News – Bologna Motor Show 2004 –

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Bologna Motor Show 2004

News - Bologna Motor Show 2004 -

More than an exhibition, the Bologna Motor Show is a great popular festival in the glory of motorized vehicles with 2 or 4 wheels. With this year the rebirth of Moto Morini !

Last show of the year, the 29th Bologna Motor Show was held from December 4 to 12. Bringing together cars and motorcycles in a single event, it is often considered a regional show. The exhibitors shun it a bit and reserve their novelties for Paris and Munich, when they are not completely deadlocked like Yamaha and Suzuki this year.

Yet it is a great popular festival which, with 1.2 million visitors in 2003 and probably more this year, follows the Paris Motor Show and its 1.4 million visitors! It is therefore a privileged showcase for motorcycle manufacturers in the heart of the largest European market for motorized two-wheelers. But the visitors come perhaps more to attend the multiple animations, races and parades of champions than to crowd in front of the stands of the manufacturers … With ten test tracks, supermoto races, freestylers and stunters, it is the show every day. It doesn’t take more to attract Italians who are passionate about all mechanical sports. There, no sectarianism between 2 and 4 wheels !

And on the exhibitor side, what’s new? In the absence of any real novelty among local manufacturers, the Italians were delighted with the rebirth of one of their brands, Moto Morini. Without minimizing the importance of the event, however, it was BMW that presented the only real world premiere with its R 1200RT.

Bmw

The new BMW R1200 RT derives closely from the R 1200 GS (read), both in engine and part cycle.

But under a dress of a style in clear departure from the 1150 RT, it heals its GT character over the long term. A lot of ink will flow into its look, although RT regulars will probably feel at home once they get on the handlebars..

BMW also presented some pictures of the future sport-GT R 1200 RS which should be 30 kg lighter than the RT. But if you’re already struggling with the RT styling, the RS may give you hives. !

With its protruding stealthfighter-style headlight and bulbous profile, it really looks like it came from elsewhere. Rest assured, RS are generally sold mainly in Germany !

Honda

The world No. 1, declining in France, is almost at home in Italy. The Italians do not hold a grudge and despite the infidelities made to Valentino Rossi, Honda is still the market leader in scooters and large-displacement motorcycles. It is also an important local manufacturer who should therefore not miss this meeting. In the land of the scooter, Honda presented two new, rather high-end machines:

Honda SH 125i and SH 150i
A large wheel scooter (a category that is all the rage in Italy, unlike France) which replaces the SH125, the best selling 2 wheeler in Italy. In addition to the usual aesthetic changes, this scooter adopts a new 125 single-cylinder engine, 4 valves, liquid cooling with electronic injection and 3-way catalyst regulated by lambda probe.

It already meets the Euro3 emission standards which will come into force at the end of 2006. Honda is in the process of modernizing all its 50 and 125 cc engines by equipping them with electronic injection in anticipation of 2006. This is already the case with Pantheon and the little Zoomer.

Honda Forza 250
The category of large scooters is also booming in Italy and Honda is strengthening its range from above with this luxurious scooter. In fact, it’s an evolution of Jazz, which simply adopts the same name as in the Japanese market. In addition to the equipment worthy of a car, we will particularly remember the engine which also adopts electronic injection and the variator which offers a continuous mode and a sequential mode with 6 speeds like the Suzuki Burgman 650. And a first in the world of motorized two-wheelers: keyless locking and starting like the Renault Laguna or Megane! The diehards chuckle, but for once this is gear well suited to the needs of the rider, which many of us have been waiting for a long time! Who didn’t find themselves bundled up in their rain suit with the ignition key left in their pants? Who has not railed to open the seat lock to retrieve his rain suit ?

With this system, when approaching the key card, the seat and fuel tank locks unlock while the immobilizer authorizes the engine to be started. It is symptomatic of the market that such equipment appears first on a scooter and not on a GT like the R 1200RT…

Honda CBF 600
Sales of this mid-range motorcycle are slow to take off. It must be said that despite undeniable qualities, she cannot count on a very advantageous physique. Apparently Honda has realized this and is coming up with some new two-tone decals that look great for the CBF 600N roadster. The tank is almost reminiscent of the CB450 Blackbomber (with a little imagination).

Honda CB 600F Hornet
Another best seller in Italy which has met with only modest success in France. The voices of marketing are sometimes impenetrable … For 2005, Honda gives a facelift to its successful model, which will need it to resist the Kawasaki Z750 and Yamaha FZ6! Nothing new on the engine apart from injecting air into the exhaust and a bigger pot to pass Euro2 standards. The fuel is always supplied by carburetors.

