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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128092
"The intemet is here to stay, and as a motorcycle retailer myself, I realize we have to work with it rather than against it," says Rod Hunwick, who initially intends to actively market the Phantom in just two countries - America and Australia - but to passively cover the whole globe by means of the Intemet. Here's how it works: Hunwick will appoint Phantom dealers throughout the USA and will help them promote sales in the usual way. But in addition to this, recognizing that many potential customers will have their own favorite dealer they're accustomed to dealing with locally, HH wiIJ be asking any customer who approaches them directly to nominate the dealership he'd like the bike shipped to. "We'll then contact the dealer, make a financial arrangement to ship the bike to him which will make it profitable for him to deal with us, and provide him with everything he needs to set the bike up and deliver it to the customer," says Hunwick. "All our bikes will be delivered with one year's worth of consumable products like oil filters and the like included in the price, and the dealer will be able to access all the technical information and other data he needs in order to service the bike from our website. Plus, we'll e·mail him any updates to the engine-management system we may develop as we go along, which can then be retrofitted to his customer's bike, and any parts required wiIJ be supplied by us via UPS, on a 24-hour tumaround. US customers have the option of doing it this way or via one of our appointed dealers, whereas all other overseas customers Before that, the American motorcycle market is about to act as the key test of the Hunwick brand of Antipodean commercial savvy - for the Indianapolis Dealer Show opening in mid-February will see the launch of the lOa-percent Australian-built Hunwick Harrop Phantom 1500 Super Cruiser, to give the bike its official name, which together with the company's product statement - 'Motorcycles Beyond All Others ... ' - also establishes its targeted position in the marketplace. Having struggled unsuccessfully to get a road bike into production, for Hunwick it was out with the Hallam and in with the Harrop. Who? The born-again HH manufacturing company is in fact formed by an alliance between Hunwick and the well-established Melbourne-based automotive engineering firm owned by the Harrop family, a main supplier to both Ford and GM's Aussie-based brand, Holden. Working as a supplier to the HH company, in which Hunwick retains lOa-percent financial control, Harrop will construct the engines for the Phantom in Victoria, which will then be transported to the HH factory for assembly into complete motorcycles. Some 325 of these are scheduled to be manufactured in the upcoming start-up year, as the beginning of a gradual build-up in production numbers that it's not, however, planned will ever greatly exceed a four-figure annual figure. "These are high-end, bespoke products," says Rod Hunwick, "which by their very nature will appeal to more sophisticated, performance-oriented cruiser customers who seek an individual product, featuring up-tothe-minute design and engineering, instead of a style-conscious, neo-vintage mechancial package. They'll be looking for something that has greater reserves of performance than in places like Europe and Japan will work with us exclusively through the Intemet." This imaginative marketing strategy is, however, predicated on the Phantom 1500 meeting EPA conditions for sale in the USA - and the fact that Hunwlck has chosen to invest the substantial sum entailed in obtaining that homologation. as well as the expensive but necessary product liability insurance, shows how serious he is about making this work In his target American market - although, as his country's largest and most successful bike dealer, he ought to have an idea or two about how to accomplish this! But why jump in at the deep end, and aim at launching the Phantom in the US, given the substantial costs, and time, that presumably got eaten up getting provisional EPA approval (final homologation depends on submitting a production motorcycle to prove you made it the way you said you would)? "America is the biggest global market for cruisers, so we had to do it here or not at all," answers Hunwick. "But our engine was designed with modem technology - it's fuel injected, has an enginemanagement system, four· valve heads and liquid cooling, and all this makes it relatively straightforward for us to obtain EPA approval. certainly easier than most of the other cruiser manufacturers out there." a Harley or any of its clones, yet can also be ridden more slowly in a relaxed, carefree manner. We aim to offer the best of both worlds for the cruiser customer - and at our home market price of A$ 38,900 [$21,395) including 10% GST [local Australian sales tax, which is not applicable to export orders], we think we have a competitive product, that looks good and performs well." Well, he would say that, wouldn't he, you think to yourself as you walk into the R&D shop of the HH assembly plant, expecting to see a slightly warmed-over version of a Yamaha DragStar or Victory V92SC sportcruiser. But then you're halted in your step, suddenly confronted with what even a hardened Hog herder would have to admit (if he/she was also strfctly honest) is surely the most visually striking, dramatically styled American-style motorcycle you ever clapped eyes on outside of an Arlen Ness two-wheeled art show. The Phantom of the (Sydney) Opera is swoopy, streamlined, but also sleek - a real cruiser with class, whose visual impact in the metal is such that you're irresistibly reminded of the first time you ever saw a 916 Ducati, the moment when all other sportbikes were suddenly second-best. Well, welcome to the 916 of the sportcruiser category: the Indy Show will herald the birth of what promises to be a striking new star in the cruiser-class galaxy one that was entirely styled in-house at Hunwick Harrop, and will be available for order over the internet from 0900 hours Sydney time on February 12, when the eXisting Hunwick Harrop website (www.hunwickharrop.com) will be upgraded to a real-time interactive communication medium aimed at linking customers and dealers directly to the factory as part of Hunwick's so-far unique means of marketing an entire range of motorcycles, rather than just a costlier, single short-run model as Ducati and others have done so far. THE HEART OF THE MATTER Modern is the perfect description of the Phantom's 90-degree V-twin engineering package, based in turn on the original Hunwick Hallam prototype of six years ago, the 1300cc Boss Power Cruiser. The fuel-injected, liquid-cooled, 90-degree V -twin cue I • n wet-sump engine sports four-valve cylinder heads with belt-driven double overhead cams, and has been completely re-engineered by Harrop for installation in the Phantom. In the process, they've punched the dimensions out from 1385cc to 1493cc (measuring 101.6 x 92.075 mm) - or 91.1 cubic inches in real American money - in which form, fitted with Australian-made MoTeC EFI incorporating dual 45mm throttles in a Single body, full sequential mapping and a single injector per cylinder, the Phantom is claimed to produce a far-fromghostly 102 hp at 6250 rpm at the rear wheel, and a massive 101 footpounds of torque, at just 4250 rpm, running a 9.25: 1 compression and thus using regular unleaded fuel. That the Phantom's output is well down from the 997cc X1R, which produced over 150 hp running on 13.8: 1 compression and race fuel, argues well for the cruiser engine's real-world longevity, as well as its performance potential, even in stock guise. Compare the Phantom 1500's dyno numbers with those of a Harley Twin Cam 88 of similar engine capacity, which produces about 64 hp and 77 foot-pounds of torque. Pigs will fly before a Hog outruns or outpulls the Phantom. The Phantom's engine is fitted with an integral five-speed gearbox with gear primary drive, and a wet multiplate hydraulic clutch, and acts as more than just a fully stressed member in the bike's unique frame layout: the engine is the chassis, with the rectangular steel swingarm pivoting in the rear of the crankcases and controlled by a single Koni shock bereft of linkage, and the hefty 51 mm Paioli forks (derived from the Italian firm's same-size front end fitted to the __ S • FEBRUARY 21, 2001 15