Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

• sen set of ratios that c o m pliment the torq u ey na tu re of this ' h ui t soupapes' V -twin ( ei g ht valves , fo r those o f you wh o w e nt to sleep in F r en c h cl as s ) . All except to p gear, tha t is - six th gear seems very lon g , al most an overd rive even if at 1.0 3 6 : I , it isn ' t quite , so t ha t you n e v er e n d up h itting it o n o rdina ry roads, o n ly o n fre eways o r fo ur-lane hig hways. It' s no t as if there' s su ch a b ig g ap to fift h , either , leading to t he concl u sion t ha t at 18 / 3 9 , the Cafe Rac er is com pa red to t he semi -vintage D u c at i t y : John B lo o r d o e s n 't r un a lo ss - p en s, t he Fren c h firm 's Cafe Racer 900SS a t $9279 th e F r e n c h bi k e m a k ing bu sin ess , especially not a pri - cou ld be th e su rp rise h it of th e sport - offers su ch enha n c ed pe rformance v at e one fuelled b y h is own b ank b al - b ike se a so n i n 2 0 0 I , a b ike that a nd so p histication that it's a lmost a ance - o n t he bac k of a keen p ricing st a nds out from th e crowd a nd a llows barga in , but o n c e Voxan starts structure which, eve n wi th a stro ng its o w ners to d o th e same, w hile p ro- exporting to Brita in , Italy and either p o und , leaves t he i r J a p ane se rivals vi di ng sporti n g allu re mixed wit h Ben elux o r German y in 2 0 0 I, they're looking like th e o n es wh o are being practical co nvenience , clas sic al going to need t o pric e the bike more greedy. charm com bi ned w ith m o d ern fun c- co m peti t ively to r e a ch the level of With the weak euro as its cos t tion. I t 's th a t good, it cer ta i nl y deserves to make it tw o in a ro w fo r sa le s it merits . T ri umph lea rned t hat ba se c u rrency, Voxa n must be loo k - particula r lesson very well , and have ing to c u t m a rg ins w he n th e y sta rt L es B leus i n th e t w o - wh e el ed Eu ro b uilt up th eir volu m e - and profitabili - sellin g th eir bi k es abroad. If that h a p- 2001. o v ergea red - st ick a nother c o u p le of teeth on t he ba ck sp ro c ket, and t hat s hould make pe r fo r ma nce i n t he g ears eve n m o re v iv aciou s, as we ll as a ll ow y o u to pull to p in norm al cond it ions . But e v e n as it is at prese n t , thank s t o th e id e al mapping o f the EFI, ther e ' s no h esitati on o r snatc h at low speeds. N ice . T h a t 's th e wor d y ou 'd us e t o d e sc r ibe th e Cafe Ra ce r as a wh ol e : it' s a nice r id e . Hav in g g ot t h e basic p a c k a g e r i g h t , the re ar e sig ns of se r iou s attention t o d eta il a s a re su lt of p i l ing u p the t est m i les , not lea st of wh ich is th e fa c t that t h e Vo xan is remarka bly fr uga l , getti ng about 5 5 m il e s to th e ga l lon a t 80 mph . That's en o u gh to g ive a round a 2 30 m il e ra n g e fro m th e 4 . I -g a ll o n fu el loa d , th ough th e r e 's o nl y a n i di o t li g ht to tell y o u w hen you ' re e ati n g i nt o your reserve. T he das h is bea u t ifully des ig ned i n tru e ca fe racin g s p ir it, a n d t he whi t e -fa c ed in s t r u men t s v e r y l egi bl e , e v e n if t h e tachom et er fi t te d t o m y t est b i k e o nly work ed interm ittent ly - p roba bly hung o ve r fr om Fra n c e vs . It al y t h e nigh t b efore . T h e array o f warn in g li ghts o n th e left di al a re hi g h ly v isib le e ve n in su nli g ht , a nd are a m o d el to other man ufac tu re rs, especially British ones; th e positive operation kicks tand (non suicide -variety, as Made in Ital y ; there's no ce nter stand fitted) c a n easily be hooked out with your left heel while sitting on the bike; there's a knob for adjusting the head lam p beam heig ht depending on load: the fan doesn't sound like a hovercraft taking off when it does come on , but while the engine ran seemingly coolon a hot su m mer's day , there's no temp gauge fitted, which is a big no -no - a digital o ne i n the tach face wo uld b e enough; ground cleara nce is exce llent, even at enthusiastic cornering angles; bu t , ra ther su rp r isin g ly , there are n o anchor points I could di scover fo r cli pp ing on eve n a duffl e ba g m aybe th ey w ant y ou to b uy a Vo xan k na psa c k from t he accesso ry c atalogue, in stead . Which le aves j ust o ne fac tor tell in g ag a in st th e Cafe Ra ce r : p rice. Ret a il ing in F ranc e for $ I 0 ,900, th e Voxan c o m m a n d s a pre m ium a g ai ns t th e VTRI OOO at $95 00 and ev en ag ai ns t t he F al co at $ I 0,415 , wh il e again st th e S uz uk