Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128237
1000 ex a m p le s t o b e el i g i b l e for Super sport racing , t he 749 R will be much less of a n iche m od el tha n the 999R is, so for sur e it' ll be co m ing to a tra ck da y near you in the c om ing year. Ex actly 10 ye ars ago at th e same show , th en -Du c at i o wner Cla u d io Castiglion i and progellisla Mas simo T ambur ini l ift ed th e wrap s off t he br eathtaking Du cati 91 6 , an anni ver sary rec o gn ized at M ila n '03 by the unve il in g of th e 998S Fin a l Ed iti o n , th e final variant of t he 91 6 -to - 99 8 dynasty. Fitted wi th O hlin s suspen sion and a Te st astre tta engi ne pro ducing 136 bhp, th is limited-edition 300 -off individua lly numbered fi na l run of wh at is ar guably the most sig n ifi c ant sport bike e ver m ad e by a European m anufa c turer will o n ly be ava ilable in m on o po sto gui se and is likely to disappear from showrooms fast , especially in Europe : Ducat i Am eri ca h a s rese r ve d 150 o f t he bik es, so 50 percent of the produ c tion run, fo r sal e in th e USA! How ev er , th e m ajor new model on the Du c ati stand at Milan was th e six valve ST 3 spo rts tourer , design ed to offer more performance than th e current desmodue ST2 that it repl ac es but at lo wer co st tha n the ST4. To do th is, Duc ati ha s adopted the I.Me ch .E design thesis of ch ief engi neer Gi an luigi Mengoli 's son Diego , featu ring a three -valve ( t w o i nl e t s p l u s on e exha ust) cylinder head design with dual ignitio n, which reta ins the same 992cc c ap acity , botto m- end d esign an d b elt -d ri ven sohc format of t he air/oil -cooled desmodu e lOOODS but now fea tu res wat er -c oo ling lind th e same 4 0 -degree included valve ang le as D u c a t i ' s e ig ht -v alv e eng in es . Mas er a t i cars as well as Ho nda m ot o r c y cl e s h av e f ea tured t h ree val ve s per cyli nde r in th e rec ent past , so Du cati 's in good c o m p a ny with this innovativ e approach . Moreover , this modu la r liq uid -co o led twin -plug six -va l ve d esign not onl y weighs 3 pounds less than the d esmodu e motor, but produces a cla imed 102 bhp at 8750 rpm - much more than the 84 bhp of th e 1000DS desmodue moto r, close to the 1 12 bhp of th e S4 Monster desmoquattro , and not so far away from the 117 bhp of it s ST4 's sport -touring co u s i n . W ith th i s it s hare s th e same o verall c h a ssis pa ckag e , d is t inguish ed o n ly by 43mm Sh owa fork s, whi ch a re T IN coated only on th e eight-va lv e model, and a Sachs rear shock o n the ST3 , co m pared to Ohlins on the ST4s, and both Ducati's sport s tourers have also been facelift ed , w ith a n ew fa iring in c o r p o rat i ng an un denia bly more Japa nese -loo ki ng headlamp design. At $ 12 , 89 5, th e six- val ve S T3 , wei gh ing 470 Ibs. dry, looks to be a good value. Con trary to previous intentio ns to sac rifice t he h um an and fi nancia l costs of appearing at Milan in o rder to focus on gearing up pro du c tion of th e Tornad o T re m od el and co m pl et ing devel opm ent of th e 1 150c c nak ed ver sio n c o m ing next March , Benelli boss And rea Merloni de cided at the las t moment to organ ize a stand , where he laun ch ed th e upra t ed RS 143 -bhp version, costing $22 ,19 9 , of th e fi rm 's est abli shed tripl e now in full production (over 1200 bu ilt so far this year, costing al m o st $ 24 0 0 l e s s ) . T h is deliv er s a cl ai m ed 12 bhp more t h an t he stan dard model th a n k s t o revised porti ng , a new inlet ca mshaft and rem ap ped EFI, coupled w ith sig n ifi ca ntl y im p ro ved operation of the all -new slipper clutch . Fitted with rad ia l Brem bo brakes a nd a rev i sed E xtreme T ec h n o l o gy rear shoc k , the RS we igh s 4 .5 Ibs . l es s than th e T r e at 4 29 Ibs . dry, th an k s m a in l y to fo rg ed OZ wh eels, a nd ente rs produ c t i on in O c t o be r. Benelli has no w won its ongoing co urt ca se in the USA , wh ich prevented it fr om ente ri ng the American m ark et , and w ith th e Tornado already hol d in g 50 -state EPA ap p ro va l , sa les will at last beg in in th e USA next spring . Morgan spo rts ca r), Bori le is al rea dy Gu zzi, where he 's ha rd at work devel o pi ng the MGS/Ol. Gh ezzi & B ria n d isplayed yet a nother dramatically sty led new model at M ilan , power ed by the 1064cc Moto