Shock o’ the Show: Best known for its lowly runabouts or more recently a Suzuki 800-powered V-Twin standard (about as ho-hum as it sounds), Germany’s Sachs stunned show-goers with its Beast concept bike, a minimalist engine-as-frame exercise that’s about as wide as a 2x4. This one doesn’t run, but company officials promised that others do. Stay tuned.
From the December 2000 issue of Cycle World.
In efficient European Union style, the turnstile accepts my press card. There is a click, the rotor turns and I have entered Intermot, the Munich Motorcycle Show. It’s huge, filling 11 former aircraft hangars, each measuring 200 x 450 feet, that were once part of Munich’s Riem airport. There’s a new airport on the other side of town and Riem, with opulent refurbishing, has become an exhibition center. Unlike the last show I attended (Cologne, in the early ’90s), there are no bicycles here. Prosperity has made motorcycling strong.
Everything is here. You expect the Big Four to have major displays and they do, but large and small are side-by-side–hole-in-the-wall leathers makers, never-heard-of-it helmet companies, and everyone with a tube bender and fabrication skills is here with gleaming stainless or titanium mufflers and pipes. I know some of the names, like the Australian VeeTwo Ducati modifiers, QUB’s fuel-injection for Yamaha 426 MXers, and even Premier helmets. There are oils, gear companies, chassis-, brake-and wheel-makers–five 400-foot lanes of commerce in every building. Then I catch sight of a large, well-lit pavilion offering 15 kinds of Far East scooters with computer-generated names. The brochures are mostly in Chinese. Very young Oriental gentlemen with soft pink hands trot up to exchange business cards. Down the aisle is a tiny white booth displaying cycle parts from the Indian subcontinent, promising yesterday delivery. Its proprietor’s eyes are dulled by jet lag and the passing crowd’s lack of interest.
Bonnie unveiled: Newest addition to Triumph’s “Classic” range is the long-awaited Bonneville. As with the earlier four-cylinder 600TT sportbike, the air/oil-cooled, dohc, 790cc parallel-Twin is a departure from the modular-engine concept to which Triumph has remained entrenched since its John Bloor-financed rebirth. It makes a claimed 61 horsepower and 44 foot-pounds of torque. Fuel capacity is 4.5 gallons, and Triumph has spec’d a 30.5-inch seat height. On sale in the U.S. in January, the 451-pound, disc-braked retro-standard will retail for $6999. Look for a riding impression shortly.
The first tour takes two hours of steady walking, and it reveals that the most beautiful and attention-getting displays are those of the Italian companies, both the established and the newly reborn. Ducati, Aprilia, Moto Guzzi (revitalized by new owner Aprilia), Cagiva and Benelli are pulling a lot of interest. These early days of the show exclude the public–they are for press and dealers only–but there are plenty of people making the rounds.
BMW’s classy display asserts the brand is about youth and adventure. Do they believe it? I stare at their C1 cabin scooter, with its beautiful leather luggage case strapped on behind.
Kawasaki’s show is about to begin. Male and female dancers in hot vinyl outfits are warming up to disco. Up front, four miniature assembly robots dance in lockstep. I’m looking at the excellent chassis of the ZX-12, which uses ideas explored in the KR500 GP bike of the early 1980s. When the show starts, it’s a precursor for what will follow at the other Big Three–loud James Bond music, smoke generators and not too much in the way of stunning new product. Executives mount the podium and kill any dramatic effect with corporate statistics. They step down and the dancers bounce back, doing handsprings over the bikes, proving that human faces can be sexy yet impersonal. It’s a job. This is it. I walk on.
Gone fast: Want one of the new 996Rs with Ducati’s redone “Testastretta” motor? Hard cheese, ’cause all 350 customer versions of the $22,000 specials sold out within hours of their offering on the Internet. Look for new bodywork next year.
Ducati has a new cylinder head for the 996R and it’s very attractive in a glass case, all its parts in motion. Nearby is a turntable with a new 996R and an MH900e. Intense light cascades down on their extremely brilliant surfaces, making them into wet, delicious candy. This liquid color and light make it almost unbearable not to touch and own these perfections. The crowd and I push
in toward them. It takes effort to overcome their gravity and pull away.
Teutonic Twin: Centerstage amidst MZ’s many small-displacement two-strokes and Yamaha-engined Thumpers was the sporty, modern-looking 1000S. Another example of Europe’s trend toward sharp-edged styling, the liquid-cooled parallel-Twin uses a spar-type frame constructed largely from steel tubing. Race-ready front end is complemented by shiny braced swingarm that acts directly on a single shock. Probed regarding the bike’s future, company spokesmen refused to speculate.
