Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Magne ti Marelli system used on Du cati a nd Mot o G u zzi V-t w in s , bu t w ith a much steeper degree of downd raft on the 72-degree Voxan than o n an y compara ble V-twin. Though designed as a lO00cc engine, a 1240cc version of the Voxan engi ne has . also been developed, which wi ll power the remai ning two o ut of the tota l of five models in all that Gardette and his team envisage in th e m ed ium te rm, a fu lly faired GT tourer and Cru iser style-bike. A n d th en , th ere ' s th e Superb ik e . Fre nc h homo lo gat ion rul es cu rren tly ' stipu late a lOo-bhp power ceiling , bu t in expo rt ma rk et s the Road ster will b e tuned to d eliver 108 bhp at its 9000-rp m pea k, di tto the Scrambler, w hile the Ca fe Racer w ill yield at least 120 bhp at th e sa me revs in unrestri cted form. However , Gardette is at pa ins to reassu re those w ho d oubt that su ch a potent e ngi ne p a ck a ge o n p aper wo u ld no t so me how fi nd its way o n to th e race track. "Yes, it's tru e," he ad m its . "Though to beg in wi th we we re at pains to d ownplay the sporting po tential of our design, so as not to position it as a niche-market sportbike but to give bro ad emphasis to th e ran ge of m od el s we're p ro jec ti ng, there's no d oubt that racin g is definitely on th e agend a for Voxa n - and sooner rather than late r. Ducati has proved that going racing successfully sells product so w e mu st fo llo w th e ir exa m p le , because the only way for a new marque to bu ild credib ility is th ro ug h competition." Therefo re expect Voxan to contest the Sound of Thund e r World Se ries (the French round of whic h was coincide n tally held on Soderno 's hom e tu rf at Magn y Cours this su mmer) w ith the Ca fe Racer in 2000 and to d ev elop a full- on su perbike in du e course, aim ing to compe te at Wor ld a nd Na tio na l Su pe rbike level sta rting in 2002. Wh en . th a t h app en s , G a r de t te's cho ice both as chass is d e si gn er a n d chief development eng ine er will p lay a pivota l rol e - fo r A lai n C hevallie r has no th ing left to prove on the race track, hi s ma ch ines twice earn ing th e Wo rld C ha m p io ns hi p runner -u p spot ha ving bu ilt h is o w n G P- w in n ing 250cc and 500cc race bikes a decad e ago, as one of the h onored few to be su p p li ed w it h factory Ya ma ha an d Ho nda engi nes arou nd w h ich to co nstru ct h is own frames . Su bseq uen t consu lting work includi ng a lead role in R&D of the' avant-ga rde GTSI000 for Yamaha - left Chevallier well-suited to w rap m e ta l around the Sodemo-des igned Voxan engi ne, which, like a Du cati desmoquattro o r H onda VTR, has the extruded aluminum sw inga r m pi voting in the crankcases. The result is a masterpiece of rational thou ght tha t stands apart fro m all its Vtwin rivals, resembling only the Tigcra ftbuilt Supermono singles, including the MuZ Skorpion, in featurin g two largediameter (60mm) steel tubes cu rving up and over th e engine, linking a pa ir of alum inum castings comprising the steering head and swi ngarm pivot. These, however , have a dual fun ction . The u pper cas ting inco rpora tes the a ir filter as par t of the airbox, while th e rear, low er one also compr ises the oil tan k for th e d ry-sum p eng ine, in turn liberating space ben eath the engine for th e hori z o n ta l WP shock (as on a Buell) , but working in compression , not traction . This in turn creates space behind th e engine for the ba tter y a nd p art of th e fu el and oil su p ply - what loo ks like th e fuel tank is in fact th e ai rbox , w ith th e fuel load cen tra lly located in th e rela- Frame design is unusual with its pair of 60mm tubes , but it is light and keep s the Voxan Roadster very narrow . tive ly co ntained 56 .7-inch whee lbase . The ch assis layou t also contribu tes to the ease of ada pt ing the d esign to d iffere n t mod el s as pa rt of the m odul ar concept: Sim ply by varying th e ang le at w hic h th e up per all oy casting is bolt ed to th e s tee l tu bes, th e head angle of th e 4llmm