip star tin g in 1999, aimed at rekind ling Bim ota's onceglo rious competi tio n image. As a firs t step, prod uction of the Suzuki TLl000Rengined SB8R's lau nch will be d elayed un til Sep tember, mak ing the bike a 1999 mod el and thus allowing extra tim e to refine the final cus tomer version. At tha t stag e, Bimota' s range will be cu t to th ree bikes - the SB6R, SB8R and V-Due - before new m od els (in clu ding th e fo rthcoming D B4 ex cl us ive ly revealed ea rlier this year in "Eu ro File") come on line for 1999. Aprilia gets new engine plant The ch a nge in Bim o ta ' s o wnersh ip m eans th at neith er A p ri lia nor M oto G u zzi - bo th of which were kn own to have been in negotiation s w it h Bim ota owners SCM to acqui re the company wi ll end up controlling the Rimini-based chassis s p eci a lis t, but in the ca s e of Aprilia, it's already o ne step ah ead - and a sto ne 's th row away. Just 20 miles from the Bimota factory, in th e h ill to p re public of San Marino (w hich is already the ho me of the Cagiva -owned CRC design stu dio), Aprilia is putting the finish ing touch es to a new e ngi ne plant, th e creation of which m arks a new d ir ecti on for the Ita lia n market lead ers. H it he rto, Aprilia boss Ivano Beggio has built his com pa ny's growth on justin-time d eli very of co mpo nents m anu factured by ou tside su ppliers to Aprilia 's d esign or specifica tion, w ith th e result that ve ry little of the conte nt of any Aprilia product is manufactu red inhouse : O nly fin al assembly takes place in the com pa ny's tw o factories in Noale, north of Ve nice . U n til now, th is ha s es pecia lly in cl u ded engines, most of bike, the new liquid-cooled Tr iumph Bonnev ille w'ill be a 360- degree parallel twin wi th both pistons rising and falling together - but that' s where the resemblance ends. Like its three- and fo ur-cy linder co unte r pa rts in Tr iumph's cu rrent range, the new 750cc tw in w ill hav e dual overhead camshafts, four va lves per cylinder and a ge ar driven bala nce shaft to smooth out vi bra tion, with 90 bhp the targeted power ou tp ut for the six-speed engine . It' s un ders tood that Sag em fuel injection w ill be fitted, bu t w ith tw in injectors per cylinder to ta ke acco unt of the larger bore area of a twin, rather th an the sing le injectors of the T595 Daytona triple, and that the eng ine is styled to resemble its classic predecessor, w ith heavy finn ing on the ne ar- vertical cylinder block, polish ed alloy sid e covers an d swep t-bac k-exhausts. Triumph is plan ni ng a whole family of twi ns based on this engine d esi gn, but ind icatio ns are tha t the first mod el wi ll definit ely be called the Bonn eville, and w ill be an unfa ired retro sportbike - not a cruiser - wit h a tradi tio na l-loo king twin-loo p tu bu lar steel chassis (but w ith monosh ock rear end) , w ir e wheels and sty ling fu ll of period refer en ces, in the same way as the thr ee-cylinder Thu nderb ird recalls Triu m ph' s yesteryea r w ith deta il touches. Though it's expected to sell w ell in its native homelan d, the new twin is especially aimed at the U.s. market, w here the Bon neville na m e exerts powerf u l nost al gic appeal, and Tri umph believes many po ten tial customers are waiting for a bo rn -again Bonnie tw in, rather tha n buyin g one of th e co m pan y's current th ree -c ylin der ra nge. which we re m anu factured for Aprilia in Aus tria by Ro tax, th e Ca na dia n Bombardier-owned en gine specialist, and by MinareIli in Bologna. But starting j n September, Aprili a will begin man ufacturing its ow n 50cc scooter engi nes in its new 75,OOO-squarefoot San Marino factory, where 40 workers have already been hired. By 2000 it is p ro jected that the .n u m ber w ill rise to 200, at which point Beggio intends that 40 pe rcen t of Aprilia's scooter eng ines w ill be built there - the rest by MinareIli, which presently su pplies all of Ap rilia's Ya m a ha-based scoo ter m ot ors und er license from Yam aha . There' s th e ca tc h : A p r il ia is n ow gearing u p to export overseas, es pecia lly to Ind ia and China - bu t the terms of th e Ya ma h a engin e li cen se p reclu d e th at , cover ing o n ly Eu ro p e, le a d in g Aprilia to st art m ak ing its own pow erpl an ts . H owev e r, al ongside th e new fac to ry is the C RC-s ty le R&D studio h ead ed by fo rmer Bim ota chi ef engineer Pi erlui g i M arco n i, w ho joined Aprilia a t th e start of th e year and who will play an important pa rt in developing new models for the fast-growing com pany, whose RSVI000 Superbike is at last ab out to start production (p ress launch is planned fo~ th e end of Jul y in Spain). Buysome desmostock Word from Ita ly is that TPG , the America n bu yout specialist s w ho cu rrently ow n 51 percent of Du cati, are planning to bring the co m pany to market via a New York Stock Exc ha nge fl o tat io n later th is yea r - probably in O ct ober, b ut in a n y case ra t he r ea r lie r tha n ex p ected. Th er e' s no co nfi rma tio n o f this from TPG execu tives, but ju st in case this r u mor turns o u t to be tr ue, ducatisti aro und the world had bett er s tart lookin g for the keys to th eir pi ggy banks if they wa nt to buy themselves a s li ce of th e d e sm o d r o m ic ac tio n . Eithe r that , or bru sh u p o n Wall Street p ro cedure and H o w-To ban k- ro bbing techniques... 0 5'

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