Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

MotoGuzzi California Special On the dry-sump su perbike, the fue l tan k and sepa rate oil tank will be loca ted above the gea rbox in the cen ter of th e w heelbase (t hus ensu ri ng a co nsta n t weight distribution as fuel load reduces, and furth er lowering the center of gravity for increased stability and ease of han d li ng), with th e su bs ta n tia l airbox between the cylinders force-fed by large triangu lar du cts either side of the nose of .the fairing . Alt ho ugh bot h cyli nders a re p ositio n ed ve r tica lly in r el at ion to th e crankcase , Ferrar i's d esign calls for th e eng ine to be tilted forwa rd 16 d egr ees from ver tical in the frame in order to load up the fron t wheel weightwise. It is also a benefit as it allowed designers to maximize downd raft into the DOHC, crossflow fou r-valve cyli nder head s . Wi th such a large bore, there 's room in th e superbi ke d esign for ma ssi ve 39.5m m inlet valves and 36mm exhausts, set at a very flat to t a l included ang le of 25 deg rees to each other, with d up lex throttle bodies projected on the superbike version, and twin exhaust headers on a ll models. Drive to the twin overhead cams hafts per cyli nder is by Hy-Vo chain via an auxiliary s haft driven di rectly off the crank, bu t turning in the opposi te direction to it so as to eliminate torqu e reaction. The same shaft also dri ves the frontmou nted waterpump, whil e the electric sta rter is positioned beneath the engine, to further lower the center of gravity. But perhaps the biggest d ifference on the new motor compared to Guzz i's exisis ting V-twin range is the adoption of chain final d rive on the new su pe rbi ke and other spo rts mod els, though Ferrari says some Guzzi mod els will retain the shaft final dri ve. The engine can be fitted with either . A six-speed gea rbox (not shown in the photos) is bolt ed on to the back of the engine, driven by a dry clu tch on the racer (wet on the street bikes) and offering the crucia l advantage at the race track of h a v in g t he gear cluster re a d ily extracta ble in order to cha nge individual ratios for a given circuit, GP-style. And to further reduce bu lk, the gea rbox d esign calls for the two shafts to be stacked one above 't he othe r, just as on the Yamaha R1, in turn add ing to front-end weight b ia s via a co mpacte d ma ss a nd lo ng swi nga rm - in spite of which, Ferra ri projects a fast-hand ling 54.3-inch wheelbase for the superbike, incred ibly short for a one-liter V-twin. Th ou gh Gu zzi's designer, Lucia no Marabese, has already penned styling for the su pe rbike, Guzzi execu tives u nderline that the final format for chass is and bodyw ork des ign has ye t to be chose n. Right now , all attention is focused on getting the prototyp e engine running on the dyno, with September as the latest target date. At p rese nt, thou gh, plans call for a co mposi te chassis u sin g twin parallel extruded alloy struts on each side connecting the steering head with the rear e ngi ne mount a n d sw inga r m pivot. Marabese's design drawi ngs show a single-sided swi nga rm, of whose me rits, how ever, the enginee ring team rem ains un con vinced , pointing to the diffic ulty of com b in in g o p ti m um s us pension se tu p w it h cor rec t c h a in tensi on and rear ride heigh t that Duc ati and Hond a tea ms have s truggled with on th e 916 a n d RC 45, as well as the red uced un spr un g w e ig h t of a conve n tiona l sw ingarm . Th e ma in rea so n Oscar Cecch ina to tried to acquire Bimota when it cam e up for sale earlier this su mmer, he says, is that Moto Gu zzi badl y needs the kind of chassis expert ise the Italian frame specialist has to offer. " He re at G uzzi, we know how to build engines," he says, "and the new liqui d -cooled superbike V-twin ha s th e potential to be extremely competitive in both the marketplace and the race track . Bu t we don't have the kind of in-ho use experience of lead ing-ed ge chassis technology that you need to make a mark in superbike racing today, so it would have reso lved that difficul ty if we'd been able to add Bimota to our team . But we have other solutio ns in mind - and we certainly do n' t intend to diminish the po tential impact of this exceptional engine design by u nd er valuing the chassis ing redient. We a re very se rious abou t re tu rn ing Moto Guzzi to its traditional place at the fro nt of the gr id in world-class racing, and this will be the bike we'll do it with." But without, it seems, the creator of the eng ine to ove rsee