Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

O not... r , - -- - - - - -- - -- --------1 KTM's extensive range of new models at Intermo t included not o nly th e pro to ty p e u lt ra-li gh tw ei g h t 520cc MX fo u r- s troke eng ine (w hich th e fac tory tea m will develop in 1999 M X GP L--------------~-----1 ev ents ) an d the Supermoto street scrambler, bu t also the new version of th e Duke, heavily based as predicted on the previous Unit sho w bike, but retaining the Duke name in spite of bei ng considerably more road-oriented . race at Ass en in August an d wi n ning a "We figured we had too much invested in the Duke name to round of the Du tch Open Tw ins series. UJ drop it," said Stefan Pierer, "bu t w e plan to focu s m ore heavily But this w as o n ly a fter Ba k ke r ha d '" 8 on the stree t-bike market in the future. If we link u p with a notho resolv ed ea rly han dlin g p roblems by er company that m ak es it bes t for us to focu s on off-ro ad modreplacing the rotary -dampe r rear sus pe nels, w e' ll s tay as we are a t presen t - but if we end up goi ng it sion with a conventional WP shock. alone , which is a definit e op tion if we do n' t get the right d eal, Bak ker is now constructing his ow n >m then we'll do it ours elves ." . alu mi n u m tw in-spar chassis for th e 90Th is means th e DOHC ver sion of the Du ke II's 624cc LC4 degree V-twin Suzuki engine, w hich will engine - ready for production, but held back for now w hile the If KTM doesn't find a suitable candidate for a merger, we may end it be available for sale in street or race gu ise company's future direction is decid ed - will appe ar on m ore tar- up see ing even more street-oriented models than its most recen t early next year, cl o thed in b odywork mac-based models in future, but the real focus of KTM's street- showing in Munich - the Duke II. des igned by Cees Smit, Bakker' s in-hous e bike R&D will be th e co mpa ny 's o w n twi n-cylind er eng ine designer w ho w as res po ns ib le for th e presently u nd er development, which Pierer confirms as being a good- looking Chicane Hawk hub-een ter 75-d eg ree V-twin with wet su m p , balanc e s ha ft (no t offse t H owever , it' s pl anned th a t an LC8 Duke an d ot her more stree t bike launched at the Interrno t Show crankpins) and generator, capable of bein g bui lt in a range of s tree t-o rien te d m od el s w ill fo llow , th ou gh Pie re r sta tes tha t as well as the Bakker V-twin spo rtb ike, capacities from 700 to 900cc. KTM has no intention of producin g a tarmac su pe rspo rt model TheDOHCeight-valve motor w ith chain cam drive will make with the V-twin eng ine . Guzzi saga continues its debut in prototype form during 2000, ready for a launch in "Tha t marke t's getting a lit tle crowded !" he said . " We got P rev io usly , in the It alian so a p o p e ra Adventurer h ard-enduro guise a t th e Intermot show that year, where w e are by doing thin gs di fferently, and we'll keep on that know n as "Moto Guzzi": Sp rin g, 1997; and a production-race debut in the January 2001 Paris-Dakar. w ay :' new chief execu ti ve Osca r Cecchina to arrives from Apri lia, where he had mas terminded its comeback from near-bankruptcy by gearing u pthe company to ride G ib ernau Bu lt o, w hic h b ro u ght Paco Mario Tozzi-Cond ivi. Th is Isle of Man New York, un der a flotation plan presentthe wave of Europe 's scooter boom , only based inv estor - a close friend of former ed to the U.5. Secu rities and Exch ang e Bulto th e m ost p leasure: Ju st the w ee k to be refused a share of the Beggio family Guzzi owner Alessa nd ro de Tomaso, and Commission before the end of September. before he died, Giberna u finished second firm's equity as his just reward . formerly the British import er for Maserati There is also wo rd that Tozz i-Cond ivi in th e Suzu ka 8 H ours, provid ing his So Cecchinato decamps to Italy' s oldest and De Tomaso cars - has announced the has only taken the Gu zzi helm in the short grandfather with a success to smile about and m ost his toric bi ke m arqu e, where ' decision to not transfer prod uction away term , w hile the board attem p ts to perin his final moments. Had he stayed w ith Am erican investment bank Tam arix is in fro m th e Mandello fac tory, w hi ch w ill sua de Sacchi to return to his form er post us ano ther six w eeks, Don Paco would th e p rocess of becom in g a key p layer . instead be mod ernized through an intenand maybe Ferrari, too. also have witnessed the revival of the BuICecchina to aims at delivering an Apr iliasive investm ent progra m un der the contaco marque that he'd envisag ed by handlike turnaround in the