Missing In Milan
MISSING IN MILAN
THE 1995 MILAN SHOW was supposed to be spectacular, with new motorcycles expected from a variety of European manufacturers. So it came as a great surprise to attendees when the turnstiles started turning and the expected Ducati 944, Cagiva F4, Moto Guzzi cruiser, Bimota BB500 and Aprilia RSB sportbike wen all absent!
Most interesting of the bikes that did appear was Bimota’s YB 11. This is yet another development of the YB8, with twin-spar frame, new 1002cc Yamaha Thunder Ace engine and bodywork similar to that of the Suzuki-powered SB6/7.
Even more intriguing was the 500cc, two-stroke, 90-degree VTwin engine destined to power Bimota’s BB500, the longpromised street-legal grand prix bike. Project development engineer Matthew Casey said the engine, which uses four-strokestyle pressure lubrication in-
stead of two-stroke-style premix, is now a committed program, with an end in sight; previously, it was worked on as time and money allowed. “The challenge now,” Casey said, “is to make it civilized.”
At the other end of the technological spectrum, Moto Guzzi unveiled its VIO Centauro (CW, February, 1996), an odd bit of standardish machinery equipped with the wonderful Dr. John Wittner-developed, eight-valve V-Twin.
Why a sport-standard fitted with Guzzi’s highest-performance engine? Gianluca Lanaro, late of Laverda and now Moto Guzzi’s marketing and sales manager, explains:
“This is the way the market is going in Europe.
The sport-naked bike is the future.”
That belief was apparent at the Ducati/Cagiva booth, which featured two surprising new naked bikes. Most striking was the 125cc N1 prototype, designed by Miguel Angel Galluzzi, the affable giant responsible for the M900 Monster.
“Europe’s huge 125 market has gone soft, and I don’t like scooters, so I thought maybe we needed a bike to attract peole from scooters,” Galluzzi lained. “But it has to have passion, the same feeling as when we did the Monster.”
Also new was the M900 Limited, which is your basic-black Monster wearing 916SP brakes and clutch parts, braided-steel
brake lines, a headlight fairing and a leather seat.
Over at the Laverda stand, new owner Francesco Tognon was effusive over the Ghost (CW, January, 1996) and 668, both shown publicly here for the first time. The Ghost is yet another naked bike, while the 668 is a rebodied Formula with
a much more modern look, according to German importer Ronald Marz, “So that people can see that something is moving at Laverda.”
It is indeed, but which way? With chief engineer Angelo Ferrari joining Lanaro at Moto Guzzi, Laverda’s “new” chief engineer is Lino Borgesan, an old-line guy from the original crew at the now-shuttered Breganze factory.
As for the expected star noshows, we’ll have to wait to see what the 1996 Cologne Show has to offer. Hopefully, by then the waiting will have turned to riding. Jon F. Thompson
