Move Over Rolls, Hesketh's Back
Move over Rolls, Hesketh's back
ROUNDUP
NEVER MIND THE NEW TRIUMPH, nothing more than a generically styled machine aimed at mass production. If you really need exclusivity in a British motorcycle, and the $20,400 Norton F1 rotary fails to appeal, perhaps what you need is that two-wheeled Rolls-Royce equivalent, the Hesketh.
You'll be forgiven if you thought the Hesketh. introduced with a nourish in I 980 and sent slinking from motorcycling's stage in late '82. leaving a trail of disgruntled customers in its bankrupt wake, was just another piece of' Britbike lore.
Ever since the demise of the company founded by Lord Alexander Hesketh. workmen in the stables at llesketh's estate at Easton Neston have continued to turn out a handful of' V 1000 and Vampire V-Twins every year. Development engineer Mick Broome and his team of'occasional employees have kept the Hesketh name alive under the aegis of Hesleydon Ltd.. Lord llesketh's private company, which bought the rights to the motorcycle from the receiver after the company went into bankruptcy.
About I 5 new Heskeths are being built each year, and believe it or don't, the order book is full for the next three years. Current price f rom the factory (there are no dealers) for a V 1000 is £9000. or about $ I 5.300 at the current exchange rate.
Is the V I 000 too. w ell, common for you? Perhaps this will be of interest: The final 15 Heskeths w ill be completely re-engineered Limited Edition VI 000s. All the faults inherent in the Weslake-developed, eightvalve. four-cam, 90-degree V-Twin engine will. Broome promises, be eradicated. And the chassis fjt w ill be updated so d that >l earn take
advantage of contemporary radial-tire technology.
The Limited Edition will have k a square-tu be steel frame with an alu-
minum sw ingarm. and will be fitted with l 7-inch w heels, single-shock rear suspension, and should weigh about l 00 pounds less than its predecessor. Styling will be modern.
the engine will give more power, and shifting problems, the bugaboo that helped sink the original Hesketh effort, will have been solved. Broome says.
Orders already are being taken for the Limited Edition, the price of which is presently fixed at £20,000, or about $34.000, and seven bikes so far have been spoken for.
After this run of I 5 final bikes is complete, says Broome, production of the Hesketh motorcycle will finally cease.
“it's all very well building a timewarp machine f'or a while, but after that it becomes frustrating that you can't develop a new engine or keep with modern technological trends." Broome says. “Building an improved version of the original bike in limited quantities to an exclusive market is okay as far as it goes, but the whole point of that exercise is it has to remain exclusive, w hich is why we won't make any more than the original I 5.”
Final specifications have vet to be determined, but there seems little doubt that in return for the massive asking price, owners of the final l 5 Heskeths will wind up with a modern classic, a true two-wheeled Rolls-Royce. Alan Cathcart
