Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

..... 1.1_ :-1. I'I~ • •• 1- Happenings In Motorcycling .I~"".'--'" !i3fi]rlrlD@UD@DD® @®@0 [lj)®7]@@[JJ Ferrari Formu la I superstar Rubens Barrichello was an interested spectator at the Esto ril Circuit, outside of Lisbon. Portuga l, site of the last round of the MotoGP series. T he Brazilian driver currently sits in sixth po sition in the FI cha mpionship points standings , 23 points adrift of his teammate M ichael Schu macher. Here, Barrichello is intervi ewed by former m ultitime 500cc bridesmaid Randy Mamola . Barrichello is a six -t ime winner in FI , with last season his best season to date, with a second- place finish in the drivers stand ing s and four wins to his cre dit. By AL AN C A T H C AR T - • New Streakers Exposed The other ca tegory of new models set to dominate the list of novelties in the com ing weeks is the power-up streetrod class for Naked sportbikes with the performance of a one -lit er Superbike (and, increasingly often, employing engines derived from them) but at the same time with a more upright, more rational riding position, and real-world road m ann ers tha t don't m ake you think you have to behave like Neil Hodgson to ride one properly . Here again there are a couple of European contenders targeting the Japanese bikes for supremacy in this class , which after all was invented right here in Europe m ore th an a decad e ago with the debut of the Ducati Monster. Ducati's alread y play ed what it hop es is its trum p card with the unexpected advent earlier this year of the unhera lded S4R Monste r, perhaps as a counter to Aprilia's surprising challenge with the Tuono family . But both these Italian V-tw in contenders are set to be sidelined by the advent of KTM's first 100-percent street -model twin cylinder product, the 950 Duke powered by the Austrian firm's ultracompact Dak ar-wlnnlnq 75- degree V-tw in eng ine already in production in Adventurer enduro guise but here retu ned to deliv er a potent 115 bhp in a li ghtwe ight 37 5 -pound package with very agg ressive and distinctiv e styling. which will set a new direction for th e clas s to aim at. Mondial will counter this with the Honda SP-2-e ngined Nuda V-t win that will also appear at Mil an, whose Therry Henri ette styling is set to be recognizably sim ila r to the KTM 's, as dirt bike-derived but tarmac -foc used . Al so extremely dra matic in app earance is Adrian Morton's sty ling for the naked version of the thr ee-cylinder Benelli Novecento Tr e - termed as the Nuda in -ho use in Pesaro, but they had be tte r wat ch out, bec aus e Mon dia l bo ss Roberto Ziletti already too k the precaution of registering the Nuda nam e som e years back! However, the major contend ers in the Naked sports class set to appear in the com ing m onths are all J apanese. Up fir st is the Yamaha m iddl eweight entry to the cla ss, the best -seil ing motorcycle of any kind in France for the past two years, the 600 Fazer - now rebaptized the FZ6. Tha t denotes the fact that it' s no w fitt ed with the fuel·i njected R6 motor, which presum ably w ill be reined ba ck to a 100 bhp power output to conform to French and Germa n market restrictions. Once again, the FZ6 Fazer has been captured on film in wha t is pr esumably final road testin g, and here Yamah a's styling department appears once again to hav e scored a bullseye , wi th th e pr ev ious best -selling bike's rath er gawky retro ap pe arance rep lace d by a 2 1st century " rnoto tota le" realworld sportbike with half-fa irin g and shar p loo ks. Honda will counter this with a revam ped versi on of its 600 Horn et , itself the outright best seller for the past two yea rs in Italy, of all places, while Kawasaki will go one size up in capacity by launc hi ng the Z750 down sized versio n of its acclaimed Z I 000 streetrod launched a year ago in Munich. But Suzuki is set to go bette r still , with the expected appearance at Milan of its GSX-N , a Japanese answer to th e Bakker Grizzly powered by the company 's 146 bhp GSX ·RIOOO Superbike engine. Indeed . the long-awa ited Suzuk i streetrod will be lit erally a stripped -down Gixxer, using the same sweet- handling cha ssis as the sports model, but with radial-l ooking Naked bike styling tha t will riv al the abortive Hayabusa-powered B-King show bik e for aggressive looks. The ultimate four- cylinder streetrod, you might think? But Yamaha is set to trump tha t with its FZX -l, closely derived from the company's ex ist ing 153-bhp fuel-injected R 1 (which is set to be superceded by a new model , rem ember); with an alloy chassis rather than the current Fazer 1000's steel frame, clad with smoother and less aggressive styling than the Suzuki , but it j ust may be that littl e bit faste r. Pink