Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

sportbike rival, Ducati, which of course is immune from the concerns of the scooter business. Ducati displayed what was arguably the star of the show in the form of the desmodue-powered Multistrada, chief designer Pierre Terblanche's take on what the company's legendary 450 Scrambler go-anywhere street single of 30 years ago ought to be like in V-twin guise today. Designed using the facilities of noted Turin car stylists IDEA Design, the Multistrada is at this stage primarily a styling exercise, but wiIl definitely go into production in January 2003, says Ducati boss Carlo Di Biagio, who must be hoping that the long gestation of the customer version of a model which, like its Monster sister did a decade ago, effectively creates KTM's prototype Rally 950 made its debut in Milan. The Rally will make Its racing debut in the Egypt Rally In October. The bike features the fuel-injected, 60-degree V-twin engine that made its debut a year ago at the Intermot show. cycle market as a whole, won't allow it to be copied too closely in the a new product segment in the motor- pick up the shopping. Beauty and practicality aren't mutually exclusive - it's a bike for living." meantime by anyone quicker on the draw - like Aprilia, maybe... ?! In developing the Multistrada, The result is a practical desmo Vtwin sportbike that isn't a sports tourer, with a relatively low 820mm seat Terblanche says he aimed to create a versatile, everyday bike without the inherent compromises of today's tarmac dual-sporters like the Triumph height for this kind of motorcycle, a more comfortable upright riding position protected by a narrow but seemingly effective half-fairing, with a Tiger or Cagiva Navigator, but with the sporting flair that any Ducati fork-mounted windscreen rotating with the handlebars, Superbike-spec model must possess. "It's a machine for a real-world brakes and suspension, but with a longer travel for a variety of road sur- rider," he says, "a guy who wants to be on his bike as much as possible to commute, to go for a hard ride, to faces, and the promise of good highspeed stability with a rangy 1450mm wheelbase and 24-degree head angle. (Left) KTM was very active at the show, presenting the 660 Supermoto factory replica of Thierry Van Den Bosch'. machine along with the customer version of the 2001 Paris-Dakar winner. Naturally, it uses Ducati's trademark tubular steel spaceframe, painted red or black depending on the color of the bike - two versions were displayed, red and silver. The main reason for the Multistrada's delay in reaching production, however, is that it's the chosen vehicle for the introduction of Ducati's next-generation desmodue family of motors, R&D on which still has to be completed. For the first time since the bevel-drive S2 Mille and its companion MHR model of 20 years ago, the company's two-valve desmo Vtwin motor has grown again to a full 1000cc, but in belt-drive SOHC guise, with the engine stroked to 94 x 71.5mm dimensions and measuring 992cc in capacity. Power and torque have yet to be finalized, but will vary according to the model it's installed in: expect 5 percent more power and 10 percent more torque than a 900SS in Multistrada guise, so 85 hp at 8500 rpm, says Ducati's chief engineer Luigi Mengoli. But the 1000TS engine clearly has versatile 100 hp-plus potential beyond the Multistrada, with all-new twin-spark cylinder heads incorporating a narrower 56-degree valve angle, 5mm bigger valves, an all-new combustion-chamber shape, revised crankcases with a new design of crankshaft, improved oil-cooling, a revised transmission with alloy clutch plates, and a simplified mechanical design with clean-looking new aesthetics. Expect 600cc and 750cc versions to follow in due course, though not immediately - and in any case the one new desmodue launched at Milan that's already entered production, the fuelinjected M620 Monster, still employs the older engine in uprated guise. Of more immediate impact on the Ducati stand was the volume-produccontinued on page 36

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