numbers gam e for tro l of Guzzi's newl y ap po inted ge nera l ing over the name rights to the Rabasa Two greats pass Moto Guzzi by delaying the marketpl ace man ager, 34-yea r-old Dino Falciola (curfamily of Derbi ear lier this year, with the Sad ly, tw o of the most famo us names in debu t of new si x-speed V-tw in m od els rently its finance director). lau nch on the Derbi stand at Intermot of Spanish m otorcycling have pa ssed away tar geted at Guzzi's tra d itional customer The mass managerial resignation will the new Bultaco She rco tri als bik e - th e with in a m onth of each o ther. First to base, like the VII Sport and 750 Ippogrifo, no longer take place, and the 12Sec Piagfirst new mod el in two decad es to bea r the leave us - at the age of 86, on August 3, in favor of a 125 and 250cc range of scootgio-G uzzi scoo ter di sp layed at In termo t historic bad ge. After a lifetime marked by peacefully in his sleep - wa s Francisco X. ers, powered by eng ines so u rce d fro m will almost certain ly be canceled - providBulto, better known as Don Paco. Born in a love of all kinds of two- w heeled compeAp rilia's great rivals, Piaggio. ed it doesn't cost Guzzi too much to tition, Paco Bulto is dead - but long live 1912 to a wealthy Barcelona textile family, But to m anu factu re th ese, he needs extract itself from th e engine deal with the Bulto was an enth usiastic motorcyclist as Bultaco. more space and greater efficiency than Ag ne lli family-owned company. Maybe well as an active racer in his youth, winAlso no longer with us, after sufferi ng Gu zzi 's factory can offer. So Cecchinato they' ll just have to bu y a few more Fiat ning the Spani sh Na tion al Amateur title heart a tta ck on A ugu st 25, is Jaci nto cuts a deal wit h his form er em ploye rs at trucks. on his Velocette KSS in 1936. In 1945, he Moriana - better know n to road race Philips to take over their redundant modHowev er , p lans to extend th e Moto founded Mon tes'! wit h his pa rtner, Pedro enthusiasts around the wo rld as the "JJ" ern factory 50 m iles away a t M o n za , Guzzi range downward via a four-stroke Permanyer, building the company in to in JJ-Cobas. Like Bulto, Barcelona 's Moriwhere the Dutch firm has bee n making 250cc big -wheel scoo ter that will revive Spain's leading mo torcycle man ufacturer. ana was an ent husias tic end uro, trial and televisions. Though responsibility for conthe historic Galetto model name are likely In 1956, Montesa finished seco nd , third tinu ed em p loyment of Philips' la rgely roa d race competitor. He linked up wi th to be main tai ned, with th e innova tive and four th in the Isl e of Man 125cc IT female work force is part of the package, Antoni o Cobas, the inventor of the twindesig ns of Frenchm an Sacha Lakic - crewith thei r d us tbin -faired two-stroke sin Cecchinato gamb les that many of Guzzi 's spar alum inu m chassis, to establish the JJator of a succession of Boxer Bikes spegles. This success led to the foun dation of existing line workers won' t wa nt to comCobas race team , sponsored by his extencials, then the Bimota Mantra, an d most the Bultaco ma rque, for the two partners mute four hours each da y or move, mak- . siv e ca r- a nd m ot orcycl e-d ea le rsh ip rece ntly the Voxan Roads te r V-tw in in Mo ntesa stro ngly d isagreed abou t the ing the move via ble. . empire. The succession of good-hand ling (abou t to en ter pro duction in France) importance of competit ion : Pe rma nyer Trad e union s re presentin g the Mot o 125 and 250cc customer road racers tha t tip ped to be chosen over those of Luciano considered it merely a use fu l testbed for Guzz i work force voted in Sep tember not followed not only established many of the Ma rabese, creator of the Guzzi Centauro production bikes; Bu lto believed tha t it to ap prove or cooperate with the com paas well as a host of Piaggio scoo ters. ben ch marks fo r m od ern GP ch as s is served both a promoti onal purpose and as ny' s proposed m ove to Monza, effectively And wo rk on red eveloping the 600cc des ign but also fueled the revival in Spana basis for valuable research and developvetoing the plan. The n, in a parallel d eciGilera four-valve single motor into a more ish race fortunes th at sees cu rrent 500cc ment. TI,e two sp lit up in 1957, and Don sion, the Man dello town council voted to modem 640cc eng ine package will conti ngrids packed with rid ers from that counPaco established his own Bultaco compadeny Mo to Guzzi the opportu nity to redeue, thou gh Gu zzi will now retu rn its contry, following in the wheeltracks of men ny in 1958 in Barcelona, bu ild ing a range velop the historic factory site for