Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

2003 Paris Show TH t ~ lD ~T~ ~Httl V T rA By ALA N C A T HCA RT PH OTO S By K YOI CHI N A KAMU RA IF ranee' s bi enn ial Mondial du Deux Roue s sh o w, wh i ch o pe ne d in Paris on September 25 , th e week fo l lo wi n g its Mil a n c o u n te r p a r t, d is played a mixture as befo re but w ith on e vital a d d e d ing r edi ent f ro m Eu rope' s thi rd- l arg est two -wh eel ed m arket - th e wares of an increasingly sel f -confide nt Fr en ch indust ry , some we ir d, o t he rs w ond erfu l , a d di ng a dash of spice to th e panop ly of Euro pea n prod ucts. Most not eworthy was th e return of th e Vo x an m arqu e, w hich c o llapsed tw o years ago und er the we ig ht of a substantial o rde rbook fi nancially offset by an ove rblo wn wo rkforce and a dil atory selection of co m ponent sup p liers inc apable of m ak in g deli veries on t im e and to a required standa rd thu s in t u rn robbing Vox an o f v ita l c ash flo w . N ow refounded by bike riding pr op erty d ev elop er D idi e r Ca zeaux , who 's already pu ll ed t he sa me stunt succes sfu l ly wi th bo at builder Guy Couach (sinc e floated on th e st ock market) , Voxan is ba ck in produ cti on w ith a substanti a l n ew investment, a workforce on e-f ifth as big as before, and a refresh ed range of b ikes pr esented at Pari s. These are all powered by th e same fuel -inj ect ed 995cc 72 -degree V-twin m ot or producing 100 bhp to co nform w ith Frenc h horsepower restrictions (but capable of delivering 126 bhp in forthcomi ng expo rt m od els ) , fitted in Voxan's Roadster Phase Two is the newest from the French marque. It's actually the debut model for t he new incarnation of the Voxan company, now feat uri ng a workforce SO-percent smalle r th a n befor e. a m o dul ar c hassis d e s i g n ed b y Fren ch GP fram e guru A lain Ch eva lli er , with twi n tubular st eel spa rs co nn e c t ing a l u mi nu m h e ad st o ck a nd swi nga rm- pi vo t cas t ings, t he l att er doubling as th e oi l ta nk for th e d ry sum p m ot or. Headin g th e lin eup is a new ve r si on o f Voxa n's d ebu t mo del, th e Road st er Phas e T wo. Orig inall y d at i ng f ro m 199 8, i t h a s n ow b e e n revam pe d a long m o r e t rad it io na l M on st e r - e s qu e l i nes, n o w wi th a ro u nd h eadlamp acc o r di ng to th e o rigi na l co ncept of des ig ne r Sac h a La k ic (c reato r of t h e co ntroversial B im ot a M an t r a ) . Al on g s id e the unc hanged half -fair ed Ca fe Racer is a th ird, up ra te d model, which replaces th e d istinctive 85 -bhp w ire- w hee le d Sc ram bler w ith a 19-inch front tire. crea te d b y B o x er D esi gn ' s Th i err y Henr iette, whic h wa s the big hit of th e old Voxan company's ran ge. Retaili ng at $ 14 ,000 a nd fi tte d with cast 17 i nc h w heels at b oth en ds, u p sid e d ow n fo rk s a nd the fu ll -p ower 100bhp Cafe Ra c er e ng i ne, t he n e w Street Scr ambler co m bines th e o riginalit y o f t he fir st v ers i on w it h th e uprat ed performan ce of th e CR spo rtbik e. Roundin g off the Fr ench m arque's w ell -pl ann ed rang e i s a n ow -fully faired Voxan Superbike in th e form of th e VB 1. Thi err y H en rie tt e ' s Toul ous e-ba sed c o m p a ny bu ilt 32 custom er ex am ples o f th i s ex o t ic looki ng li m ite d-edition Bo xer B ik es model back in 2001 , before Voxan 's s hu tdo w n e n de d t he su p ply o f e ngine s and fr am es . Th is h a s now been adopte d in full by Vox an it self and wil l beg in p ro d uctio n in A p r il , 20 04 , at a price of $21 ,600 - 3 5 percent less tha n Boxer sold