For years I have wondered who would find the engineering courage to match an upflow exhaust-port angle to the downdraft intakes that are now universal. Twenty years ago, both carbs and pipes flowed at 90 degrees to cylinder centerlines. Exhaust flow is supersonic and heat transfer is tremendous, but exhaust ports have retained their inefficient, heat-gathering 90-degree turn nevertheless. It is Ducati, in the new 996R cylinder head, that has at last given flow and heat transfer precedence over tradition and styling. The new exhausts emerge upward. Bravo. A whole wall of the display is engineering drawings of the new head, magnified. Beauty, engineering, art–inseparable. There’s another facet, though, perhaps just as important. Ducati, by productionizing and redesigning its 996, shows that it (or owners TPG) knows low manufacturing cost is as important to survival as the company’s fall-in-love style has been to its rebirth.
Bahn-burner: Set to go toe-to-toe in Europe with Suzuki’s redone Bandit 1200S, Kawasaki’s ZRX1200S sports a larger, more protective fairing not unlike that offered stateside on the 2001 ZR-7S.
What theme emerges from this show? I see the Japanese ship of state serenely plowing onward through calm seas as if the world will never change. But there is change. The recent prosperity and the growing sophistication of the motorcycle-buying public have combined to bring up green shoots of new growth in many countries. In Italy, Aprilia is a young company (1972) growing rapidly. In buying Moto Guzzi, Aprilia has acquired a way to express important traditions as well as its own ideas. Mondial and Gilera are here, both major players of the 1950s. Benelli, once a powerhouse, has come back from near-death to offer the 900 Tornado, which subtly combines new and old. Tradition is carried forward in the nipped-at-the-waist fairing, suggesting those of the great Benelli racing Fours, and in the traditional silver-and-green paint scheme. The radiator is beneath the seat in Britten/Saxon Triumph style, fed by ducts from high-pressure areas at the front. Outflow into the low-pressure wake is boosted by a pair of yellow-bladed electric fans. The triangular (get it?) Arrow muffler pushes style toward a cheesy Buck Rogers look. The top-injected 83.8 x 52.4mm Triple is claimed to make 142 bhp at 11,500, at moderate piston speed and combustion pressure. Long live diversity.
“Futura” is now: Europe’s mushrooming sport-touring market has led to a wave of exciting new machinery. Aprilia’s RST 1000 Futura boasts striking, angular styling and is powered by the Italian bike-maker’s familiar fuel-injected, liquid-cooled, dohc, 60-degree V-Twin. Optimized for sport-touring, the engine produces a claimed 113 horsepower and 71 foot-pounds of torque. The twin-spar cast-aluminum frame is based on the RSV Mille’s, but with revisions to steering-head angle, motor-mount location and wheelbase. Not just an aesthetic addition, the cast-aluminum, single-sided swingarm makes room for the exhaust system, which snakes up the right side and concludes with a triangular muffler under the tailsection. This arrangement allows the optional saddlebags to be configured tightly, keeping the bike relatively narrow. A single nut secures the rear wheel, easing service. Brembo Gold Series brakes are standard equipment, as are new-generation H7 halogen headlights and a centerstand. Look for the bike in U.S. dealerships in February.
Over in Hall A3, Honda’s radio-controlled model zeppelin glides past overhead. Suzuki’s wide palazzo tells us a little about the light new GSX-R1000, while the company’s hovering colored balloons prevent a Team Red invasion of its airspace.
The Voxan V-Twin occupied an understated display, but revealed important points. Each tubular steel frame beam is also an oil tank, bolting to the cast-aluminum steering head with five Allen screws. Management is feeling for its market. What images will sell this French motorcycle? Audrey Hepburn in Givenchy? Gauloises-smoking Resistance fighters of WWII?
Rally-rep: Schalber-built BMW F650 Rallye boasts 10.5-gallon fuel capacity, long-travel WP suspension and rally-ready “navigational assistant.” Purchased as a kit, the parts alone will set you back more than $8000.
Honda’s news was under covers on a turntable, tarps whisked off, one by one, by six high-energy dancers. I stayed by an NSR500 GP bike where the music was bearable. Aha, a new 1800cc lightweight Gold Wing, with aluminum chassis, radial tires, optional ABS and a leaning tower of streamlined luggage. Take that, BMW! And a PGM-injected CBR600F4i. And a big new cruiser. And a 600cc scooter.
I counted 20 makers of scooters and light motorcycles, coming variously from Indonesia (you’ve heard of Modenas), India, Mainland China, Taiwan and elsewhere. New makers or revived old makers are appearing in Spain–Derbi, again strong in 125 GPs, has revived Bultaco. Asian makers begin by buying complete outdated step-through factories from the Big Four. Their engineers study production and emissions. In time, as incomes rise, sportier mounts emerge–125s, 175s, then 250s. These are clumsy-looking, chopper-styled and chrome-rich now, but they represent change. These people are reading our Western magazines very carefully.
