Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

2003 Milan Motorcycle Show Part I By PH OT OS ALAN C A T HCA RT By KYO ICH I NAKAMURA T h e 200 3 Milan S how , which opened on Septembe r 17 , was a feast fo r the spo rt bike co nnoisseur, with three of th e fo ur J apanese m anufacturers laun ching 1000cc four -cylin d er hypersport m odels to compete with t he do minant new -ge neration GSX-R IOOO with which Suzuki set the p a c e o ne y e a r ago . w hile A p rilia unveiled to the public its lowe r, lighter. co mpletel y revam pe d RSV IO OOR, which had already been tried and tested by the worl d's press six weeks earlier. But it wa s Italy's only fou r-cy lind er lite r-bik e that was th e undisputed star of th e sho w, th e MV Ag ust a F4 Mille, wh ic h has been und er develop ment fo r the past fi ve years and in prot oty pe fo rm has proven it s potential, as well as it s reliability , by twice fin ishing in the top six of a wo rld- cl ass 24 Ho u rs endu ran ce ra c e, as well an amazing th ird in th e final rou nd of the 2003 Italian Sup erb ik e series, run th e week before it s sho w debut. Along side the sta nd ard vers io ns pa in te d in de cid edly dodgy ye llo w / s ilver an d Mo ndial -ripoff blue/sil ver colors , the Latin pri nce of speed formerly k nown as th e F5 was di splayed at Mil an in a stunning -lo oking , 300-off limite d edi tio n red and bl ack Tambur ini guise in honor o f its creator , the epony mou s Ma ssi m o - in w h i ch fo rm i t weighs IS pounds less tha n st ock , at 404 .8 po unds, th an k s to the ca rbo n bodywo rk and m agnesium c asti ng s, b ut co st s t he st rat osp h er ic sum o f $46,769.48. Al rea dy deliv erin g an im pressi ve 166 bhp from t he stock m otor, the F4 Mi ll e's bore d and stro ke d radial -va lv e 996c c engine produ ces a c lai m ed 173 bhp in T ambur ini gui se. in wh ich fo r m i t ' s offic ia lly goo d fo r a top speed o f 18 5 mph , whi c h is b y no coi nciden ce the ma ximum speed the MVAGUSTA F4 M ILLE T A MBURINI Pirelli tires it was w eari ng are rated for. Tes t ride rs speak off the record of lap p ing ov er 190 mph at the Nard o spee d bow l. How ever , it' s th e Ta m buri ni F4 ' s grou nd -b re ak i n g ind uction sy st em th at is m o st noteworthy, fo r it s va riab le -l ength ITS/Torque Shifting System EFI em p loys a feature pr evio usly on ly seen on Form ula I an d Wo rld Sup erb ik e h ard wa re ( an d p erhaps also used on current ultrashort-stroke Mot oGP engines) , whereb y the high revv ing , p oten t m ot o r ' s oth erwi se peaky n a t u r e i s t ra n sfo r me d b y mounting ex t en sio ns to th e in take stack s at lo w rp m, for extra torque , whic h are then lifted clea r of the norm al, sh orter t rum pet s at 90 00 rp m via a solenoid- contro lled pneu m atic actuator, to allow m ore fuel and air to b e su c k ed i n at higher re vs. T h is allow s the "M assim o " - as th e b ike will surely b e kn own - to deliver 7 bhp m or e than the stock F4 Mille at it s 9500 rpm p ower pea k an d w i ll sure ly be rep li cat ed in the future on Japa nese ult rabikes - only , not j ust y et. The ITS sy stem will also be found on the F4 1000 Mam ba, an interm ediate version of the new m od el spec'd up at Ta mburini's CRC bas e in San M arino with p arts fr om t he MV afterma rket catalog and costing two -th irds of the price of the Ta m burini. Also debuting was the Amer ican ve rsio n of th e Brutale 75 0 S, a repl ica of MV boss Cl audio Castigli oni ' s own pe rso na l ex a m p l e o f the F4 nudieb ik e, now at last in pr oduction as p art of th e 100 m otorcycles of all m ode ls now leaving MV's Cassinett a

• Cover