i TL I OOOS at $ 9139 it Al one amo ng the world's top five ma instream motorcycle markets, France has had no post-WW2 industry of its own produ cing anything larger than a 350cc Motob ecane or 125cc Peugeot scooter, making it a top target for exporters to sell bikes int o . Unt il now . Because in an uncanny repla y of Jo hn Bloor 's renaissance of the Triumph marque, 52 -y ear old French industrialist Jacques Gardette has used his business acum en and finan cial armory to single-hand edly kick start the French bike indu stry by creati ng a new marque called Voxan - like ELF , a neutral -sounding tra dem ark, chosen for its universal pronunciation in any tongue. Uke Triumph, Voxan has em ployed a m odul ar concept to devel o p a va rie d range of models , product of th e top creative team assemb led by Gardette after fou nding Voxan in Decemb er 1995. More th an 10 0 m ill ion francs of investm ent later , Gard ette still retains 53% of Voxan equity , but wit h the added muscle of key part ners such as Dassault Aviation, one of France 's gilt-edged technocong lome rates, as well as the Caisse de Depots, Fran ce' s state investme nt bank. And after selling his controlling interest earlier this year in Biodom e, the world -leading m edica l equipment com pany specializing in artificial kidney machines which he founded across from the Voxan factory in his hom e town of lssoire, to an American pharmaceuti cal giant for more than SI 00 million, Gardett e is now not only able to focus all his undoubted business acum en on m aki ng Voxan successful. And he has the financial resources to ma ke sure that happens. Th is is serious stuff: wha t we have here are the m akings of a world-class com pany whose pro ducts will be exporte d in 2001 to Brit ain , Italy and either Benelux or Germany, wit h the rest of the world following soon after. Uke any new operation, Voxan had its hiccup s gett ing up and running , but only in terms of starti ng series pro duct ion, decl ares Gardette. "Our problem is that we m anufactu re the complete bike , includ ing the engine, here in France, where there is not only no recent tra ditio n of mot orcycle manufactur e, but none either of small volume car production lik e there is in England," he says. "T his made it challenging to find suppliers for all the m any parts we need to build the bikes - but even more so to persuade them to fulfill our admi ttedly rigorous quality control standards." Th ese hassles put a brake on meeting existing orders, some dat ing back two years or more. for Voxan's debut product, the Sacha Lakic-designed Roadster 1000 which was the mainstream model in the Voxan lineup when the company was launched to the public back in 1997 , until Gardette resolved the situation by hiring two experienced production engineers from Renault and Peugeot. They swiftly kicked some ass and got full-time production of the Roadster finally started back in Septembe r 1999, since when 650 bikes in all have left the Issoire prod uction line. There is only one thi ng wrong: new customers for the Roadster were conspicuous by thei r absence - the lead-in Voxan mode l had been around too long in a style-sensitive market segment to be able to cut it against newer (and cheaper) conte nders for the chic-conscious custo mer's m oney, like the Cagiva Raptor, without being a modem icon of two -wheeled design, like the Ducati Monster. Fortunately . Gardette had Plan B all ready, in the shape of the Cafe Racer launched at the '97 Paris Show, designed by in-house stylist Stephane Valdant . Th e distincti ve half- faired neo-retro sportbike entered produ ction in April this year, and has been an immediate hit, with Voxan's 65 dealers thro ughout ma inlan d France back ordered month s for the bike, while efforts are m ade to lift production from the eig ht units a day present ly leaving the Issoire factory . Gardette projects a total product ion of 1000 mac hines for the Y2K model year, with doub le that number built in 200 1 by the com pany's 120 present em ployees, when the two models already in the catalog ue will be joined by the Thi erry Henriette-designed Scram bier, due to start produc tion in March . Ta rget break -even fig ure is 5000 bikes a ye ar, proj ecte d for 2003, by which time Gardette says he plans to take Voxan public so they better start saving up for those shares at the Joe Bar Cafe. In fact, 85% of all three Voxan m odels launched so far have a com mon modul ar basis, allowi ng them to be built on a single productio n line which forks at the end for the final 15% to be added in a dedicated