Euro Gossip August 2005

Benelli Sold! As predicted in an earlier column, Benelli was forced to cease production while its parent company searched for a buyer. The company was restarted in the '90s by Andrea Merloni, whose father heads the massive electronics group by the same name. However, the elder Merloni became increasing tired of funding the motorcycle concern that seemed incapable of making a profit despite selling premium brand/price motorcycles.

Three separate companies were rumoured to be in the bidding for the venerable Italian brand, but it was the British sports car firm TVR that came out on top. Based in the coastal town of Blackpool, Lancashire, TVR is actually owned by a Russian, Nikolai Smolenski. He stepped in and bought the company when it floundered financially a few years ago, despite selling premium-priced sports/muscle cars.

TVR has been rumoured to be looking to produce their own branded sports bike and a naked streetbike, so the Benelli range fits the bill perfectly and saves them massive development and marketing costs. Due to Italian law making it difficult to take industry outside the country, it could be some years before the actual production moves to the UK. In the meantime, it is likely that Pesaro will re-start production and the rumoured Multistrada-type machine they were to be working on may soon see the light of day, thanks to Russian money!

New Duc Owners? Ducati could be under new ownership by the end of the year if the Italian newspaper Il Mondo is to be believed. It reported that TPG, the company's major shareholder, was in negotiation with Bonomi, an Italian industrial group, to sell their 33.15% stake in the bike company that they brought back from the dead. A British firm, BC Partners, who had a major stake in KTM, is also rumoured to be interested in taking over TPG's holding. If anybody does succeed, expect an announcement by the end of this year.

Meanwhile, Ducati designer Pierre Terblanche is rumoured to be working on a radical new front end that could see the end to conventional front forks as we now know them. Three different versions are apparently undergoing review! Despite being known primarily as a designer, the South African is also an engineer by trade.

Now that MV has the Malaysian car firm Proton underwriting them, there is no shortage of cash for development. Rumours therefore abound, and the latest one concerns a V-6 engined bike to go head to head with Ducati's Desmosedicci RR road going machine!

Cagiva, who are similarly owned, are having to look for a new engine to replace the Suzuki TL1000 motor used in its Raptor and Navigator. It is likely that this will be built in-house and may not be a V-Twin, which could strengthen the above rumour about the MV engine development!

Morini meanwhile, debuted a 1200cc V-Twin motor in its Cosaro last month that is capped at 9,500 rpm. Rumor has it that this will go to 13,000 rpm without too much problem and that should give it 190 (crankshaft) bhp, which may give a few Japanese Superbikes a run for their money!

'Twist and Go' scooters seem to get closer to mainstream motorcycles each year, especially as the engine capacities seem to keep rising in these small-wheeled machines. Gilera has been spied out and about testing with an 850cc V-Twin twist-and-go super scooter. Insiders reckon it produces 65-80 bhp, but if you think this rocks, wait until they unleash a 130-bhp 1000cc version which could well go public by the end of the year!

French manufacturer Voxan is on the up following its re-launch in 2002 when it was bought by Bordeaux based industrialist Didier Cazeaux. Founded in 1995, it fell into the hands of the receivers a year earlier thanks to problems with suppliers, despite having full order books. Now they use fewer suppliers and the whole operation is much smaller than before with just 32 employees hand-building the bikes. With a steady demand for the new models, it is hoped that the company will be breaking even by 2007.

However, despite rumours, it is unlikely they will bring back the Boxer VB1 Sport that attracted so much attention prior to the collapse. The 125-bhp sportbike with a distinctive four-light fairing would probably not sell well now the French sportsbike market has rapidly declined following the Government's blitz on speeding! However, with a few new models already on the way, things could be looking bright for the company, especially as the bikes entered at this years Isle of Man TT races put up credible performances.

French scooter firm Peugeot has plans to expand its range of supercharged scooters using the motor from the 125cc Jet Force Compressor. It is likely that it could be sold in restricted form to meet European driving licence regulations and then de-restricted after the bike test is passed!

British firm CCM, who have had something of a chequered career, is back under the control of the Clews family who started it back in 1970s following a buyout last year. They now state they will be back at the UK bike show in October with a model that can be used as a competition Supermoto, or as a road-legal machine. Two engine sizes are likely to be on offer, a 400cc or 650c, which somewhat suggests that Suzuki may once again be supplying the motive power as they have done in the past! Suspension will be WP front and rear, with Brembo brakes stopping things. Apparently the bikes will be ready for purchase in early 2006 priced around the 5,000 pound ($9,000) mark.

Spotted in the vicinity of Triumph's Hinckley factory was a prototype 'baby' Rocket III. Using two cylinders and with similar custom styling, insiders state this may well end up as a 1500cc machine to go head to head with Harley-Davidson in the lucrative cruiser market.

Staying with historic British names, AJS/Matchless (7R & G50) parts and complete machines will now be available from Fred Walmsley. Previously these were manufactured by George Beale, now famous for his Honda Six replicas. Walmsley, who prepared Barry Sheene's classic racers prior to his untimely death, has taken the business over and will offer race-ready bikes to 1962 specification!

Ariel, once a proud British firm that got absorbed by the BSA/Triumph conglomerate, is also back in the news as a rare model has been sourced and restored for the reconstructed National Motorcycle Museum in Birmingham. The 500cc parallel Twin KHA was only sold in 1953 and just 450 were made. The bike is interesting because it has an all-alloy engine, something rare in the '50s when most had iron barrels and heads. It also has a twin-carb head aimed at boosting its top speed beyond the 90 mph claimed for the standard machine. Ariel ceased production of four-strokes in 1959, although they continued with two-strokes for a further four years.

Diesel engines seem to continually be in the news, and the latest motorcycle powered by one is from German firm Neander, who have now produced a chopper powered by a 100-bhp twin-cylinder diesel of their own design. The 1400cc parallel-Twin has two con-rods, each being connected to a counter-rotating shaft to balance things out. Sitting on top of these are four-valve heads fed by a turbo to give things a boost to 100 bhp at 4,200 rpm, with a massive 162 lb-ft of torque at 2,600 rpm.

Phillip Hitzbleck, Neander's owner, plans to use this prototype engine as the basis for a whole range of machines, from a Single up to a Triple. Whilst the prototype looks a lot better than most diesel engines used in bikes, it remains to be seen if it will translate well outside the Euro custom cruiser market, which thrives on weird and wonderful designs.

Lastly for this edition, Malaysian firm Hyosung has just launched its cut-price cruiser called the Aquila. Using the firm's own 650cc V-Twin, it looks remarkably like a Harley V-Rod but will cost roughly a third of the V-Rod's price!


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