Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

as a conce pt is not yet well kn own in the motorcycle w orld. We need to establish MZ as a large- capacity four-stroke ma nufacturer first , wit h an eng ine form at than ca n be s tre tched to 1OOOcc when appro pri at e, before int rodu cing the Kompressor vers ion as a top-of-the-li ne p rodu ct. By su p erc ha rg ing the en gi ne w e can obtain 30 perc ent m ore per for man ce wi th the same cubic capaci ty, so around 130 bhp in stree t form, w ith of course m ore horsepower in a racing ver sion . W" therefore hope tha t when - as thev mus t - th e FIM co nsid ers w ha t capaci ty limits to ad opt to pe rmit supercharging in the Su pe rbike class, th ey'll rul e in favo r of a 750cc limit for twins." Ducati ontheris e,and KTM? ju st to underli ne the success story that th e TI'G turnarou nd of Duca ti represents, d uring the first six months of this yea r th e Duca ti facto ry bu ilt and so ld 20,073 mo torcycles. That's an inc rease of 20.2 p ercen t ove r th e sa m e h al f-y ear period in 1998, and thus by some margin a record prod uction level in the 51year histo ry of the company. As sa les of mot orcycl es continue to boom all ov er th e world , it' s inevitable that stock -market dealings should pla y an ever grea ter role in two-wh eeled life in tum therefore affect ing the nature of the prod uct that we as consu mers end up abl e to purchase and enjoy. So, for examp le, no t o nly will TPG ' s ac q u is itio n of Piaggio - for the bes t of all profit motives - be nefit bu yer s of Vespas and Gil eras int o the nex t m illenium (in the sa me wa v as bu ying a Du cati now re p rese n ts much sounde r in vestment than five vears ago), bu t A us tria 's off-road specia list KTM ha s a lso flourished im meas u ra bly during the current de cad e, after its late'91 bankruptcy threat ened the company' s futu re exis tence. Swiss ventu re capitalists Exan t ra were to KTM w hat TPG ha s been to Duca ti, in terms of providing a life-savin g fina ncial life li n e and effecting a complete co rpora te restru cturing. And, like th e Am ericans, Exa nt ra took th eir p ro fit by floating 'par t of KTM on the s tock m arket : But no w KTM ma nagem e nt , h ead e d by th e ' m a n who h a s s pear hea d ed t he co m pa ny's turnaround, Stefan Pierer, has re pu rch ased a n overwhelmi ng 92 .6 percent of the compa n y's shares th ro ug h a se p a ra te holdi ng co mpany, lead in g to inevitab le speculation of a major change in KTM's ownership . "In a successful operati on like KTM, you'd only do this if yo u had big plans for the co mpany, which yo u we re pretty certain of ac h ieving , eno ugh to repay handsomel y the bet yo u' re makin g o n yourself to do so, " sa ys a Lond on merchant banker specializ ing in the m otorcycle industry . " T h is ca n e ith e r take th e fo rm o f in cr eased d em and for yo u r ex is tin g mod els, a new range of produ cts, lik e KTM 's forthcom ing V-twin m odels, or else a fo rthcom ing buyout by a n o utsid er - lik e th e Harley deal which was s u p p ose d to happen, but never did . However, just as likel y a scena rio is that the money to bu y ba ck the shares came from ou tside the company, from a leveraged-buyout specialist like TPG - or GE Capital, to name bu t two - w hic h is prepared to make a su bstantial inves tm ent in th e co m pa ny for the fu tu re (expensive n e w factory, cos tly new e ngine R&D, like the V-twin or th e new fo urstroke sing les), in return for future profit w he n it all starts to payoff. KTM represents such an attractive prize, with its clean bal an ce s heet, secto r-lea d ing sta tus, vo lu me growth and exciting new m od els. I wouldn' t be surprised to sec it a Books,more books 11,e g lor ious off-road (and , briefly in th e 1950s , road ra ci ng) h ist o ry o f KT M ha s a t la st b een record ed in book form by Austria' s lead ing technica l hist o rian Fritz Ehn, a qualifie d eng inee r and experie nced mot orcycl ist id eall y qua lified to