Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

groups' shared-technology agreement which apes the Suzuki/Kawasaki link, but the most significant novelty was the arrival of Aprilia's first volumeproduction naked bike, the Tuono Fighter developed as a lower-cost version of the sell-out, limited-edition Tuono streetfighter derived from the RSV-R and launched at the Bologna Show last year. Based instead on the RSV1000, the Fighter has the same styling as the original Tuono, but no carbon fiber or titanium - but even so at 407 pounds dry, it's much. lighter than the Ducati S4 Monster against which it's squarely targeted. At 126 bhp, the Fighter is also far more potent than the 101-bhp Monster, in spite of its 60-degree V-twin engine being slightly detuned by 4 bhp compared to the original Tuono or the RSVI000 it's sourced from, to deliver improved pickup at low revs and better midrange power. Really, what it seems Aprilia has done here is to introduce the first of a new family of models very much in the mould of its "sportbikes with style" V-twin approach, which at the same time offers considerably more performance than anything else without bodywork presently manufactured in Europe. Well, for the time being, anyway because Intermot '02 also revealed the first of the next generation of noprisoners sportrods, in the form of KTM's first multi-cylinder pure road bike, the 950 Duke. Employing a fuel-injected version (fitted with Keihin EFI - first time on a European model) of the Austrian dirt-devil firm's ultra-compact and very light dry-sump Dakar-winning LC8 75degree V-twin engine, measuring 100 x 60mm for a capacity of 942cc, the 950 Duke is short, slim (apart from the MX-derived fuel-tank flanks, which are stylist Gerald Kiska's homage to the firm's dirt bike heritage) and very light, scaling just 367pounds half-dry in prototype form, with an engine at present delivering 115 bhp. That's a recipe for exhilarating performance, which potential customers will, however, have to wait one more year more to enjoy - the 950 Duke will enter production in November 2003 after a further year's development, just as the 950 Adventure which debuted in prototype form a year ago in Milan, appeared in final production guise at Munich.. Some 3500 examples of this street-legal version of Fabrizio Meoni's dominant desert racer will be built from November onward, as a two-wheeled equivalent of the WRX or Evo VII rallycars which also represents KTM's first production twincylinder bike. Like Meoni's works screen available in two heights. Fitted with cruise control, an easier-shifting six-speed gearbox with overdrive top for long-legged cruising, revised geometry for the Telelever front end, and an integrated radio and CD player, the loaded new model is a Teutonic take on the touring-cruiser segment, Boxer-style, whereas the K 1200 GT launched alongside it is a four-cylinder Gran Turismo mileeater fitted with rather ugly black plastic leg guards and a slightly plusher seat and higher handlebars than the K 1200RS, which it otherwise greatly resembles. BMW also launched a Boxer Cup Replica version of the R1150S, which apart from a set of carbon valve covers, had little to distinguish it from the stock version - sorry, no race kit, no trick parts, just a very, er, distinctive paint job. But with the successful Boxer Cup series now spreading to the USA next year, where it'll be run as a support class at AMA Nationals, there may well be an increased number of wannabee racers ready to stand in line for a not-a-Boxer-racer streetbike. Alongside it on display was another tricked-out R1150S, this time an undeniably radical-looking showbike styled by BMW design chief David Robb, with a cutback single seat, projector lights and a wild, striped paint scheme. Finally, the R850R baby Boxer has now been given the same looks as its R1150R bigger brother. It has taken this long for the restyling exercise of two years ago on the bigger bike to filter down to the less-costly, smallercapacity 70-bhp version, now also fitted with a revised six-speed gearbox for quieter shifting. But now it has. I:N Dakar winner, however, it features the LC8 motor in carbureted rather than injected guise, delivering 98 bhp at 8000 rpm and weighing just 435.5 pounds dry - much lighter than the Varadero or V-Strom, or indeed the BMW Rl150GS, all of which will be its main, if less competition-derived, rivals. Perhaps concerned at the declining home market, BMW's display in its hometown show was relatively conservative, with only the four-headlamp R 1200CL luxury custom as a completely new model. A comfortfocused take on the cruiser market, this is the R1200C fitted with a wind tunnel-designed three-quarter fairing which especially covers the rider's shoulders and has an adjustable II: U II: I • Stay tuned for next issue, when author Cathcart will preview the new models from a variety of smaller manufacturers from around the world... Editor n • _ os • OCTOBER 16, 2002 33

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