housing centra tion to the range of new V-twin such as Carlos Card us, Juan Ga rriga and of sporting two-strokes that swiftly outby limiting its future use to manu factu rmodels Ferrari ha d p lanned befo re his Alberto Puig, w ho all owe their rise to so ld Montesa all around th e world . In ing purposes only and slapping a restraindepartu re, sa ys marketing d irector Gian sta rdo m to their days w ith JJ-Cobas. One tim e, Bultaco began selling bik es purely in g order on the d emolition of severa l luca Lanaro. such ride r was Alex Criville, who broug ht d esigned for co m pe tition : the first TSS parts of the struc ture, listing them as his"We have recognized all along that we Moriana and Cobas the ulti mate accolade road racer appea red in 1961, with the toric b u ild ings - including the fa m ous must build growth through our traditionfor a small manufacturer by defeating the debut of the line of Sherpa trials bikes folwind tunnel. At the same time, a de legaal strengths, by d eveloping fresh V-twin might of Honda to win the 1989 125cc GP lowi ng a yea r later. Throughout the 196Os, tion of Moto Guzzi com pany execu tives models with mo re mo dern engineering, Wo rld title with the works JJ-Cobas - a these models and the sporting two-stroke pres ented the Mo to Guzzi boa rd of direcyet maintaining Guzzi' s trademark fea fea t tha t p rompted Ho nd a to do the street bikes to which th ey g a ve rise ' tors with an ulti matum, threatening a coltures," he says. "The obstacle to this has unthi nkable and supply the team w it h brought worldwide repute to the .Bultaco lecti ve mass resignation un less Oscar been removed, so now we can return to works NSR250 engines w ith whi ch to conmarque, which won its first Gra nd Prix in Cecchina to w as removed from his executhe p a th rna pped ou t by our p revious st ruct their own 250cc semi-works bike, 1966 an d the first of many World Tria ls tive post. chi ef execu tive, Arnu lfo Sacchi - which allowing Criville to move u p a class en titl es in 1970. In 1976, th e g rea t Angel Some indica tion of the chief executive's includes placing development of the VAro ute to his current sta tus as a H onda N ieto brought Bultaco th e first of four "d ifficult" nature had alread y been sug 10 Superbike as a top priority." works 500cc rider. coveted 50cc road racing World Cha mpigested by chief eng ineer Angelo Ferr ari's G uzzi is a ls o certain to step up But JJ-Cobas built many othe r b ikes , onships. Unfortunately, the inc reasing surprise resigna tion for "persona l rearesea rch a nd d evelopmen t of the VII 00 too , ranging fro m the rema rk ab le BMW 0\ four-stroke em phasis in Bultaco's expo rt sons" in July, just as his-magnificent new Sp ort and vn GT (the BMW RllOORT Kl00 -based endurance racers, throug h the 0\ markets, coupled with Spain's econo mic 75-degree V-twin Su pe rbike engine - the spo r t tourer rival laun ched at Interrnot), ,...... V-twin Du catis tha t han dled so well that crisis at the end of the Franco era, led BuIbasis of Mo to Guz zi's future motorcycle bot h powered by the new six-speed ver' the Italian factory acquired one and used 00 taco to close its doors in Decemb er 1979. range in to th e n ext m illenn iu m - was sio n of the fuel-injected two-valve 1100 much of its geo metry in developing the C'l But even in re tir em ent, P aco Bulto being unveiled to the public. engine, wit h a view to' commencing pro85 1 Su pe rb ike, th rou gh th e range o f l-< rem a in ed in volved in m o torcycl in g Wha t happe ned next was revealed in duction of at least the Spo rt mod el nex t 0; Yamaha RZ25O /35G-powered street racers thr ough the success of his three sons in all private by the same Guzzi executives at sp ring. To fu nd the company's modernsold mainly in Japan , to the world's first kind s of sporting events; the eldes t, IgnaIn terrno t, an d has since been con firmed izat ion plans, in the absence of the pro fits u trials bi ke to sport d isc br akes . Jacin to ci o, h a s won Spanish t itles in tria ls , from red evelopin g its Mande llo factory officially. Moriana was the unsung sponsor of these end u ran ce road raci ng and ra llies. Bu t site, the board of directors has an nounced Cecchi nato has been d ism issed an d innova tive desig ns , a nd h is' shocki ng replaced as chie f execu tive by the Guzzi that Moto Guzzi Corpo ration w ill be floatperhaps it was the succe ss of his gra ndboard of d ir ect o rs' cu rre n t chai rman, ed on the NASDAQ stoc k exchange in son, works H onda 500cc GP ri der Se te death at the age of 48 will leave a void . l ~ .. g 5 a .c .8 o 5

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