Cycle News

VOL. 51 ISSUE 33 AUGUST 19, 2014 P87 newer Midual felt like an old dry- clutch desmo. Midy later discovered a faulty selector spring that had been the reason it was also hard to find neutral with a hot engine, plus after my visit fitted a new Italian clutch cable to give a smoother and lighter action. Things like this underline the fact that I was riding pre-production prototypes – but which I genuinely feel have signif- icant potential to offer something different that's fun to ride as well as satisfying to own – if you can afford to spend the equivalent of a nice house to buy it. The handling of the Midual is really outstanding – this would have to be one of the most neu- tral-steering bikes I've ever rid- den, right up there with the origi- nal MotoCzysz, and for the same reason. On that bike, the narrow- angle V-four engine's twin contra- rotating cranks completely elimi- nated the effect of all adverse forces created by the engine operation, leaving you to start dialing in your preferred chassis geometry and suspension setup, unencumbered by external con- siderations like crankshaft rota- tion and inertia. The Midual is the same, be- cause while you have a single crankshaft rotating crosswise in the frame, its powering twin horizontally-opposed pistons, the dynamics of whose operation cancel each other out in terms of their effect on the handling. So, blip the Midual's throttle at rest, and there's zero sign of the bike rock'n'rolling fore and aft beneath you, and out on the road this makes for an ideally balanced engine package. And that allows you to exploit the neutral handling advantages of the lengthways en- gine layout to the max. The Midual's low-down cen- ter of gravity occasioned by the distinctive engine layout means it rides bumps very well at speed. I found a great fourth-gear sweep- er with some really wicked bumps right on the apex, and took sev- eral runs at it cranked right over, without once managing to get the Midual shaking its head, so high- speed stability is excellent. The Öhlins suspension is just icing on the cake, of course, ditto the Brembo brakes that haul the bike down hard from high speed, aided by the nicely dialed in slip- per clutch – though I found it best to blip the throttle for downshifts to get a smooth change. However, there's still one im- portant remaining issue that Midy and his team have to address, and that's the engine vibration that cuts in at higher revs, which is bad enough to spoil your en- joyment of the bike. It used to be worse; because when I first rode the prototype this arrived completely unheralded at exactly 6000 rpm, almost as if some- one had flicked on the vibrator switch. It lasted until 7400 rpm, when it gradually began dimin- ishing, so that the closer you got to its 8800 rpm revlimiter, the smoother the engine was. On the new show bike the boys had done good in diminish- ing it, without however removing it altogether – now it kicks in at 6800 rpm and lasts for another 600-900 rpm before gradually going away. It's pretty all perva- sive, felt through seat, footpegs and handlebars, and obviously is not in keeping with the pre- tensions to excellence of such a bike, which are otherwise met. Wrong balance factor? Could be – but this will have to be ad- dressed before the first customer bike is delivered, and Midy is well aware of this. Apart from that, it's hard not to hold the deepest admiration for what Midy and his team have achieved in creating the Midual. In theory, an exploit such as developing a completely new engine of any kind (let alone a one-liter twin as individual as this) from the ground up should be out of reach of such a small company with minimal resources beyond determination and self-belief. That's usually reserved for bloated R&D departments driven by global enterprises with unlim- ited budgets, but after visiting the Midual factory twice, I have a full appreciation of the untold commit- ment and countless hours of hard work that have been put into creat- ing this bike, over so many years. Let's hope the personal sac- rifice this modern-day motorcy- cling Michelangelo has invested in creating an exquisitely detailed two-wheeled masterpiece pow- ered by an innovative engine de- sign, reaps its just rewards. CN

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