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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128371
erly low down when I rode it - Morini is
still experimenting with final setup for the
Marelli EFI - the 54m single-butterfiy
throttle bodies give smooth, controllable
pickup out of a tum on a twisting mountain road, with not too jerky a pickup
from a closed throttle. In fact, the legendary connection which GP riders
dream of is present in spades here. You
can feel with your right hand how the
power is going to the ground via the back
tire, and that was a particular bonus in the
slippery conditions along part of the way
thanks to the early morning frost.
As the morning wore on and the sun
got up to dry the road surface, I began to
appreciate how much confidence the wellsorted chassis provides. Even the stiff suspension didn't make the Corsaro skip or
jump around unduly on rougher surfaces,
and the good grip from the Pirelli Diablo
rubber didn't reveal any inconsistencies in
the chassis department. However, the
jUry's out on this aspect of the Corsaro's
behavior until I can take it to a circuit in dry
conditions and try a bit harder than I was
prepared to do in these.
Hard to avoid saying it, but the Moto
Morini Corsaro shows every sign, on
the basis of this short initial ride, of
being a bike that is going to give Ducati
just as much of a headache as the MV
Agusta F4 did when it was launched six
years ago. For this was/is the bike the
iconic 916 through 99B Ducati models
should have evolved into but couldn't,
and probably the only way to counter
this problem was to make the 999 as
radically different to look at compared
to the 916 as it is. Now, here's Moto
Morini doing the same thing to Ducati
with a Monster competitor - and after
riding it, you have to pinch yourself to
be convinced this isn't the more
modern-looking, re-engineered Evo
version of the Monster that Ducati really should have built any time in the past
five years, but hasn't yet. Maybe when
the Corsaro 1200 hits the highways
next spring, Ducati will have to.
eN
TE[H: Born Again
Designed by Moto Morini veteran progeltista Franco Lambertini - who's at pains to stress that it's a clean-sheet design,
not a rehashed version of the abortive IOOOcc 90-degree vtwin Gilera Superbike engine he penned for Piaggio more
than a decade ago, which so far hasn't yet reached production - the liquid-cooled, B7-degree, V-twin eight-valve CorsaCorta (as in, short-stroke) motor fitted to both new Moto
Morini models launched at Bologna is essentially the same engine, de-stroked to obtain
the 9 1/2's smaller capacity.
So in II B7cc Corsaro guise, the fuelinjected CorsaCorta liquid-cooled, 87degree, V-twin eight-valve engine weighs just
151.2 pounds, featuring a side-loading sixspeed gearbox, DOHC cylinder heads, composite chain/gear cam drive, and the same
I07mm-bore three-ring forged piston as in
the smaller, 998cc-capacity motor fitted in
the 9 1/2. However, the engine more than
lives up to its name, with a 55.5mm stroke
to deliver an exceptionally oversquare
bore/stroke ratio of more than 2: I. The 107
x 66mm Corsaro version delivers 140 bhp at
the crankcase at 8500 rpm (translating to
126 bhp at the rear wheel), with 123 Nm
(90.77 ft.llbs.) of torque on tap at 6500 rpm,
while the higher-revving 107 x 55.5mm 91/2
motor produces 105 bhp at 9000 rpm, with
98 Nm (72.32 ft./lbs.) prOVided at 6200 rpm.
Compare this claimed output with the I 13
bhp and 95.5 Nm (70.47 ft.llbs.) that Ducati
says its S4R Monster produces from its same-capacity engine
trellis frame. Engine length is just 350mm in total, with the
sWingarm pivoting in the crankcases.
Another unusual design feature is the use on the new
Moto Morini engine of a nowadays-unique one-piece
crankcase - i.e., with no horizontal or vertical split into two
halves. Engine internals are assembled from the left side, for
reasons which Franco Lambertini eagerly explains.
"The great advantage of an engine conceived in this way
is that, once mounted in the frame, it's extremely stiff and
sions regulations coming into effect in 2007 - even if
this dictates the fat, ugly exhaust silencers fitted to
the show model. Though the Corsaro 1200 prototype doesn't have a slipper clutch, Morini is working
on one, and it may be retrofitted if it's decided to be
adopted. For the time being, the six-speed transmission features an oil-bath conventional clutch.
motor stands in the marketplace.
Moreover, although the CorsaCorta engine has no desmo
can be used as a fully load-bearing chassis component, allowing for a reduction in all-up weight as well as a more rigid
motorcycle," the designer says. "It also has the advantage of
reducing machining and assembly costs because you don't
valvegear, it does boast several innovative features in addi-
have to true up two halves of the same whole - it's cast in a
its unusual B7-degree angle for the Nikasil chrome-bore cylinders which are rotated backward on the crankcase compared to
an L-twin like any Ducati thus permitting a shorter wheelbase - is packaging, says designer Lambertini. Reducing the
cylinder angle by 3 degrees at the crankcase allows him to
save 30mm in space between the cylinder heads, without
single piece with side covers."
for a comparative assessment of where the Moto Morini
tion to its ultrashort-stroke format. The reason for
having to use a counterbalancer to smooth out undue vibra-
tion, and this in turn allows the motor to be installed more
compactly as a fully stressed component of the tubular steel
superbike - and you can be quite sure there will be one of
those in due course, only not just yet.
The plain-bearing engine has paired forged conrods sitting
on a one-piece crankshaft with an unusual composite camdrive system. This sees a short train of pinions up the side of
each cylinder leading to an intermediate gear, which in tum
drives a short Hy-Vo chain that operates the twin overhead
camshafts per cylinder. The pairs of valves (43.5mm inlets,
35mm exhausts) each wear dual springs and sit at a very flat
21-