Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Feature 750cc p arallel-tw in eng ines (o f w h ich jus t 50 we re ma de), the n wi th the Velocet te Veno m a nd Thru xton 500cc OHV single motors. Some 150 we re bu ilt and ship ped , primarily to the Unite d Sta tes , before Clymer's dea th in 1970 brou gh t an end to the project. Bv no w Tartarini 's tal en t for bu ilding good -loo king , fine-hand ling bikes of all capacities w as w e ll established , leading to a commi ssion first to prod uce th e Laverda 750SF-engined American Eagle sports tw in, then to a closer re new ed coll aborati on with Du cati. which had been put into co ld s to rage sin ce the Ital ernmezeta d ays . Tarta rini w as first asked to sty le th e Ma rk] 1] Du cati sing les on a consultancy basis it's no coincidence th at these bear suc h a s trong family res emb lance to the Gri fon 650 tw in - then turned his attention to Taglioni ' s new ra nge of 750cc Vtw in s . H e first produced the valvespring 750 Spo rt, th en the bike th at for man y rep resent the ul tim a te Du ca ti, the legend a ry 750SS desrno, Ducati, in an effort to gain some desig ne r cred ibili ty, em ployed noted car design er Giorge tto G iugiaro to p rod uce th e mid - 7 0s 860GT (its angula r styling pl eased few in th e m ot orcycl e world in co ntras t to th e good-loo king 900 Da rm ah that succee ded it), markin g Ta rta rini's successfu l market p lace res cue missio n. This pe rs ua de d Ducati ma nageme nt to en trus t the complete manufacture as well as the desi g n of Du cati' s enti re 350/500cc parallel-tw in ran ge to Italj e t mo de ls w hose sty ling is ge ne ra lly cons idered to ha ve been th e o n ly good thing abou t them . The Du catis sha red space on the San La zzaro p lant' s production lines wit h It a lje ts ow n Ya ma ha-engi ned 125 cc Buccaneer tw in (built in so me qu antity (Above) Italjet has long been known for its high-tech. quality scooter line including this Italjet Dragster. (Left) In 1967. Italjet produced the Vampire. SOccracer. a on - :;; ..c E ., g. en , 38 fro m 1971 o n w ard), wit h th e Japan ese engi nes , purchased d irectly from Yamaha, housed in a small-scal e version of the C rifo n' stwin-loop Featherbed-sty le fra me . Inevitab ly, th e result found its way onto the race tracks of Italy in large numb ers , w inn i ng th e Itali an 125 cc Ju n io r title three yea rs in a row from 1973 to 75, and even finishing third in Roch etti's ha nd s in th e Senio r cha mp ionship aga ins t all the G P racers, in 1974. No t bad for a conve rted stree tbike, But by now Tartarini's restl ess imagina tio n and ca pa city for inn ovat ion wa s infiltrating o ther field s. H e d ev eloped t he Pack-A -W a y , a 50cc m oped tha t could be fold ed u p in to a pa ckage com: p lete w it h carry ing han dl e, th e p roto- type of w hich fou nd its way to New Yo rk's M u s eum of M od ern A rt, a nd which became a mu st-have accessory for sailors, campers and ow ne rs of ca rs w ith large tru nks. In ]980 , Italjet moved in to th e trials wo rld, firs t as Italy's Bultaco importers, then w ith the ir ow n Minarelli-pow ered 50/125cc models, and finall y w ith more purposefu l 250/ 350cc versions powered for th e fir st · t im e by It a ljet ' s ow n engines. tspecia lly d ev el oped for lightweigh t and co m pact builds . Un til th e d ebut o f th e firm ' s 125c G P ra cer in 1998, thi s w as th e o ne and o n ly tim e ltaljet' s ow n en gine design w as used in o ne of Tarta rin i' s bikes . In st ead , th e coin pany preferred to so urce its eng ines from o utside - not only from Triu mp h, Mi n are lli , M Z , Fra nco M o rini a n d Yamaha, but fro m Piaggio, Sac hs, CZ and more. But the coming of the cu rrent scoo ter boom was o nce aga in foreseen by Tartarini, and fro m 1980 onwa rd ltaljet has successf ully ridd en th e wav e of dem and for per sonal tr ansportation by carv ing ou t a unique reputati on for inn o vative mod els -Tike the avan t-gard e hu b-cent er Dra g ster and Fo r m u la (t he lat ter in 150cc