Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

The JBB RenNa 996 features the engine and rear chassis structure of the Duc:atI 996, but with the front section revamped to include a distinctive humcenter design. The price? Only about $70,000. They are limited. st ructu re o f a D ucati 996 , bu t with th e fro nt section revamped t o in corp o ra te t h e d i st i n c t iv e h u b -ce nter front -end design that is th e trademark of the JBB chassis speciali sts. Their ideas were proven to wo rk in last season' s French ProTwin s Championship b y the victor y of t h e S u zu k i TLI OOOR- powered JB B ro ad racer ridden by Mi ch el Robert , over Du cati and A prilia Superbik es. As a result of th is , Ker lo was c o m mi s si o ne d to manufacture th e Ren Na , which co st its current owner th e not-ins ignifi cant sum of Euro 60 ,000 (about $7 0,0 00 ) . Mo re replicas can b e bui lt fo r t he sa me p r i c e, says Ker lo , compl et e with six -p ist on front brake and Ohlins rear suspension. Equall y i n no vati v e but a s yet unp ro ven - or for sale! - is the Estaca special displ ayed at Paris , as in Ecole S uperieure des Techn iques Aeronau· tiques et de Construction Automobiles, sta nd ing for - but you get th e p ictu re. This ho tbed of future Renault , Airbus, Voxan , Peugeot , Dassault etc. enginee rs has b een w ork in g fo r t hr e e years as part of a college project on If you th ink the new Yamaha R 1 streetbike is someth ing speci al, cheek out the new R 1 Superbike race machine. the prototype motorcycle displ ayed at Pa r i s , po w e red by a Yamaha F Z R6 0 0 en g ine d on ate d , togeth er with th e wheels and swin ga rm off the same b ik e, by the Fre nc h im p orters. A lmost everything else was ma de by th e students , in cl uding th e Fior-ty pe w ishbon e f ront sus p en si on d e sig n attache d to th e tub ul ar ste el spa ce fr am e. Th e sh ow o rga n izers gave them free display space to p ublicize their work - and presumably hand out CVs , job applications, etc.. .. . A s m ark et leader in France, Yama ha had a huge p resence at the Paris Salon , wh ich was as noteworth y fo r the totall y non -PC array of im aginative ly un clothed femal e models (Ooh, la , l a - wond er who had t h e job of pa inting their Yamaha badges next to the sk in .. .?) as for the launch of wh at is arguably th e most technica ll y in novative new model for the 20 04 model ye a r from an y manufactur e r , t he WR450F 2 -Trac . T hi s fina ll y brin gs two -wh ee l dri ve tech no log y to th e marketplace; its only external clue is th e sheath ed pai r o f flex i bl e stee l tu bes ru nn ing down th e front o f th e righ t Oh lins fo rk leg to the front hub. T hese carry h ydraul ic f luid from a gea rbox -driven pump t o drive a tur b in e in t he hub, diverti ng up to 15 percent of th e engine 's pow er to th e f ro nt wh eel v i a th e se l f- re g ul a ti ng "s m art" system if the rear on e sta rts to spin and lose traction . Sin ce 198 5, Ya maha and its su sp en si on sub sidiary Ohlins have been working on this syst em , which has been proven This Ya maha WR450F loo ks innoc e nt en ough, but when you look closely, you 'll see some funny stuff go ing on at the front hub. This bike Is two-wheel drive. There are both e n duro and supennot o version s of th e bike coming from Big Blue. in c o m pe ti t i on by non e o t h er than p re sid ent o f Yam ah a Motor France, and ex pe rt di rt d ev il, Jean-C laude O li v ier , wh o fin ished second on t he 20 02 Sha mroc k Rally to YM F te am m a t e Dav id F ret igne , b oth r i di n g WR4 26F 2-Trac m achines. " Ri di ng t h e 2 -T r a c , y o u 'l l b e am azed at how it perform s in difficult co nd itions lik e deep , so ft san d o r m ud : say s Oli v ier. " T he b ik e k eep s go ing wh ile others are digging holes for themse l v es and getting stuck ! A lso, beside