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/128397
MV Augusta F4 1000 Superbike by Gal/ina But even the Kawasaki's lovely, liquid build of power from its Akira-tuned engine wasn't as strong lower down as the Gallina MY's radial-valve motor, which felt like it matched it pretty closely in the ali-important midrange zone between 6,000 and I 1,000 rpm, where there was strong, muscular torque and a smooth transition into the upper reaches of the powerband. Except there wasn't a lot of point in going there, since perhaps because of the street camshafts (albeit more radical on the Tamburini motor than on the base-level F4 1000) and/or less-than-ideal mapping from the Marelli ECU, the Gallina MY stopped building power much over I 1,000 rpm, the point on the tacho at which Miki had taped a strip of racer tape to remind himself to tap the sweet-action one-up race-pattern powershifter and hit a higher gear, even with another 2000 revs to go to the 13,200-rpm rev-limiter. What we have here is a bike with the potential to offer the best of both worlds in racetrack guise, offering the lovely surge of muscular might you get from a twin between 6000-9000 rpm, coupled (thanks to the TSS variable·length induction) with the top-end power delivered by a highrewing four. Only, not yet. In the five-fig. ure range, it still pulls well, but there isn't the raw blast of top-end power you get from a full-on factory-level inline four like the PSG-I Kwacker. The Gallina MY's factory motor is still a work in progress - a slugger rather than a screamer - and while it still runs perfectly well all the way to the rev-limiter, if you want to hold a gear between turns and save a couple of changes, there isn't any point in doing so normally, because the power stops building two grand short of the rev-limiter. It doesn't tail off - it just stops going any faster, like the glorified street bike the Gallina MY most certainly is at this moment in time. However, since the Tamburini F4 is the world's fastest catalogued motorcycle, officially homologated at 299 kph [ 18S mph] to avoid breaking an industry-wide agreedupon 300 kph [186 mph] ceiling, it already has a level of performance worthy of national-level Superbike raCing. According to the Gallina telemetry, Miki was trapped at 314 kph [194.9 mph] down the long Mugello front straight in the race the day before my test, and the way I negotiated track-day traffic the best way possible on his bike - by blasting past them down the straights as if they were stuck in second gear - convinced me that that wasn't exaggerated. Now MY will be focusing on maximizing the benefits of the TSS system, and getting the four-cylinder benefits to go with the twin-cylinder ones it already has. Stopping hard from 300 kph [ 186 mph] for the second-gear right-hander at the end of Mugello's main straight is a great test of a bike's braking ability, as well as its composure standing on the Brembo radial brakes replacing the nonradial Nissins on the stocker. The Gallina MY scored an A passout mark, thanks not only to the way the Brembos hauled the bike down so fast from warp factor 10 - and that's in spite of using older two-pad radial calipers - but also to the setup the team has fitted to combat rear-wheel chatter under reverse torque. The MY's six-speed cassette gearbox is a special close-ratio HRD transmission, matched to a mechanical STM ramp-style slipper wet clutch (same as the one used on the Ten Kate Honda Superbikes), rather than the street bike's EBS/Electronic Braking System antilock brake device driven by the Marelli ECU. Why? "For private teams, I think the slipper clutch is the best system," says Andrea Goggi, "because you can set the ramp angle up very easily to suit the amount of engine braking you want. We in MY are working on a combined system for the full factory bike, which I think is best; look, all the MotoGP teams use it! This will use the ECU to map a different amount of EBScontrolled freewheel depending on certain situations such as engine rpm, gear ratio, etc., but always in conjunction with the slipper clutch. This is a big advantage in the wet, for example, where you need to use engine braking a lot. I'm sure we will adopt this on the factory Superbikes." The Gallina MY with "just" a slipper clutch was brilliant under braking from high speed, even toward the end of my second session, when I finally got brave enough to wait as Miki Gallina does until the 200meter board at the end of that long front straight to hit the brakes and work back through the gears. Do so, and the MY just - stops. Absolutely no weaving about, no undue weight transfer, not even any real front-end dive, even with my extra weight aboard compared to Miki. Just go back through the gears in qUick sue· cession, then let out the clutch and experience the control as you throw out the anchors. There's still some engine braking dialed in by the team, only not so much, and absolutely no rear-wheel chatter. And it all felt so controllable, I could even alter my line at will to avoid a slower rider who might otherwise have caused a moment of panic, all without the MY snaking or squirreling around as I did so, and the Marzocchi forks never bottomed out. Great. However, it's arguable that the biggest single factor in this balanced composure is the chassis setup the Gallina team has opted for, lowering the bike 17mm front and rear to speed up changes in direction from side to side, as well as reduce weight transfer under braking. This has the added benefit of adding stability over bumps, like the car-induced ripples in the tarmac exiting the Arrabiata chicane, where you're powering out of the left-hander on the power over a corrugated surface that should send the front wheel flapping. It did, but quite controllably, and resumed normal service immediately, especially after I'd asked Roberto Gallina to back off the compression damping on the street-based 50mm Marzocchi forks a couple of clicks for my second outing. This had the desired effect of giving a bit more travel to eat up the bumps better, and the Marzocchis in general were very impressive - which is not surprising, I suppose, if Massimo Tamburini chose to fit them to a bike bearing his name! - in spite (Left to right) The pipe.; the powerplant; and th. brak••, In th.. ca.. radial-mounted Brembo•. 30 SEPTEMBER 28, 2005 • CYCLE NEWS