Flat-black, where it’s at: Previously reserved for hot-rods in need of a paint job, dull black is apparently the hot new “color” for the fall season. Here, Cagiva’s limited-edition Raptor Xtra basks in the light-sucking stuff, highlighted (if that’s the word) by carbon-fiber mufflers and tailsection. Raptor’s over-the-top styling is by Miguel Angel Galluzzi, the same guy who penned Ducati’s more restrained Monster. Don’t look for the Raptor 1000, the new Raptor 650 or the Navigator adventure-tourer in the U.S. until Cagiva hashes out some details with engine-supplier Suzuki.
What about style? Are there fresh themes? Japan continues on its established path, but Europe is seeking its own way, working to be different. The combination of flat-black paint on many models, with sharp-edged, zigzag planar shapes begs to be called The Stealth Look. Aprilia’s Futura 1000, the Benelli 900 Tre, Cagiva’s Raptor and the new Mondial Piega 1000 all share this theme. Dated but still powerful is the curvaceous “organic look” exemplified by the MV Agusta F4 and Ducati 996.
Red runner: Moto Guzzi is commemorating its 80th birthday (and new lease on life, thanks to new owners Aprilia) with a limited-edition version of its V11 Sport. The Rosso Mandello differs from the standard model via its anodized frame and valve covers, wrinkle-black engine cases, broad use of carbon-fiber and special paint. Only 300 examples will be produced, each with individually numbered sidepanels.
Japan owns the twin-aluminum-beam chassis, but European designers want different identities. Because frames are just the hypotenuse of a triangle of which two sides are formed by the engine and gearbox, they don’t have to resist twist and bending forces unassisted. This means that alternatives can work–Ducati’s trellis, Voxan’s bolted steel tubes, Benelli’s set of four snaking curved tubes socketing into lumpy swingarm uprights.
Moto Guzzi’s Rosso Mandello is a Christmas tree, offering many textures, colors and bright machined-metal highlights in a tasteful, attractive way. I am not a particular fan of the old Mulo Meccanico Guzzi V-Twin, but I can still admire the variety of effects this lately struggling company has achieved around it. Turning from it 180 degrees, I see a towering display of history, pulled from the famed Guzzi museum in Mandello del Lario. At the top is Engineer Carcano’s greatest leap of imagination, the 500cc V8 GP bike of 1957. When I spoke with Aprilia president Ivano Beggio in August, he had said that in time, other classic concepts from Guzzi’s past may be updated to take their place in the product line.
Angular is in: Mondial, winner of two world roadracing championships in the 1950s, is a player once more, wrapping a Honda RC51 motor in the multi-crease bodywork that seems all the rage over in Euro-land. Very much an entrepreneurial start-up, Mondial claims it will take online orders for the Piega 1000 early in 2001, price about $22,000.
Motorcycle technology is not a secret anymore. Efficient manufacturing is not a secret anymore. Neither are computers, fuel-injection or suspension technology. These facts mean that even small companies, modestly funded, can create quite ambitious designs. Combined with strong economies that make investment available, this means variety.
Great 8: Designed and built in-house, KTM’s LC8 V-Twin marks the Austrian company’s entrée into serious streetbike production. Claimed to be almost 40 pounds lighter than Suzuki’s TL1000 motor, the 8 is a masterwork of compactness. That’s the electric-starter nestled into the crotch of the vee. Carburetors are fitted here, but fuel-injection is being developed, too. About a year’s worth of R&D remains to work out all the bugs, says KTM.
A strong example is KTM’s new LC8 one-liter (942cc, actually) 75-degree V-Twin. At their pitch, company personnel wore orange shirts and were a tough, healthy bunch who’d look right in Special Forces uniforms. Despite the informality and enthusiasm of off-road riders, the KTM presentation began with a deadly business review. Claustrophobia found me an exit through the kitchen. When it was safe to return, I met the designer of the new Twin, Claus Holweg. He is an impressive young man whose career has already taken him to BMW, Rotax (the Aprilia 1000) and now KTM. He says this engine begins with the best of everything: compact, rigid cases; modern end-feed oiling to the crank; strong, thoroughly analyzed recip parts. All engine accessories–counterbalancer, waterpump, electric starter, camchains–are driven by a shaft that resides in the vee of the cylinders. The LC8 is expected to develop rapidly over the next two years beyond its present 102 bhp at 8000 rpm. This, with the engine’s 100 x 60mm bore and stroke, gives a leisurely piston speed of 3150 feet per minute, and a stroke-averaged effective combustion pressure of 175 psi. Compare these with racing figures of 4500-plus piston fpm and 190-200 psi and you see there’s more to come. The engine weighs a minimal 123 pounds.
