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/128635
th e Suzu k i TLI OOO-po wered Cag iva Navig at or. wh ich now sets the class performance st andard . with a sim ilar power-to-weight ratio . 2. W ith BMW ' s Sp a ndau fa cto r y in Berlin setting new p ro d uc t io n rec o rds in a vai n attem p t t o k eep up wi t h boom ing worldwid e de m and fo r th e German marq ue 's eso te ric products 65.000 were so ld las t ye ar. th e seventh record yea r in a row - th ere wa s littl e p o int in t hei r re - in ven tin g th e wheel . eve n wi th the Intermot Show taking p lac e a l on g s to ne ' s t h ro w fr om t h e c ompan y ' s Munich h ead qu art er s. Th at m eant on ly one really new m od el on th e BM W di sp lay the re. the R J 150 R - a com plete m ak eover fo r th e R- v er si o n n a k ed ro a d st e r . which was th e firs t model to kic k off the born -ag a in Bo xer range b ac k in 1992 . No w fitted with the I 130cc version of the eight -va lv e fl at -twin m ot or l au nc he d l ast year in t he R 1 15 0GS tr ail ie, the RI 150 R also ben efits from th e six -sp eed gearbox intro duce d on th e RI 10 0S. as well as as an up rated Motron ic eng ine m an agem ent sy st em and revised stain less ex haust syst em th at is based on the GS 's . The result i s a 5 -bhp increa se in p ower t o 8 5 bhp a nd a n in cre as e in torque all a cr o s s t h e powerband - b e tw ee n 30 0 0 and 6500 rpm , c lai m s BM W wh ile the revamp ed st yling now inco rporates a pa ir o f o il rad i at o rs posit io ned on either side of the nea rly hal f -ga llo n -b igg er fuel ta nk. And then t h e r e ' s an uprate d , adjustable T elel ever fro nt shock. w ith a li ghter wis hbo ne to ope ra te it. Bu t , ap art fro m a glossier version of the R 1200C c u st o m, th e In depen den t , and a new -generation Integral ABS system maki ng i t s d ebut o n t he K I200LT to urer, that was about it of note from BMW - th e co m p a ny's biggest novelty in th e past year, the fu el-inj ected F650GS singl e , having a lready b een launch ed separatel y back in the spring , away from th e show circu it. 3. Other G erm an co m panie s we re less co y . th ough . especi ally M Z. now st r u g g l in g d esp er at el y t o st ep up prod u ct i on of i ts ba c k - ord er ed RT 12 5 doh c fou r -v alv e si ng le -cyli nder famil y . a sellou t in its nati ve m ar ke t sin c e i ts J anu ary laun ch . b u t Bu t M Z's n ex t -g e n e r at i o n twin cyl in der rang e al so made its de b ut a t ln t e r m o t , in the fo r m o f t he 10 00 S spor t b ike w it h Ne w Edge st yli ng b y Pet er K a u m a n n . wh ose studio w as also resp on sibl e for th e rath er l es s performanc e -ori en t at ed BMW C I ha lf- a - c a r. Pow ered by a liquid -coo led dohc eig ht- va lve fueli nje c t ed parall el -tw in e ng ine pro duc in g 125 bhp at 1 1. 0 0 0 rpm in p roto ty pe f o rm . wi th t w in ba lance sh afts an d J 8 0 -deg ree one- up. one down c ran k throw . thi s en g ine . M Z b os s Pe t r Karel Ko ro u s say s , no l on g e r has any parts in co m m o n w it h the similar engine prev iously d esign ed for MZ b y th eir erst w h ile p artn er s i n GP rac in g, Sw i ss a u t o . The 1000 S is l i k el y t o a d o p t th e Ko b r a nam e o f t he co m pa n y 's a cclaim ed Ya ma ha -en gine d protot y pe sp ortbik e fro m th e m id - '9 0 s by the time it rea ch es th e m arketplace in 2002. Thereafter . MZ p lans to launch at least one n ew model every y ea r base d on th e ir pa rall el -twin family. which a lready exis t s in 600cc a nd 750cc e ngine formats - though th e proje c ted sup ercharged verso n h as been sc rapped , say s Korous . On e of these will b e a 750 c c Super sp ort contend e r . as we ll as 6 0 0 /7 5 0 and 10 00 cc n a ked ro adster mod els . a n d a 10 00cc sports t ourer. Hong Leon g bike bo ss Ron L im confirms th e fu ndi n g is in pl a c e for this vo l u m e o f pro duct d e ve l opm ent , o f w hich th e 1000S di sp lay ed at Interm o t is the lea d-in produ ct. unable yet to rea ch expo rt customers - inc ludi ng those in the USA wh ich are next on the company 's li st - while M Z 's suppliers g et c r a n ke d up to m eet wha t was frankly for t he m an unexp e cted su c c es s s to ry. The Mala ys ian -owned com pan y launch ed tw o m ore ve rsi o ns of th e little street s in gl e a t In t e rm ot , t he RT125SX st ree t scra m b ler a nd RT J 2 5 S M s u pe r m o t a r d- ty pe sp in offs . ea ch us ing the sam e 15 bhp res tricted ver sio n of the liquid -cooled engi ne, an d weighing ju st o ve r 2 9 2 pou nd s w ith ful l stree t eq uip m ent. cu e I e n e _ S • O CTO BER 18.2000 17