assu me th e task. Ehn 's boo k "KTM - Wel tmeisterma r ke au s Oesterreich " is a meticu lously research ed Ge rma n-lang uage work for which all KTM enth us ias ts will wan t to find a p la ce o n thei r bo oksh el ves. Th er e's copious deta il on every KTM mod el buil t since the Tr u n k':n p o lz family fo u n d e d th e brand back in 195 3 - mu ch of it acq ui red via a careful trawl through th e factor y archives, and all illustrate d by a fine se lec t io n of pho tos . Th ou g h these are mainly in black and whit." there are eno ugh color shots at the end of the boo k to brig hte n it u p, a nd some g rea t action phot os fro m every er a of MX and enduro racing are inclu ded. The Pent on connection is we ll covere d, and even non-Germ an speakers wi ll find the book a marvelous reference work. It fills a notabl e gap in historical coverage very capabl y. Av ailable from th e Osterreichische Motorrad Museum, Museumga sse 6, A-3730 Egge nbu rg. Austria (43/2984-211 9 - fax), Ehn 's book costs $67 including air-mail postage to the United States. It' s highl y recom mended for enthusiasts of off-roa d history. A very di ffer ent kind of book ha s just been published in se para te Ita lian and English versions by Milan 's Giorg io Nada Edi to re: "Motorcycle Design and Te chno lo gy - How and Why." Wri tten by Aprilia chassis designer Ga etano Cocco, the mag ician responsible for the Italian company's suc cess ion of World Cha m pions hip-winning Grand Prix bikes (which in turn have pro ved so influential in co n te m p o r a ry frame design ), .l.... well as the current range of RSV Mille four-stroke Vvtwins, Cocco has created a work that no serious student of how a bik e fun ctions, why it d oes so, and what goes into m aking that happen, can affo rd to be w ithout. team up in some wa y soo n with an o utsid e inv est or. " AVoxan s ortb e? p ik It had to ha p pen. Wit h so me 1000 exam p les of French manufacture r Voxa ns Roadster V-twin now alr eadv built in the company's Issoire factory sou th of Clerm ont-Ferra nd and delivered to customers o n th e Fr en ch h om e mark et , co m p a ny boss j a cqu es Ga rde tt e is alrea dy looking to the spo rtbike secto r he promised to attack. Next up will be th e half-faired Cafe Racer mod el that ' s und er go in g fina l d evel opmen t a nd is abou t to enter production wit h the factory reopening aft er the summ er holid ays, ah ead of the Scrambler mod el design ed by Bo xer Bikes boss Thierry Henriette. Thi s w as launched at the Paris Sho w a year ago, but will be absent from the '99 ed ition o pe ni ng on October 1, because the final ve rs io n isn 't read y ye t and it differs aes the tically from the prototype. Henriette is alread y hard at work on a full y faired Supe rs port mem ber of the Voxa n family, eq ui p ped with a tu ned version of th e fuel-injected , eigh t-valve, 72-d egree, V-twin eng ine commo n to all Vo xan m od el s, slo tted into th e trademark composite tubular steel/cast-alloy chassis d ev e loped b y the co m pa ny 's chief en gi neer , A la in Chevallier. Th e Voxan 100055 is tar get ed for com pletio n early in 2000, although after the u su a l thoro ugh R&D tha t Ga rdette insists on, il seems u nlikely that th e bi ke w ill enter production before the 2001 mo de l year. But Ga rd et te's promise to go Superbike raci ng with a French V-twi n now looks to be coming ever closer to fulfillm en t. Anewstun thero Suzuki 1200 Bandi t- mou nted Kevin KTMs - read all a bout them. Th e 15 cha p te rs in th e w ork's 215 pages, complete w it h a large number of ex tre mely in struct iv e drawings, represen t th e textbook ex p la na tio n in plain langua ge of wh y bikes w ork th e wa y th ey d o . H eadings suc h a s " Ho w tra ct ion a nd brakin g forces are tr ansmitted w ith in th e m ot orcycle syste m " and " In te rac tio n bet w een ground and motorcycle through the tires " are m at ched by a w hole series of chapters d ealin g w it h ind iv id u al co m ponen ts o i m ot orcycle d esi gn - fro m the eng in e a nd fram e to bod yw ork a nd suspension . Cocco's book is tha t rare thing in motorcycle pu blish in g - a se m inal work th at, pro vid ed you invest a se rious amount of mind powcr and atten tiven ess in rea ding it (and I'll admit it' s a medicin e best taken in sma ll d oses ), will repay hundred s of times o ver th e inv estmen t yo u pu t in to buying and read ing it. Top of the must- have list for any se rious motorcyclist: a ben chmar k boo k. Carmic hael emerg ed as the 1999 Eu ropean Motorcycle Stunt Champion, after a spectacular and thrilling battle with rivals fro m m ore than half a doze n countries, culm ina ting in the final roun d of the foureve nt series a t Ma llory Park circuit in Britain on August 29. Championship contenders are judged for a wide ran ge of stu nts over five ca tegories - ba sic skills, content, present at ion, specialty skills and entertainment value - the latter taking into accou nt crowd reaction to the program, especially during th~ six-minute finale to each rid er' s d ispla y. Goin g int o the final round, just two points sepa rated the Scottish rider from Engla nd 's Craig jones, but w it h a dari ng s how-s to p pe r (w h ich included pe rforming a wheeli e with the front wheel rem oved l) Carmichael d id the business and clinched the title. Sp a nish- based Brazil ian A.C. Farias finis hed third in th e cha m pions hi p on his Hon da CBR900RR, after w in ning the p revious ro un d in Italy w ith a pr ogram . headed b y h is trad ema r k 90 -deg ree w heelie d isplay. . By rega in ing th e championsh ip he last won in 1997, Ca rmichael has issued a tr ic k-r ide r cha llen ge to top t w o w heeled st un tma n Gary Rothwell - w ho tu rned d own an extrao rd inary fou r-figure bet that he could n' t "in th e Mallory ro und , and chooses not to take part in th e series. Ma ybe in 2000? MorefromCagiv a Cag iva owner Cla udio Castiglioni is set t o rel au n ch hi s fa m ily b rand w ith a range of Su zuki TLl0005-powered bikes d esi gned by Argentinia n Miguel Ga llu zzi, w ho heads u p the Varese factory's R&D di vision. These will incl u de the tw o Rap tor naked roadsters first revea led in this colum n six months ago, as we ll as a Suzuki-powered version of the goo d -selli ng Du cati 900SS-e ngi ned Gran Canyon, thus breaking the company's final remaining con nectio ns w it h the Duca ti b ra nd thev used to own. Bu t Gallu zzi a nd Ca s tiglioni sco rn th e id ea of producin g a TLlOO OR-powered Cagi va su pe rbike , as rumored in the British press. "This is tot al ficti on!" says Ga lluzzi. " W e h a ve o n ly the three bi kes being launched at Mil an u nder d evel opment, and we have specifically rejected the idea o f buildi ng a Cagiva Superbike w hic h wo uld rival the MV Agusta F4. Wha t for? It ma kes no commercial sen se w hatsoever, especia lly w hen Bim ot a is alread y build ing such a motorcycle w ith the sa me Suzu ki engine. Cagiva is making its comeback with volume-production mainstr eam big V-twins, and w e've already completed 30,000 km (18,600 m iles) of testing w ith the Raptors, w hich will be the backbo ne of our range - not any superbike." In a lit tl e-n o ticed mo ve, Castiglio ni ha s em phasized his increasing focus on the MV marque by changing th e name of his motorcycle man ufactu rin g compa ny to MV Agusta Sp A, with Cagiva and Husqvam a now su bsid iary brands. "The change reflects the im portance of MV Agusta in our futu re plans," he says . It also brings th e Cas tiglioni motorcycle story full cir cle, because the o nly reason Claud io and brother Gianfranco bought Harley-Dav idson' s Ita lia n sub- en en s id ia r y Aermacc hi in 19 78 - a n d en a;renamed it Ca giva - w a s be cause th e N MV Agusta GP race tea m th ey we re (jj s u ch fe rvent fan s o f wa sn ' t fo r sa le . .c E Hen ce the fact that all Cagiva 500cc GP .S! eracers bo re the same red and s ilve r m paint schem e as the four-stroke works en MVs. C#II 5 ~

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