its developm ent for Angelo Ferrari was conspicuous by h is absence fro m the un veili ng of th e mo s t prest igi o us p roject of his twow heeled design career on July 2. Gu zzi executives cited his absence as d ue to being "on holiday," but in fact this turns out to be a permanent vacation from life a t the lak esid e factor y of Italy's oldest motorc ycle marque. Word is tha t relation s between chief engineer and chief executive had crumbled to the poi nt tha t one of them had to go - and it was Ferrari who took the wal k, leaving his draftsman an d ch ief assista n t on th e project, exGilera GP engi neer Danilo Mojoli, to ho ld d own the fort u ntil his new boss (who m Cecc hinato h a s apparen tly alread y appoi nt ed ) a rrives in Oc tober. Though his iden tity is u n kn o w n, he' s und erstood to be an engineer from Piaggio's HQ in Pont ed era, whose scooter expe rience is likely to be crucia l in view of Cecchinato's p lans to increase Moto Guzzi's production volume from its current 6500 bikes a year to 20,000 within five years, throug h the lau nch next year of the 125/ 250cc Galetto runabou ts powered by boug ht-in Piaggio motors. Guzzisti a ro u n d th e wo rld w ill be hop ing the new man knows a thing or two about big fou r-strokes, as well - for on pap er, the prototype VA-lO Superbike engine promises to herald a glorious new I~ page in Moto Guzzi history. FIRST RIDE By Alan Cathcart Photos by Kyoichi Nakamura lus hed wit h its frankly u nexp ected succes s at winning Cycle World magazine's prestigious 13-bike Mega-Cru iser Shootout earlier this yea~, when the California EV was ad judged the best cru iser mo ney could buy in the Land of the Free (whic h inve nted the w hole idea for bu ild ing suc h bikes in the first place), Moto Guzzi ma nageme nt has become eve n more serious abo u t pro viding a Euro-alterna tive to Harl ey and Polaris - no t to me ntion all their existing Euro-rivals and the Ll.Si-clo ned neo- Ha rleys . Hence the arrival on the scene of a glitzy new member of the California family, to be marketed alo ngside the EV in a qu artet of metallic colors ranging fro m pearl white to m id night b lack, or cha mpagne / brown and b lue/si lver, to provide a glossed-u p glamo ur- bike alterna tive to the bike that beat Milwaukee. The California Special, or Bassa as it will be kno w n in the United Sta tes , (it means "low") may be based on the EV mechan ically, but in best Detro it mod e (as practiced in Mandello) it offers the option of a revamped loo k and revised riding pos ition, leaving the custome r to deci de which way is best. Hey - mar ket forces, righ t? The American Way is all abou t choice, and now Gu zzi's given it to you, so pay atten tion a nd find o u t h ow. C hass is geome try o n th e Ca li fo rnia Specia l is un changed from the EV, but the rid ing position is more laid -back, wit h wide r, flatter, rubber-m oun ted hand leba rs tha t are also more pulled-b ack, combining with mo dified, fur ther-fo rwa rd footpegs to toge ther de liver a cool-d ude cru ising stance Cap tain America wou ld have been proud of. The we ll-padded but rather firm rider' s sea t is now sepa ra te from the passen ger's, and set .6-inch lower at 29.9 inches to ensu re you chill ou t in comfort. Yet, as on the EV, the Guzz i's chassis is son of spo rtbike, with 45mm Marzocchi forks that are manu ally adj ustable over 17-notch sp reads for compression and rebou nd d amping , and twin chro med Sachs-Boge hydra ulic rear shocks (replacing the WP units on the EV), which are also ad jus table for rebou nd . Together , the Cali 's suspe nsion package delivers su rprisingly goo d rid e quality over bumpy seco nda ry roa ds, as well as endowing the Guzzi wit h far greater reserves of han dling and sus pe nsion compliance than you' d ever expect from a chilled -out cruiser. Add in the extra margin of safe ty provided by the mea ty 320mm Bremb o floating fron t d iscs and their fou r-po t calipers, and the Cali is a potent package in cruiser country. And that's before takin g Gu zzi 's un ique linked braking system (Honda 's is - typically - mu ch mor e comp licated and not necessarily an y better), whereby the hand lebar lever (redesigned on the Special, as is the clutch lever) wo rks just one of the big front Brembo manhole-covers, leaving the foot peda l to opera te the othe r one in tand em with the rear 245mm single fixed disc. On ce you've rep rogrammed you rself to foresake the habits of a road racing lifetime and stop us ing the handle- B B ~ ~ 25

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