assembly operation. Thi s not only helps lower break -even levels co st- wise through econom ies of scale, in tum providing the path to profitability , it also perm its ready expansion of the model lineup , as Triumph especia lly has recentl y und erlined - and as the new Voxa n model (rumo red to be a stylebike Cruiser) about to be launched at Munich 's Interm ot show in Septemb er, will confirm . CN Gardette says he plans to debut one or even two new models each year in the future, working on the same modular design basis but with a choic e of engine capacities: though designed as a 996 cc motor, 1240cc and 1298cc versions of the Voxan engine have also been developed . And then, courtesy of Boxer Bik es boss Thi erry Henriette, there' s the Boxer VB1 Superbike whi ch is being develop ed and built outside Voxan , using a 1000 cc engine and roll ing chassis packag e suppli ed by Gardette . So - how about that engine? Well , while retaining the same 98 x 66 mm dimensions as the Ducati 996 , Suzuki TL and Honda VTR twins, the water-c ool ed DOHC Voxan V-tw in m ot or designed by racecar engineers Sodemo adopts th e same com pact 72-deg ree ang le for its Nikasil cylinders as the pushrod Morini V-tw in of a decad e and m ore ago . But although far more sophisticated , and designed to act as a full y stressed chassis member, the dry -sump Voxan engine - weigh ing 138 .6 pou nds - has another feature in common with the neo-vintage Italian bik e's, which is that it doesn't have a balance shaft, on the grounds that a V-twin of this angle has reduced bulk and fewer secondary vibes than a 90 -degree m oto r, whose perfect primary balance still delive rs more secondary vibratio n to the rider. Vertically-split like a Ducati or Suzuki , the Voxan has chain -dri ven DOHC and four valves per cy linder: a very flat included valve angle totaling just 21 degrees - by contrast. the TL Suzuki, its most radical riva l, has a 29-degre e valve angle (and the 996 Ducati's is 40 degrees); a pair of titan ium connecti ng rods sharing a commo n crank pin: ultra-l ightw eight ( I 0.5 ounces each) F I -ty pe 10.5: 1 slipper pistons; a six -sp eed gearbox with hydrauli c wet cl utc h; and Magneti Marelli EFl. Voxan's chassis designer Al ain Chevallier has nothin g left to prov e on the racet rack, his machines twice eami ng the GP World Cham pionship runner -up spot as one of the honored few to be sup plied with factory Yamaha and Honda engi nes around which to construct his own frames. Subsequent consultancy work - incl uding a lead role in R&D of the avant-ga rde GTS 100 0 for Yamaha - left Chevallier well -suited to wrap metal round the Voxa n engine which. like a Ducati desmo quattro or Honda VTR, has the extruded alumin um swingarm pivoting in the crankcases. Th e Voxan chassis forma t resemb les the Tigcraft -built Superm ono singles, incl uding the MuZ Skorpion. in featuring two largediameter (60mm ) steel tubes curvi ng up and over the engine, linking a pair of alumi num castings comprising the steering head and swingarm pivot. These however have a dual function, for the upper casting incorporates an air fil ter as part of the alrbox , while the rear, lower one also comprises the oil tank for the dry sump engine, in tum liberating space beneath the motor for the horizontal WP shock to be located there as on a Buell. but working in compression , not traction. The battery is mounted low down behind the engine , while the Cafe Racer's fuel load is spread all along the top of the frame and under the seat. Radical - if not top heavy . The Voxan chassis contributes to the ease of adapting the design to different models as part of the modular design concept: simply by varyi ng the angle at which the upper alloy casting is bolted to the steel tubes, fork angle can be readily altered from the 24 .7 degrees of the Cafe Racer, through the 25 .5 degrees of the Roadster. to the 26 .5 degrees of the Scrambler. Scaling less than 20 pounds, the Voxan frame appears to have achieved all of those goals . Equipped in Cafe Racer guise with 4 1m m Paioli upside down forks, Marches ini wheels shod of course with Michelin rubber, and 320mm Brembo fioating discs with fourpot cali pers. the Voxan weighs in at a claimed 407 pounds dry. Th at' s without any of the exte nsive range of luggage and acces sories that Voxan are buildin g to for each of their models - again. j ust like Triumph. Hey - sounds like Waterloo all over again. see ms f r a n k ly overpr ic ed . O k ay cue I e n e _ S • AUGUST 2 ,2000 33

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