form cu rren tly t he o n ly tw incy linder scoote r on the mark et ), or th e retro-look Torpedo and Velocife ro , W ith it s 180 w ork er s p roduci ng 34,000 powe red two-wheelers each year in th e new Pescara plant, Italjet success- fully rides the top end of the European scoo ter boom. And it' s se t to build on that w ith the debu t of its new 250cc millen nium "Scooterone," d ue a t th e en d of th e yea r w ith a fo ur-st roke Mi narelli engine, to expand the range upward . The company is reviving its sporting trad itio ns as well . Now there's a ]25cc Grand Pri x bike, wh ich ha s a lrea dy proven a ra ce-win ner at th e National leve l in the han d s of its Czech rid er , [ arosla v Hules, and it mad e its Grand Prix debut on A ug us t 22 in th e Cz ech GP at Brno . Ita ljet is on a roll. For Leopo ldo Ta r ta r in i , t he n , the rev ival of the Grifon name on an Ita ljet • m otorcycle u sing a Triumph en gine is an appropriate landmark for his company ' s e xpa ns ion, b u t a s the a ttac hed drawing sourced from wit hin Italjet confirms , the G rifo n 900 won ' t re semble anyth ing built so far bearin g a Triu m ph bad ge. It ' s a d ra ma tic -loo ki ng naked roadster wi th tub ul ar alu m inum frame ' and innova tiv e cus to m cafe .styling . It wi ll also b e o ffe re d in tw o ve rsions w hen prod u ct io n of th e 1000 bik es plan ne d fo r yea r-2000 m anufa cture begins next sp ring , eac h fitted w ith 46m m Paioli forks and twin-shock rear end , tw in 320m m fro n t di scs and a 17inch fro nt and IS-inc h rea r tire comb inatio n, the rea r with a solid disc wheel. O ne will be a baseline mod el priced to co m pe te with th e Du cat i Monst er 900 buil t on the other sid e of town, cos ting not in exces s of 10 percen t more than the less-poten t desmo V-twin; and the other will be a mo re exclusive, cos tlier version rep let e with m agn es ium an d ca rbo nfiber pa rts. Italjet will market the 98--bh p ' tripl es all over the wo rld, including in the Uni t~ ed Sta tes - and Tarta rini won 't ru le out the development of o ther Ita ljet full-size m ot orcycles in co mi ng yea rs, w it h o~ w itho u t Triumph engines . " It depend s o n the success we enjoy w ith thi s ne w bike ," he says, "a nd, of course , I hope it finds a read y market. I respect the manufacturing exce llence of Japanese products, bu t in my hear t I'm a Eu ropea n who lik es to co mbine tr ad ition a I q uali ty with in novative design: Thi s is the Ita ljet philosophy whic h ha s broug ht us so much success d ow n the years: now it's a good mom en t to apply that fo rmula o nce again to a fu ll-size mo torcycle, and in doing so to celeb ra te ou r 40th anniversary. " Bu t I ha ve only o ne regret : We wa n ted to posi tion th e G rifo n's two he ad la m ps in the leading edge of the no se fairin g, e it h er s ide of the fro nt wheel, as you can see in o u r origi nal d ra w ing . This wou ld have given th e bike a reall y radical as well as innovati v e a p p earance - b u t th e Eu ro pea n hom ol o g a ti on r ul e s dream ed up by bu rea uc ra ts in Brussels won' t allow us to do th is, because th ey say th e head lam ps are too far apa rt for a sing le-track ve hicle li ke a m otorcycl e. So we've re vert ed to Pl an B - bu t 1 ca n s till pr omise that th e Ita ljet Grifo n 900 w ill se t new sta ndards in s tyling and appea l in the Na ked Road ster category!" Tartarini is th a t m ost fo rtu na te of m en : o ne w ho m a de h is h o b by , hi s p a s s io n for mot or cy clin g ,' in to his livel ih ood - a nd has tr ansferred it to his ch ild re n, for his three so ns and o ne d aughter all work in the com pa ny wi th him. The co ns ta n t flow of inno vati on , a nd th e s uccess io n of It aljet m od el s that h a ve m arked th e co m pa n y' s 40 ye ars in existence, look se t to be fitt in gly recognized by th e launch of the Gri fon 900 as th e co m p a n y 's co m e bac k tick et to th e big bike a re na in th e com ing cen tu ry. eN

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