Brutal, baby! MV Agusta gets into the stripped-sportbike wars with its new Brutale, which exhales through side pipes rather than the F4’s signature underseat quad-array. Fuel tank and tailpiece, while clearly derivative of the sportbike’s, have been softened, too. Running gear is identical, including the cool drop-away front-axle clamps and cast-magnesium single-sided swingarm. The claim is 127 crankshaft bhp from the 750cc radial-valve inline-Four. Just 300 of the Serie Oro bikes will be built, all yours for a cool $30,000 per. Standard-issue Brutales, minus all the mag-alloy trickery, will be priced more reasonably at about $15,000.
As a pure extreme, consider the Sachs Beast, a one-liter V-Twin that’s like a Britten pared to the marrow–two wheels, an engine, a padded prong to sit on. Production? Who knows? Maybe. The Beast was a moistened finger, sampling the wind.
Naked bikes are today’s big phenom. Japan had more of them than of anything else new, and MV’s new Brutale, Ducati’s four-valve Monster, the Voxan Roadster and others correspond to Yamaha’s new R1-powered Fazer 1000, called the FZ1 in the U.S. We think of 996s when we think of Ducati, but it’s the naked line that pays the bills in Bologna. Why? Some say it’s a retro impulse, and there’s something to this. Eddie Lawson Replicas take us back to the days of power-laden Superbike wobblers barely mastered by hero riders. Intoxicating stuff. But there’s more. Naked bikes combine powerful elements from both cruiser and sportbike. A cruiser is a locomotive, with visible engine and a rider who is astride–not growing into the machine, but above it as master.
Beemer in the buff: Deutchland can do neo-naked, too, as shown by the R1150R Roadster. American designer David Robb’s restyle includes integrated oil-coolers and a tube-type Telelever A-arm. Naked bikes are gaining popularity, says BMW’s Robb, as a natural backlash against repli-racers, which in Germany are called “yogurt cups” due to their multi-hued plasticity. Priced at about $12,000, the Roadster should be in U.S. dealerships by spring. It gets the six-speed tranny so successfully fitted to the R1150GS last year.
Sportbikes concentrate the ballistic attributes of the motorcycle–acceleration, speed, braking and handling–but at the cost of aerodynamic concealment and, therefore, a degree of visual emasculation. Not all riders want to be packaged into a huddle, as North Country English race star John Cooper once put it, “With head doon and oss oop.”
Neo-naked bikes give the rider both. Ballistic power in nearly full measure, with the classic position of command, sitting up, facing fate squarely. I remember a rider who once said, “Never mind the lap times…how’d I look?”
Supersports-tourer: Ending months of speculation, Yamaha pulled the wraps off its next-generation sport-tourer at Munich. The FJR1300 mates a fuel-injected, liquid-cooled, dohc, 16-valve, 1298cc inline-Four with a twin-spar cast-aluminum frame. Fitted with dual gear-driven balance shafts, the engine is reputed to produce 145 horsepower at 8500 rpm and 93 foot-pounds of torque at 6000 rpm. A hydraulic clutch, five-speed transmission and shaft final drive are standard-issue. The claimed 523-pound machine rolls on 17-inch wheels. Fuel capacity is 6.6 gallons, and wheelbase is 59.6 inches. Creature comforts include an electrically adjustable windscreen and color-matched saddlebags. Heated handgrips are also offered. Citing a flat U.S. sport-touring market, Yamaha has no intention of importing the FJR1300–at least not in 2001. Shame.
It treasure such contacts as I have in the industrial design world. One I ran onto at this show complained that some bike-makers completely ignore style. Their engineers assume that if they do their work correctly, place the major masses properly, with adequate strength in all parts, the result must by definition be beautiful. This, he pointed out, ignores the fact that engineers and the public “speak” different visual languages. What looks good to the engineer may mean nothing to the public, or even be seen as ugly. With a degree of interpreting from a designer, the accomplishments of the engineers can be made clear to the public.
Motorcycles are a strange combination of fact and fantasy. Yes, quarter-mile times can be measured, and a few buy by the numbers. Others are happy with pure transportation. It’s much more complicated for the rest of us. Motorcycles carry a strong message just as human faces do. In some submerged non-verbal way, they begin to tell us a fascinating story that we can’t resist. There’s no way to know the ending except to become ourselves a part of that story.
Chambon Replica: Swathed in carbon-fiber and wearing race rubber, Husqvarna’s SM 610R-based NOX is a factory-built Supermotard special. With production limited to just 300 units, the exotic race-only Thumper may run upwards of $15,000. Costly, but what price victory?