Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

>eugeot-powere d twin wh ich Rem owler took to victory in the very first sle of Man IT back in 1907, and at odds ith the brand's parallel-twin heritage), oxan is believed to h a ve very lit tle xcess capacity for eng ine manufacture, ven to the point of onl y sparin gly suplying Boxer Bikes boss T hi erry enriet te with sufficient ro lling engine nd chassis packages for him to kick off irnited, hand-bu ilt production next year f the Boxer VBI Superbike launched at h e Pari s Show last m o n t h . Ex pec t I's Voxan op tion to be d iscarded. A t th e sa me tim e as th e ir fo rma l nn ouncem ent regarding product develvpment, in the aftermath of the Melling ebacle NMI also anno u nced tha t cerain findi ng co m mit ments totaling $5 illion had bee n withd rawn, of which nly $700,000 had act ua lly bee n providd to d ate. As of October 26, this left the ompany admit tin g to only $100,000 in emaining available cash , a fact w hich e qui re d th em to publicly s ta te th at 'the re is su bs tantial doubt abo u t (Noron 's) ability to conti nue as a going conern ." This put NMI's previously stated ntent to raise up to $25 million of ven re financing on ho ld, as well as chief xec utive John Kilpa tr ick' s d ecl ared ntent to seek a strategic partner to assist n brin gin g the No rton nam e back to the narketplace. A likely reason for this is the millionou nd ($1.7 million) lawsuit launched y Al Melling ag ai ns t N MI, af te r the ctober 2 seiz ure of Norton plans and ro to types fro m his Rochd al e w orks. n til th is is sa tisfacto rily resolved , or lIIelling withdraws it, ther e' s little point .n throwing mor e mo ney into the kitty or possib le legal settleme nt. iquidation? ne scenario popularly conjected is that he born-again Giler a brand wi ll end up in a fifth-force world compan y grouping ucat i and Piaggio under the same corrate roof. Don 't cou nt on it - or rather, ubtract Piaggio. If TPG / MGP E were to ell off Gilera completely, it might w ell o so in conjunction with a liquida tion f thei r remaining inter est s in Du cati , ay fina n cial ex p erts, which after th e tock ma rk et flotati on ea rlier thi s yea r as b een reduced to TPG hold ing 31 ercent and Morgan Grenfell 7 perce nt. H ow ever, Bol ogna-b a sed fin ancier iorgio Seragnoli ha s since built up a 5percent s ta ke in Ducati, a nd togethe r with other Ita lian investors hold ing significantly smaller stakes in the com pan y, is th ou ght to be p la nni ng to ta ke Ducati Italian aga in. Since the sa me men pl annin g to give re bir th to Gilera are also member s of the Seragn oli supporters club, an Italian-owned join t company co m bini ng Ducati's V-twi n range with a four-cylinder Gilera lineup, us ing th e co m p re hens ive ly re - modernized Ducati facto ry' s sig nificant excess capacit y to build Gile ra s, is a st ro ng lik eli hood . Wa tch this space... Not the end All this doesn 't at all mean the end of th e Nor ton rev ival , only th at a more rea listic m an ag ement a p proach no w prevails, based on w ha t th e market is likel y to wan t. In th e sho rt term, this inclu des a restyled versi on by d esign er John Keogh of the BMW F650-engined Internati onal stree t sing le developed by German im por te r Joe Se if ert, du e to enter series production in March 2000 with more modern looks a n d a o nepiece seat / tan k unit m ounted on th e Tigcraft-d esign ed chassis, as we ll as a sma ll ha nd lebar fa iring co verin g th e twin headlights. NMI is und erstood to have inked a BMW'srevision A company with no need for outside investment to develop new p rod ucts is Ge rmany's BMW, which as reported here at the beginning of th is year, is about to launch a completely revised version of the bes t-selling F650 single-cylinder range. With production of the Funduro single now ending (af ter a year's extension : it was supposed to be shifted on e year ago) at BMW's sub-cont rac tors Ap rilia, w ho need the capaci ty for their expandi ng V-twi n mod el lineup, man ufactu re of the Fun d u ro ra nge is being shifted back to Berlin, an d BMW is taking advantage of that to completely revise the bike for the first time sin ce it was launched seven yea rs