Guzzi two-valve engine. This is the Kim era monoposto, which rep laces the aging Sup er twin spo rts m odel and w ill reta il fo r $34 ,000, including a 20 percent Ital ian tax wh en deliveries start in March next year, with a li ghter ste el frame, carbon bodywork featuring stacked ellipso idal headl ights, t wi n 42 0mm B raking perimeter rim d i scs , Pa io li f orks and Ohl ln s sho ck , and fi ve spo ke O Z forged wheels . W eighin g just 396 lbs. fully gassed, thanks to its sharp styli n g by F il ipp o B arba c a n e , th e Kimera equals its Fur ia streetrod sister in attention -grabbing pre sen ce, two new versions of which of wh ich were also on d ispl ay . Th e Furia S c o m es sta nd ard with many features like the ca rbo n rocker c o v e r s and c hin fai ri ng, whi ch a re ac ce sso rie s on the base-level Furia , plus an optiona l shorter f inal dri ve ratio for ser ious str eetrodd ing, as well as tw in rim disc s ( the bas e Furia has o nly one ) and lightweight OZ wh eels, li k e the K imera. The Furia T it an ium wa s d ev elop ed in c o nj u nc t io n wi th Italy's aftermarket p art s kings Pog gipolini and saves 15 pounds over th e stock 407 lbs . dry we ight of the F uria S, t hanks to a ho st of tita ni u m and ca rbon pa rt s on the, er , tit an ium -co l o red bik e - even th e fill er cap is made fro m th e exotic lightweight metal, and the th in -section steel exhaust is p las m a -sp ra yed with t itanium coating to lo se furth er k ilo s. St reet -s in gle sp ec ia list Umbe rt o Bo ril e had th e lat est it er ati o n of his GM spee dway- base d 500c c sing le on display, now producing 39 bhp at th e wh e e l a t 8500 rpm , fitt ed with a 3 6 m m Mikuni f1 ats l ide c a r b a n d we ighing a light 260 Ib s. read y for racer road. With 20 of the fi rst bat ch of 50 handmade B500CR bikes no w delivered, still avail abl e o nly with a kic k st a r te r , a n d o r de r s h e l d f ro m pa tie nt custom ers for th e rest ( t he waiti ng li st for deli very is up t o two years , rat her like a simi l a rl y retro thi n ki ng ahead to manufactu rin g cus to mer ver sio ns of the B500 SM Supermoto he launched two y ears ago . Th is rema ins on the back burner wh ile he m eets ord er s for the existing road bik e, but an uprated eng ine is already und er dev elopment , still based on the GM motor that may carry Tony Rickardsson to his record sixth World Sp eedway t itle th is seaso n , bu t fitte d with a bal an c e sh aft and ele ct ric st art , as well as a more off -roa d frie ndly CV M ikuni carbo It's good to see that the arc he ty pe Italian art isan b ik e -bu ild er is st ill f orging ahead suc cessfull y with a dist in ctive, handmade product , for which a mark et self- ev id ently exists. Italian d irt minnows Vertemati and TM both had new prod uc ts at M ila n, the TM EN450ES four-stroke end u ro feat u ri ng a n all -new 5 -s p eed d r y sump dohc four -va lve engine m easuring 95 x 6 3.4mm for a ca pa ci t y of 449 cc, w ith b oth ele c t ric a nd kick st a rt a s st and a rd . Th is lightweig ht motor is hou sed in a n o v al - sec ti o n c h ro me- moly t ubu l ar steel fram e, w ith an Oh lin s m on oshoc k as stoc k and a choice of either 46mm Paioli o r 4 8mm Ohllns upside- down forks. Across the ha ll , Vertemati 's rival E450E now has electric start fo r the fi rst ti me, with the gear -d ri ve n soh c 449 cc m ot or fitted with four titani um v al ves a n d WP sus pe n si o n at both ends. A p ro totype S450 Sup ermoto vers ion fo r th e new smaller -capa city S2 cla ss was also on view , alongs ide th e u p rated S5 0 1 an d S5 7 0 for the S I Pro ca tegory , all fitt ed with tit ani um exh au st s. Th e co m pe titivne ss of th e Ver t emati b rothers ' products in this bo oming f orm o f rac ing was underlined by th eir 1- 2 finish in the German round of th e Wor ld Cham p ionshi p held th e week after the Show. Mil an '0 3 showe d th e Ita li an bike indust ry is still bu rsti ng w ith technical inno va tio n and La tin st y le. You j ust have to have inc reas ing ly deep pock ets to be o ne of the fo rt unate owners of such two-wheeled design icons. CN An eve n small er o pe rat io n with a good handl e o n what bi kers are look ing for is Italy 's Gh ezzi & Brian, wh ich has survived th e trauma of lo sing th e eponymous Giuseppe Ghezzi to Moto c u e . eo n eo _ S • O CTOBER 22 , 2003 31