slips , anyone? Bom-again Bimota has another Latin answer forthcoming to the J ·models in the Nudiebike market, with the advent at last of the Drako (as in "dragon") sportrod, which was undergo ing R&D when the company closed its doors three years ago . Now fitt ed wit h the 1000DS desmodue Ducati engine in the proven alloy spaceframe of the DB4 but with an upright rid ing stance that contrasts with the more racy Monster position , this good-looking bike will surel y help restore Birnota 's fortunes, prov ided it's priced right. Another comeback marque making its retum to the show scene will be France's Voxan, set to debut a facelifted model of its V· twin Roadster 1000 at Paris, alongside a Supermotard-styled version of its acclaimed Scrambler powered by th e firm's own 72 -d egree V-twin engine, while the Boxer VBI sportbike has now been adopted by the refloated company and will debu t under the Voxan name at the show . BMW has alread y launched its latest entry to this category, in the shape of the R1200 Montauk (craz y name, cr azy bike !!!) , but Du cati i s leav ing the Monster m ob well alone for th e tim e being , co ncentrating instead on reworking its air /oil -cooled desmodue eng ine into a desmo tre. Th at' s right - expe ct to see a thre e-v alv e (two inl et. one exhaust) vers ion of the 1000DS dual -spar k sohc desm o V-tw in eng ine powering an improved, resty led vers ion of the STZ sports tourer, to be known som ewhat inevita bly as... the ST3 ! Ducati is also likely to respond to the succ ess of the lOooDS Multistrada (which will still retain the same desmodue engi ne as at present, at least for the time being ) by augmenting this acclaimed new fam ily of bik es with less costly 620cc and 800cc desmodue version s. Moto Guzzi is likely to focu s on deliverin g the li m ited -edition eight- valve MGS/OI homologation spec ial ready for AMA Superbike racing next year , and per haps on displaying a limited- edition version of the eiqht-velve Gri so musclerod lau nch ed one year ago at Munich , while an IIOOcc version of the two -valve Breva is also expe cted . Its Lav erda stablem ate will display the final c usto m er version of the V· tw in Aprilia -powered SFC IOOO. wh ich will em p loy the same revised 139 -b hp mot or as the new RSV Mille, slotted in the same good-loo king chassis and sexy orange styl ing as th e pro totype displayed at the Bologna Show last September. Al so ca rvi ng its o wn furro w wiU be Triumph, which is set to launch the massiv e 2300cc Tw ent y T hree cru iser with lengthways in- li ne thr ee-cylinder engin e, shaft driv e and trans Atl antic looks (t hough perhaps not until the NEC Show at Birm ingh am in Novem ber ), wh il e also expected from the British firm are the Cafe Racer and Stre et Scrambler versions of th e Bonn eville, perhaps with bored-out 92 0cc engi ne - Kawasak i is set to do j ust tha t with its W650 not -a-Tr iumph, launching that with 10 bhp more in W750 m ode at Milan, with a stre et scrambler also coming based on the same retro design. Further Trumph nove lties are set to incl ud e a rest y led Spri nt ST , now wi th single-si ded swingarm , and the I BO-bhp Daytona 1300 , featur ing the com pany 's all -new four -cylinder maxi-engine (also projected to power th e 150 -bhp Trophy 1300 shaft -drive sports tourer, which isn 't, however, ex pect ed to appear ju st y et) powering a Bri tish co m petitor for the Hayabusa and Honda 's expected new CBR1200XX Bla ckbird , This will adopt th e same V-Tee valve train as the VFRBOO , and Honda is also expected to produce a revamped version of the ent ry-le vel CB500 tw in , while Suzuki is set to launch a DL6 50 junior V-Strom trailbike variation of its acclaimed SV650 V-tw ln. The sport version of this will in tum be cha llenged by Korean marque Hyosung 's first fo ray into the middleweight V-twin category, with its own 650cc eight-valve V·twin motor powering the firm's first sportbike, whi ch is set to provide similar performance and handling to Suzuki's best -seil ing V-twin - but at 30 -percent less cost. Looks li ke the long . awaited thre at fro m the Asian mainland to Japanese domination is finally happening.... An d all this is j ust a taster of what we can expect to be unveile d in the coming months. Spilt for choice, aren't we...?! To cas t yo ur vo te, log on to http://www.cyd en ew s.com. Which country will give Ricky Carmichael. Tim Ferry and Ryan Hughe s th e most competition al tfils yea r's Motocross i:Ies Nations? -....--IM . Japan- - - - Q. Russia R. South Af ric I-== =N. Netherlands =0. New Zeala nd F. Norway A. Belg i um E, Sw eden B, Ita ly F, France C. Fi nla nd n, Ireland D. Spain H. Denma rk 6 S EPTEMBER 17,2003' cue I e n e vv s

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