Big change on the other hand on the cycle part, with an inverted fork of 41 mm anodized gold. Although not adjustable, Honda ensures that it is directly derived from that of the CBR 600RR, which does not eat bread. In any case, the visual effect is successful. With the new dashboard and the small asymmetrical tank-colored windscreen, it has a look of its own.

The new instrument panel also resembles that of the CBR 600RR with an analog tachometer and a digital speedometer on the left. It finally receives fuel gauge, water temperature, double trip and time. With warnings, a new saddle covering and new colors including a pretty cool metallic orange, we are far from the roadster of bad boys !

Honda XL 650V Transalp
True phenomenon in Italy where it still appears in the top 10 sales, the Transalp is announced by Honda as a new model while it is only a cosmetic refresh, with the program a tinted windshield, indicators transparent, a redesigned dashboard, a saddle lowered by 30 mm, black rims, tapered tailpipes, handlebars held by Allen screws instead of hexagonal, a new "Transalp" emblem with 3D effect , please ! and new colors … Despite a complete press kit on the subject, we are far from the new model announced !

Derbi

Mulhacen 659 Cafe
The Spanish brand, owned by the Piaggio group, is continuing its large-displacement motorcycle project. After the nice prototype presented in Munich (photo), a minimalist Scrambler-style trail, here is a new variant oriented asphalt. It’s still a single-cylinder Yamaha 660-powered trail running this time with a small front wheel and big brakes. The line is still as fluid and elegant with a superb bottom saddle surrounded by two exhaust pipes whose chrome lines run along the tank and the saddle, like some English twin scramblers of the 60s and 70s.

The aesthetics are original but one can wonder about the functionality of the project. Derbi is testing the reactions of the public to choose the final style of the production bike, of course promising to respect the spirit of the concept. See you in 2006 for the official launch.

Morini Motorcycle

Great Italian novelty in Bologna: the rebirth of the prestigious Morini brand. Famous in the 60s and 70s for its mid-size twins and its performance in Grand Prix, it was bought in the 80s by Cagiva before disappearing in 1987. The story of this return, which still remains to be confirmed in the coming months, is typically Italian. First of all, it is a family affair: Maurizio Morini, president of Franco Morini (an engine manufacturer) and parent of Moto Morini founder Alphonso Morini, dreamed of reviving the brand. He still had to find a wealthy businessman with enough motorcycle skills to invest his money in such an adventure. And it can still be found on this side of the Alps in the person of Giani Berti, a Bolognese who made his fortune in household appliances.

Their meeting took place in 2003. It then remains to design and industrialize a motorcycle, which in Italy takes less than 2 years! The network of specialized subcontractors is so dense that it is almost possible to create a motorcycle with a phone and a laptop … The Morini-Berti duo called on the Marabese Design studio for the design (Gilera Norwest, Guzzi Breva 750 …) and Franco Lambertini, an engine engineer who was working on a V-twin initially intended for Gilera. Rather than creating one more exclusive super sports car, they preferred to respect Morini’s tradition: motorcycles intended for the road and with V-Twin engines. The first prototypes rolled in October 2004 … just in time to present them at the Show !

It is therefore a V-Twin roadster with a multitubular trellis frame, very similar in spirit and design to a Ducati Monster or a Cagiva Raptor, which, it must be admitted, is not of an overwhelming originality !

The bike is available in two versions: the 9 ½ (a 1000 of 105 horses named in reference to the famous 3 ½ of 1973) and the Corsaro (a 1200 which wants to be much meaner with its 140 horses).

The engine is an 87 ° V-twin with 4 valves per cylinder and injection. It is characterized by a very short stroke, shorter than a Ducati 999, which should certainly favor high revs but raises concerns about a hollow engine at the bottom, which would be inconvenient for a roadster. Let’s trust Engineer Lambertini and wait for a trial run to judge. The chassis focuses more on the quality of construction than on sophistication: the rear shock absorber directly attacks the swingarm on the right side, a bit like the BMW R80GS of the 80s. And the fork is inverted, as it should on an Italian.

The style of the bike, without being wildly original (not easy to forget the Ducati Mostro) is successful. In particular the conical mufflers around the saddle somewhat in the style of the Yamaha MT-01.

Development trials started with Pier Francesco Chili, the SuperBike veteran. It is announced that the first production motorcycles will be marketed in mid-2005, which seems very early on, but in Italy nothing is impossible … Hopefully this great adventure is successful and that these motorcycles arrive in France !

Benoît LACOSTE

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