it for - ini - tia lly in 100 -bhp gui se , bu t w ith a 126 -bhp version wait ing in the wings for export markets. But that's not all th at 's new at th e revitalized Fren ch company . A s p art of Cazeaux 's c am paign t o project th e born - aga in marqu e as co nsi ste ntly innovati ve, th e first of wh at' s planned will be an annua l series of sho rt- run, li mited-editio n "ha ute co utu re" sp ecial s e m ploy i ng Vox an ' s modular c ha ssis/en gin e p ack ag e , but eac h sty led differentl y by leading design er s ("cout urie r s" !) fr om Fran ce and fu rther afi eld . Debuted at Pari s in th e fo rm of the Voxan 1000 Bl ack Mag ic , design ed by Sac ha Lak ic , th is agg ressi ve- looki ng but classica lly inspired modern Gall ic t a ke o n a tra d it io na l Brit i sh period cafe rac er feat ur ed clip-on ha nd lebars m ounted to t h e Pai o li u psid e -d own forks , and th e sw eptba ck tw in -pipe exh aust flowe d into a pa ir of stubby Sup erTr app sil en c ers . Th e Bl a ck Mag ic will be av ailable for p urchase fo r one yea r on ly , excl usive ly v ia the I n te rne t ( w w w .vo x a n .c o m). a t a w orldwid e pri ce o f Eur o 15 ,000 (abo ut $ I 7 ,500), with fi rst de liv erie s du e next July .. "I was insp ired b y t he c l a s s ic British bikes from th e 1950s, li ke th e Manx Norton, the Triton and the Vi nce n t B l a c k Shad ow , " sa y s Laki c . "T hese ar e the m od el s wh ic h enc o urag ed m e to be c ome a m otorcycli st when I was young , so in designing the Black Ma g ic, I was making a m od ern v ersion o f w hat w e re my boy ho od dr eam bik es." It wo n 't be a ny surprise th at th e m odel th a t will lik e ly b e Vox an 's 2005 -y ear haute co uture hotrod was alre ady on d isp l ay at Paris 2003 in th e form o f th e Atila sportc ruiser on th e n earby B o x e r Design st and's selectio n of Voxan-based showbikes . Using a cut ' n' stretc hed version of the sto ck Vo xan c h a s s i s, whose mod u lar natur e als o a llow s t h e Atila 's Paioli fo rk s to be substantially rak ed out , plus a twin -sho ck rea r end grafted on to th e back , and eve n with th e standard 10 0- b h p Voxa n m otor, wh ich could be tun ed to 126 b hp fo r e x t ra p erfo rm anc e , t h i s Th ierry Henr i et t e c rea t ion has the pot ential t o be an effective com petitor t o th e Yamaha Ro ad St ar W arrior and its ki nd . Less li ke ly to see pr oduction is the Boxer B2, whi ch was set to follow the VB 1 into li mited prod uctio n b ef ore the supply of Voxan engi nes was cut off. Mak ing its sho w debut three ye ars afte r co m p let io n , th is sha rp- look ing N ak ed ro ad st er w ith st ack ed headlight s and distin ct iv e exhaust silenc er treatm ent uses Boxer' s own design of tubul ar spa ce fr am e - so it w on 't be ad opt ed by Voxan - but argua bly had an infl ue nce on Henriette 's cre ation of the Mondial Nuda unveiled at Milan , and it could ce rt ainly form the basis of an att racti ve model for another Vtwin eng ine manufacturer. Suggested names on a postca rd , pl ease... At a diff erent (read: m o re special ized ) end of th e market is the J BB RenN a 996 , created by tw o -w heeled visionar y Yves Kerlo's Refl ex Design (w hich also m anufactured the B lack M a gi c pr ototype for Voxan) a n d styled by Mi chel Tarallo. This uses as its base the eng ine and rear chassis Another new release from Voxan is its new VB1 Superbike. The company only built 32 examples of th is bike in 2001, but they will be rereleased soon production begins in April, and they will sell for $21 ,600.

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