Munich '98: What's Not For Us
MUNICH '98: WHAT'S NOT FOR US
ROUNDUP
HOW BIG WAS THE MUNICH Show? New motorcy cles, accessories and clothes filled seven great halls of the new convention center, each big enough to house two or three 747s. Amidst hundreds of scooters (our favorites: the trellis-framed Italjet Dragster and the alien-themed Aprilia Area 51), there were a number of new motorcycles that we may never see in this country, no matter how attractive they are.
Honda, for example, chose Munich to debut the Varadero, the range topper to its Paris/ Dakar-influenced “Adventure Sports” line. This mammoth Twin is powered by a detuned version of the VTRIOOO engine, a 90-degree, eight-valver displacing 996cc and producing 98 horsepower. The new bike retains chain drive, and has the long-travel suspension, tall seat height, 6-gallon-plus gas tank and full fairing that defines the
ultra-enduro class in Europejust don’t expect American Honda to bring it here.
Not much more likely for a U.S. debut is the Honda Vigor 650 Scrambler, a street Single built around the XR650L engine and chassis. Its high pipes with perforated heat shields reflect Sixties street scramblers, but its big gas tank and quarter-fairing comply with European tastes. Honda is
marketing it as an ultimate European city bike, more civilized than a supermotard, but American Honda has thus far given no indication it will ever come here.
The story is somewhat different with the Ducati MH900e (Mike Hailwood evoluzione).
It’s not coming to the U.S. next year becauseas of now-it exists only as a design
exercise. Intended to demonstrate the abilities of Ducati’s new design center, it is also designer Pierre Terblanche’s homage to the original 900SSbased Mike Hailwood Replica. Oil-pan covers hide wiring and mechanical bits while giving the engine the big-sumped appearance of classic bevel-drive Ducati powerplants. A traditionally shaped half-fairing merges seamlessly into the fuel tank, and a tiny projector-beam headlight leaves the front looking as clean as a racebike. A bit of sparkling Soviet military technology makes up the single front brake disc, while the tiny, titanium dry clutch runs carbon/carbon composite plates. Will it ever be produced? Terblanche would like to think so, but he’s not sure whether “it’ll be 100 at a high price, or 2000 for less.” Meanwhile, a running version of the showbike is under construction.
The Kawasaki W650 is also recycled nostalgia, but of a bizarrely different sort. This Sixties Triumph lookalike actually harks back to Kawasaki’s own W1, one of the first largedisplacement Japanese bikes to make it to the States. The original was a close replica of English machines of its day, so this
new 675cc parallel-Twin is a nostalgic reflection of an imitation. Unlike the original, it has an overhead camshaft, driven by a towershaft-a that hasn’t been seen on a new motorcycle engine in
decades. But it’s probably not coming to the U.S.
Owing nothing to he past was the KTM Duke II, a supermotard-inspired street brawler that has enough attitude for any three conventional sportbikes. It now comes with KTM’s 640 engine (actually 625cc) but it’s still the narrow, light, tiny-yet-tall motocrosser-onroadrace-intermediates that just makes you want to practice your ability to leave curved black streaks on pavement. The new numberplate/fairing is smaller and sleeker than before, and stacks two tiny projector-beam headlights vertically. KTM previously had difficulty homologating the Duke for the U.S.which means meeting noise and emission regulations-but if demand slacks off enough in Europe that
they bring a few grab one in the electric lime/slate-gray combination.
Steve Anderson