s its greater traction on loose or wet su rfaces, the 2 -Tra c system also ensu res great er sta b ili t y, both in a stra igh t line and when co rnering through dirt. Unlike a co nventional off- ro ad bike where you ha ve to fight a sliding rear end in corn ers, th e 2-Trac is easier to control, which is a m aj or advant age fo r beginners as well as ex pert s." Yamaha launched both Rall y and Supermoto vers ions of th e 2 -T rac at Paris, to be bu ilt in itially in a limited run of j ust 250 ex am ples at a $3510 supplement to the sta nda rd WR. Plu s, the Japanese co mpany holds out the po ssibilit y of adapti ng the system to other models , m ayb e incl uding road bikes. Now , about th at 2WD R I! Yam aha 's huge stand als o c o n ta in ed lot s of othe r trick, low-v olume stuff, like t he V-M ax Final E di t ion , rec ognizing th e endu r ing ap pea l of Yam a h a ' s v enerab le hotro d in i t s nu m be r -o n e market , co mpl et e wit h double -stack proje ct o r head lam p s, upside-down fo rks , p i g g y ba c k rear sho cks, d ry cl u t c h , carbon -can exhaust and - per haps th e most nec essary part of the plot - tw in six -piston EFM b rake cal ipers gripp ing oversized front discs. Or the full -ra ce sli ck -sh od M otoTech R I Superbike, with MiG swi ng arm and Ohl ins race forks , just rea dy t o rumbl e i n th e four-cylinder fracas that th e one -lit er Superbike class prom ises to be next season . Other Japanese manufacture rs co ncentrated o n paint r at h er t h an pe rformance. suc h as the seve ral diff er en t ve rs io n s o f th e K aw a saki Z1 000 , eac h with a di f fe re n t lu r i d co lo r sc he m e, or th e lo ad ed Suzuki Burgman m ax i -scooter. lo ok in g like a displa y bike for an aftermar k et ca talogue (which is proba bly wa s). Bu t if e y e . e n th e sa me firm' s Hay ab u sa Ho t r o d looked horny, it surely only goes as well as yo u can ex pect with j ust 100 bhp at its disposal un der French perfo rmance rest rictions. Now you know why the V-Max has sold so well for so long... The fi nal world debut of a production cu st o mer model at Par i s w as anothe r off -road b ik e, th i s ti m e launched by Brit ain ' s second- largest manufactu rer , CCM. The 4 04 DS ( S u p e r m o t o ve rs ion) a nd 404 E (En duro) are bo th po we red by Suzuk i 's 4 8 - b h p D R400 doh c liquid co oled eng ine and are fitted with WP fork s and PDS shock. and they weigh 118/124kg respec tively . The AngloJapanese b ik es now look swoop ier th an the ir previous stablema tes , to go along with th eir rep ut ation for go od ha ndli ng and du rab il it y. T hou gh T ri umph displayed only th e same new models it had at M ila n (but dem and for the new 2 300cc Rock et Th ree is said to be enormous in Fran ce - as th e modern successor to th e V-Max , but then so me! ) . th e British firm 's Fr en ch tun ing associ at e, Mecatwin , ca me up with it s usual array of modi fied BritBik es, headed by its Li m ite d Edi tion Bonnev ill e. This frankly ou t shi nes t h e f a ctory's o w n newl y launched T h ruxton PR retrobike for classical allure. wh ile alongside it was t h e U.S . flat-tra c k insp ired 8 0 0 Tracker . an oth er Bonnie-based spe cia l dressed in a Fr ench set of cl othes - besse couture. ma yb e, as in do it in th e d irt.. .. And fi na lly , sp eaking of Over There . a wel come displa y b ike was the Tour de Fr an ce Bu ell XB9 R F irebolt, all p repp e d up c o m p l et e with si x - h ea d l am p lighting sy ste m ( an d ba tte ry /a lternato r off a Ma ck tru ck ? ) for t he impendi ng rigors of th e ma dcap 2300km d ash aro und the cou ntry in seve n d ay s d ur ing October. Who knows - if Lance Armstrong can d om in at e th e b i c y cl e r a c e , ma yb e Bu ell can do it with an engi ne fitted . CN e _ S • NOVEM BER 1 2 , 2 0 03 31

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