Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

opportunity to produce fruitier-sounding ca'rbon cans for that model. The Suzuki engine has a gem of a sixspeed gearbox, with a clean, light action that makes you almost regret that the engine's meaty torque makes it practically redundant - there's just waves of power all through the rev range, up to the 8500 rpm peak mark. There's no real excuse for hitting the 10,200 rpm rev limiter, especially as it's only above 8000 rpm that there's any sign of undue vibration, and then only through the footrests. The good-sized balance weights at the end of the handlebars take care of the vibes there when they do eventually register, on what is in normal use an impressively smooth, well-balanced, yet potent power package. Speaking of the bar, which on both bikes is pretty wide, giving good leverage for mountain hairpins or work in town, it's here that the main dynamic difference between the two versions of the Raptor is found. That's because the V-bike's more sporting stance sees a lower, flatter shape to the one-piece handlebar mounted The author, hard at work in the hills along the Cote d'Azur on the French Mediterranean. atop the upper triple clamp, meaning ideal bike for those of shorter stature, atively conservative chassis geometry that you're leaning forward and including women. However, you tend and long 57.6-inch wheelbase, which got quite a weave on long, fast 100 mph turns, even on a smooth surface. weighting up the front end more than not to move about much on either in turn makes the bike very stable on it Norma Ie, on which the handlebar bike, instead sitting ensconced in around fast, bumpy turns. This wasn't Albesiano's GP chassis design expertise now came to the fore, and two subsequent rides on evoluzione is higher-set and more pulled back. your armchair, even in turns, where always so: when I first rode the proto- The low 31-inch seat height of both the low center of gravity means it's type Raptor back in February '99, it versions bikes allows you to put both feet on relatively easy to flick the N-Raptor from side to side. This despite the rel- had more radica I steering geometry, with the 43mm Marzocchi inverted addressed the problem. The head fork set at a 23-degree head angle, the 25.2-degree rake of the produc- and a short 55.6-inch wheelbase. The tion version, with 32.5mm offsets giv- the ground very easily, so this is an underlined how he'd angle was kicked out quite a bit, to result was that the bike tipped into Reinventing Cagiva was always going to be a trickier deal than reviving MV, if only because the Ferrari-inspired F4 Superbike engine Claudio had in his back pocket to do the job with when he walked away from Ducati back in 1996, ended up being used to relaunch his trophy brand instead. And, let's face it, Cagiva h s a long way to go: all but unknown outside Italy except as the creator of a handful of street enduros loosely derived from its Dakar Rally winners, and in the home market irredeemably stamped as a specialist in the 125cc sportbike market that's now dead in the water, Cagiva was well on the way to becoming a motorcycling footnote, remembered only for its quixotic - and ultimately successful - efforts to challenge the might of Japan Inc. for success in the glorious irrelevance that is 500cc GP racing. All cream, no cake. But within the Castiglioni family of brands, MV has taken away with one hand and given back with the other. Because in return for pinching the F4 motor off Cagiva, the runaway commercial success of the MV Agusta re-Iaunch, using this engine, has generated vital cash to underpin Cagiva's revival, replacing some of the capital siphoned away over a decade-long period by Ducat! in order to develop successive versions of the world titlewinning desmoquattro Superbike. Hence the Raptor twins - and hence too the alliance with Suzuki. "The success of the F4 proves we have the capacity within Cagiva to develop our own sophisticated four-stroke engine designs comparable with any produced elsewhere," said Claudio Castiglioni back in January '99, when he showed me the first Raptor prototype. "But the problem is time, and image. We need at least three years to develop a new large-capacity engine design from scratch, but I wal'lt to re-Iaunch Cagiva one year from now. And even then there will always remain the problem of After some struggles, Cagiva convincing the customer that it's reliable and trusthopes this will be the view its worthy in everyday use. Far better to link with an competition sees in the near established engine supplier, especially one such as future. Suzuki which manufactures what are commonly regarded as the benchmark engines in each category, in order to create a model quite different from anything they produce with that engine themselves. The same policy has been commonplace for years in the car world look at the Volvo/Renault/Peugeot engine alliance, or Honda/Rover - yet we in the bike world refuse to see its validity. Well, with the Raptor, we will point the way ahead for others to follow - in tenns of joint engine sourcing, as well as product design." ing 110mm of trail, and wheelbase corners too suddenly, and moreover was lengthened first to 56.4 inches, The Raptor has a top speed approaching 155 mph, as I confirmed for myself on the Autoroute de l'Esterel running along the Cote d'Azur from Nice to Menton in the hills above Monaco - shortly before I and my Greek mate Spiros Papadimitriou were stopped by two French BMW-mounted moto-gendarmes, Bruno and Marcel. Sacre bleu! Pas de probleme - no speeding tickets; it was just that Bruno and Marcel had heard we were in the area and came looking to hunt us down, to scope out the pair of new Latin lovelies with kimono-kulture engine kit. See, my new policier mate Bruno Ie Flic is a Ducati owner, and that being the case, I was duty-bound as a fellow ducatista to let him and his colleague Marcel take the Raptors for a run while we stood guard over their still ticking Boxers, Vive Joe Bar - the spirit of the famed French biker cartoon strip lives onl Ten minutes later, after successfully resisting the temptation to switch on the blue lights and give chase on the Beemers, back they came - grinning from one side of their jet helmets to the other. "This makes my Ducati seem pretty vintage," said Bruno resignedly. "It has such smooth power delivery from almost no revs, but it's so responsive in midrange, and the acceleration is on a different planet. I like the way the throttle action is so light, yet it picks up so cleanly when you move away - it's a very easy bike to ride in traffic, unlike my Ducati with its much stiffer clutch action and more brutal throttle response, But this is so comfortable to ride, even if it feels a bit bigger than the Ducati. For this kind of bike, I think it has no equal. I wonder what trade- in they'd give me at the Cagiva dealer in Nice on my desmodue... " Well, that's me out of a job, I guess - as well as Ducati dealers with unsold stocks of new M900 Monsters, because Monsieur Ie Gendarme got it right the first time. (Left to right) The author, compadre Spiros Papadimitriou, and French policemen Bruno and Marcel, following the latter duo's impromptu test of the Raptor. cue I e n e __ s • APRIL 5, 2000 21

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