upside- down WP forks fitte d to all mo dels - w it h 35m m offsets o n th e Roadster for 98mm of trail - ca n be easily a ltered between th e 25.5 deg rees of th e Road st er, th e 25 degrees of the Cafe Racer or th e 26.5 degrees of the Scra m bler. " My priori ty was to create a design which is easy to manufacture in relatively low n u mbe rs, w ith the minimum of welding," says Che vallier, "as we ll as to fa ci litate th e mod ula r conce pt, ma ke maximum use of the dead space aro und t he e ng ine, a n d above all to red u ce we ight." Weigh in g less than 20 pou nds, the Voxa n frame a ppears to have ac hieved all of those goals. Equ ip ped in prod uction Roadst er guise with upsid e-d own WP forks, Marches ini w heels shod wi th (of co u rsel) M icheli n Maca dam tires , lar ge-diameter 320mm Brembo floa ting brakes w ith four- pot calipers and a. MIG exhaust made in Toul on by the Cuign abod et fa m ily of form er GP fa me, th e Voxan pro mises on paper to be a po ten t p ack a ge - even in restrict ed 1 00-bh p form - with its 41 1-pound d ry w ei ght and slim bu ild . But, eno ug h looking. Time to rid e it and see for myself if French fizz comes o nly in a bot tle - or o n two w heels, as well. A half-d ay spent help ing Qu elin clock up yet more miles on th e pair of Roadster test bikes , first arou nd the twisting moun tain roads o f the high Auvergne, then a fast b last a lo ng the C le rmo nt all i orallie back to Issoire before rounding off the morning with a lun ch tim e session on the local race circuit ow ne d by th e town council - a potent extra reason for Gardette to locate the V oxa n ope ra tio n in his home town! - p rov ided th e ans w ers. The manufacturers of the world especia lly Triumph a nd Ducati - hav e serious com pe tition on the hori zon . The Voxa n ha s all th e m akin g s o f a n extremely good motorcycle. That's not a ros y conclusion brou ght on by se ve ra l glasses of ros e, but the inescapa ble co nclusion of a hands-on exam ina tion ov er everv kind of road . I i delivers. First, let's deal with the obvious question m a rk over the 72-deg ree V-twin design: No, it d oesn't vib rat e any mo re tha n a Du cati or VTR or TL - not even nea r its 9 400-r p m rev lim iter . Tho ug h the robust -sounding exhaus t has a hig her pitch a nd revvier not e tha n it s 90d eg ree riva ls, the o nly slight tin gle yo u can d etect is through th e footrests, an d it's certa inly no w orse tha n a desmo Vtw in , even w ith th e so lid ly m ounted eng ine a nd no balan ce weigh ts a t th e end of th e handlebar s. Voxa n pl an s to rubber-mo un t the foot res ts on production bikes - bu t rea lly, it' s hardl y necessarv , Rid ing pos itio n is excellent, extre mely well th ou ght out so th at yo u get th e sa me feel of direct stee ring as on a Monster or BMW, bu t w ith a more rati on al, les s s tretched-ou t stance , wi th yo u r han d s wi der a part. O n th e Voxan, the ba rs are also pu lled bac k q u ite a lot to deliver a fairly aerody namic posture by na ked- bi ke sta ndards. Thi s renders the bike comfortable a t th e sort o f speeds you would n' t expec t to attain on a naked bike, yo u r elbows tucked in and you r back straight. The tw o bikes I rod e had a mixture of setu ps, one wi th production WP suspension but th e Sytel EFI, th e o ther w it h Paioli hardware they were testing a nd the production Marelli electro nics . Basing m y evalua tio n o n th e produ ct ion ite ms in eac h case, th ere's a not icea ble d iffer en ce in ho w clea nly th e Ma relli ma nagemen t sys te m picks up a t low revs compared to the Sodemo EFI the difference feels a bou t th e sa me as between the sa me engi ne w ith a sing leor tw in-injector system [itted. Aided by the light opera tio n of th e hydraulic clu tch yo u can mo tor smoothly away fro m a traffi c light w he the r yo u gas it up hard or mosey away from rest. Then, roll on the gas from as low as 3000 rp m and the eng ine is very stro ng, w ith the Voxan pulling cleanly aw ay a t pa rt th rottl e from ju s t 20110 re vs, w ith no clutch work w ha tsoever. From there, the