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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128120
Boxer VB 1 Sport are specially made in stainless steel, which Henriette says are lighter and stiffer than on the stock Voxan, contributing to a claimed dry weight for the fully faired bike of just 396 pounds. And that's with the bodywork made in-house at Boxer out of GRP, rather than carbon fiber - those carbon pieces are in fact merely stuckon sections contributing to the look while the swingarm is in fact a stock Voxan component stiffened by Boxer with carbon/Kevlar, then wrapped in resin and repainted in a more pleasing gunmeta I color on the production bikes than the rather bland gray of the prototype VB 1 Sport that sat waiting for me - a French Superbike. That'll be even more the case come September, for at the Paris Show this time around, Henriette will launch a third Boxer model alongside the VB1 Sport and B2 Roadster. No, not a half-faired VB 1, which stripping the bodywork off for photos showed to be a very good-looking potential option, except for the fact that this would put Boxer heads up in competition with the Voxan Cafe Racer, something Henriette (and, doubtless, Gardette) will not countenance; pity. Instead, it'll be the VB 1 Super Sport, for which all the engineering work has already been completed, raising the output of the 98 x 66 mm 995cc engine to 126 hp from its current strangulated 100 hp output, to provide a valid basis for exporting the SS outside France at around a 25percent increase over the current VB 1 Sport's tax-free price of $12,700. That's been achieved with new camshafts, MIG exhaust system and remapped Marelli EFI, but the price hike is also explained by the projected fitting of Ohlins suspension, as well as carbon bodywork to reduce weight still further, etc. Of course, the current 100 hp version will be available to customers outside France - but after riding it I have to say that one of the criticisms I have is that the Boxer chassis package could surely handle a much more potent powerplant than the one it has fitted in it at the moment, which delivers performance worthy of a VTR1000 rather than an RC51, or a 996 Biposto compared compared to a 996S or any of the other models at the performance end of the desmoquattro range. It deserves better - and that's a reflection of the more capable handling that the Boxer VB 1 offers over and above the already goodmannered Voxan Cafe Racer on which it's based. So while featuring a 1435mm wheelbase, which is only 10mm shorter than the distinctly rangy Voxan, and identical steering geometry with a 24.5-degree head angle, the Boxer seems shorter, lighter-handling, more agile, and changes direction better than the Cafe Racer, even if the riding position of this first version for sure is slightly flawed. Because, in spite of the longer 4.68gallon fuel tank now fitted in comparison to the show prototype, you do sit pretty far forward on the bike - perhaps to help compensate for the Voxan frame's curious 47.5/52.5-percent rearward bias - leaving an expanse of space on the seat which you can use to tuck your body away surprisingly well behind what is a quite effective as well as good-looking screen. But, combined with this, the clipon handlebars are set much too flat at present, so that not only is there too much body weight on your shoulders and wrists, but this also compromises steering lock because your hands foul the fairing wings, as well as imposing that far forward seating position on you, which isn't very sportbike - more streetrod. Henriette says he's aware of the problem, and future bikes will have lower-set 'bars that are also pulled back and re-angled. Good. An additional spin-off negative of this is that the Boxer instruments manufactured by the same company Thierry Henriette is pictured with his company's creation. Check out those sexy triple-clamps, and the stylish dash. that makes the MH900e cluster for Ducati - are impossible to read while on the move. You sit too far over them to be able to see the digital speedometer and handsome whitefaced tach, with the strip of warning lights between them which are hard to read in bright sunlight - they need brighter bulbs. But otherwise, there's a sense of refinement embodied in the Boxer VB 1 - you get the feeling this is a well-tested, properly developed product, rather than a standalone stylebike. For in spite of the flawed riding position which prevents you feeling part of the bike, merely a stuck-on appendage, the Boxer steers and changes direction almost on autopilot - it feels light and easy-handling, and the quality of response of the Paioli suspension is amazingly good, better than on any Bimota I ever rode. Ride quality is very high, so that even over a broken, bumpy surface, the Boxer just floats over the road irregularities rather than skipping and hopping over them: suspension compliance is excellent, and that applies too to braking hard on the angle from high speed into a corner over surface ripples left there by a combination of overloaded trucks and hot sunshine. You can feel the ideally set up Paioli forks eating up the road shock as the Brembos haul you down relentlessly into the turn, without ever bottoming out over the worst of the bumps; magic. The VB 1 turns very fast but also very predictably into corners, much more so than the Voxan Cafe Racer on which it's based, whose rangy build requires you to take the high, wide and handsome Route One approach to cornering, rather than brake hard and stuff