ago. Because of the time frame of the switchover in production, wo rd is that BMW w on 't be launching the new four-valve sin gle - whose Rota x-built liquid-cool ed twin-cam retains th e same bottom end and five-sp eed gearbox as the existing F650, but has an all-new cylind er head specially developed to accommodate Bosch fuel-injection - at lnt ermot 2000, as had originally been envisaged. Instead, they're bringin g forward its debut to Mar ch 2000, when the new singles wi ll hit the shops . Not onl y will this be the first fuel-in ject ed four-s troke sing le produced for the street by a volume manufacturer, the increasing pres sure on off-road emissions in the world's largest rnarket, th e deal to have th e b ik e - like ly to b e nam ed the Com ba t, after one of the Norton Co m ma ndo's niche versions - built in the UK by an established third party, ra ther than rebu ild th e near-derelict Norton fac tory at Shenstone to do so , with a first bat ch of 250 bikes plan ned for 2000. But this is only a stopgap prod uct: The pressure is on to develop a parallel-twin prod uct range to properly rela un ch th e Nor ton brand . The o n ly questio n is, will N orton 's sha reho lders be pre pared to wai t another thr ee years before that reaches the mar ket - or wi ll it req u ir e the in terventio n of a TPG-type LBO equity hou se to ge nerate the impetu s, both m anagerial and fina ncial, to make this happen? Loo k for a revised vers ion of BMW's F650 to come down the pike soon. Unlike the current mach ine, it will be produced in Berlin, Germany, and not Italy. USA, means the street Evo Duro will also be joine d at so me stage by a ha rder-ed ged F650GSi, p erhaps based on Richard Sainct's Da kar Rally w inner , which will be capable of read y tran sformation into an effective dirt sled /desert racer/ ou tback tu~. redevelop the circuit via his corporate vehicle for d oing so, PHG Development. PHG h as sta ted tha t Pau l Ric ard 2000 (it was one of the conditions of sale that the track keep its na me) will be open for use some time next year, bu t will b e co m p re he nsively changed to include an Indycar banked oval, as we ll as a road race course, over the coming years. PHG p lans to re vea l de tailed plans for the circuit later thi s year - bu t whether this will includ e prov ision for the re turn of tw o-wheeled eve n ts suc h as the classic Bol d'Or 24 Hours (exiled to M agny-Cours for th e im media te fu ture) or th e French bike Grand Prix (sched u le d fo r Le Ma ns i n 2000) remains to be see n. It'saGas Gas Gas And Doningtontoo One co mpany th at's already go ne that ro u te is Spai n's Gas Gas off-road specialis t, wh ich has sold 33 percent of its equity to the multination al ven ture capi talis ts Excel Capital Partners in excha nge for a Ptas. 1 billion ($6.8 million ) cash injection, to allow it to develop ne w p roduct lin es, as well as construct a new factory at its Giro na base north of Barc elon a. The intervention of ECP - in which Deutsche Bank also has a minority stake - will all ow Gas Gas to incr ease its volume of production by 45 percen t over 1998, to at leas t 10,000 bikes a year, buil t by a l O S-person workfor ce a nd co nce nt ra ting exclusively in the trial, enduro and rally sectors. Fo u nded in 1974 by p artn er s Jose Maria Pibe rna t and Narcis Casas, Gas Gas is b est kn o wn fo r th e s e ries of World Trials titles won on its machines by Jord i Tarres, thou gh in th e past tw o years it has expa nded its prod uct line to in cl u de its ow n fo ur-s t roke si ngle end u ro e ng ine, as well as th e twostro kes it's been develop ing itse lf for the past quarter -century. Gas Gas' stated aim is to u se the new in ves tm e nt to expand its ran ge and focus on new English-sp eaking markets, especially the USA and Britain . Another major ra ce ci rc uit to h a ve cha nged h and s in th e pas t month is Brita in 's Donin gt on Park - or rather, whil e b ui lder Tom W hea tc ro ft , who restored th e historic tr ack to mod ern day u se back in 1977, retains its freehold, the company w hich owns the 25year lease to use the ve nu e, MCP, has been bou ght by America's SFX En tertainment - a $3 .25 billi on co m p

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