re's the kind of vivacious pickup a ca rbu reted Mon st er can on ly d ream of, w it h a powerfu l, linear punch tha t gets hard er and stro nge r as th e revs mou n t. And th is th ey d o very quickly - the Voxa n has a n appetite for rev s that bod es w ell for a more high ly tuned race replica. The six-speed gearbox has a nice, positive shift, but the engine is so torquey and forgiving you don't rea lly need to us e it so mu ch . This allows you the luxury of match ingthe bik e's pe rformance to you r mood - rev it hard and use t he gea rs, or chill out and cru ise, it's all the sa me to the Vo xan. Midran ge is pr etty potent. and while the Road ster will rev ou t to the redline if yo u insis t, neither engi ne I sampled really fe lt like it want ed or need ed to. . Sparkling performance com es simply by riding the torque curve and shifting up a t the 7000-rpm torque peak, jus t as you'd expect to d o on a boulevard cru iser Ii ke th is. The chassis felt ultrastable in fas t freew ay sweepers on the Clermo nt au/orau /e, w her e it was easy to maintain 135 mph mile after mile, wit h anot her 1500 rpm to go to redline (measured top speed is 148 m ph , accord ing to Voxa n) . The legi ble instru mentation that tells you this inform a ti o n is located on a well -desig ne d d ashboard , with bri gh t w a rn ing lights tha t sho uld be an exa mple to o the r manufacturers. But as stable as the Voxan is aro und fas t turns, it's a lso rela tivelv nimble in slow ones. It steered rea lly ~ell in tight, tw isti ng ter rain , w here it feels light and easy to flick from side to si de, a nd on tig ht hairpins yo u no tice the ample steering lock. The ride qu alit y of the WP sus pen - . sion o n the bike I was riding over thi s sector was also exce lle nt, ea ting u p the bu m ps and ridges of th e broken road su rface th at the less-developed Pa iol i package cou ldn' t ma tch. A n d tho ug h t he fitted M ich e lin Ma cadam rubber is focused on wea r a t least as mu ch as grip, the Voxan hoo ked up well o n d ry roads and co ped w ell with slippery surfaces. One bike did display some signs of po w er un d er st eer wh en we go t to the race circuit, pu sh ing the fro n t end exiting a turn as yo u get on the gas, but this isn't a factor in nor mal road use on a bike like thi s an d could probably be corrected by wo rking on the re ar shoc k's fu lly ad justa ble se tti ngs, which are readily accessible th anks to the lack of a centers tan d . The side sta nd is easy to flip out, bal an ces well a nd has a sa fety ig ni tio n cu tou t: Duca ti, please note. . Braking is ben chmark stu ff, cou rtesy of Brem bo and th e correct cho ice of d isc material an d pad s. Plus, eve n without a slip per clu tch, it wasn't possible to ge t the back end hopping easily under even extreme doses of en gin e braking . The su pe rbike will need o ne, though. A nd that savs it a ll, because what Voxan has don~ here is to d eliver the bike Du cati has so far opted out of buildin g . When M igue l Ang el Gallu z zi created th e m odern sp o rt-ro d ba ck in 1992 by d esi gning th e Du cati Mon ster, he did s o a ro u nd a n eigh t-v a lv e 888 superbike engine. But a combination of cost. eng ine availability and the need to sex up a n aging desmoduc lineup pe rs ua ded Du ca ti m anagemen t to fit th e Monster with tw o-valve desmo V-twin engines on its debut, and the sa me factors have prevented them from doing it right ever sinc e. Now Voxan has done it, and in producing the first fuel-injected , eight-va lve Eu ropean V-twin sport roadster w ith superb ik e pe rform a nce a nd a ch ass is p a cka g e to s ui t, Vo xan is not only d em o nst rating to ducatisii w ha t migh t have been , they ' re laying d own a ma rker for the ma rke t, a calling card their futu re co m mercia l rival s will ig nore at their peril - especia lly at the com pe titiv e price of 75,000 francs (abou t $12,750), includ ing a three-year wa rranty. A new contender has joined the Battle of the Twins. A llez France! n ;...; ClJ ..0 ~ a:J u ClJ a 11

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