Not a lot has been happening in my life motorcycle-wise: I've been working with a 'special' bunch of people who have been taking up a lot of my time recently. Plus, when I did have the time to ride one of my bikes, it didn't run properly...
Anyway, I really wanted to get something new for the blog and seeing the reports coming out of Milan, I booked a very late trip to EICMA. I've been before, but to the cycle show, not to the motorcycle show.
The show is held in the Milan Fiera. The venue is massive and the show takes up several halls. It's so big, you can't possibly see it all in one day. But I didn't want to take it all in, so one day is what I gave it! Apart from having a good time, I had four objectives:
- to see the Pierobon Panigale frame and meet Max Pierobon
- to see the 1200 Monster
- to meet Franco Bursi again and discuss some missing parts for the Breil project
- to see my buddy Max get a prize for 4th place in the !!!!!!!!!
In the end, I covered all the objectives and a few more besides!
You can see the major models in the motorcycle press and in your local showrooms, so I wanted to bring you a more general view of the show that you can't see unless you're there. The show brings together manufacturers of bikes and components from all over the world. They bring their best projects to the show. Some are still in prototype form, others are fully functional and stunning.
While we're on the subject, the retro theme seemed to be particularly strong. Apart from the choppers (which we'll miss for obvious reasons), many exhibitors were aiming at the retro market. From BMW, with this incredible looking machine in retro '80s colours:
to this stand full of, well, just cool!  |  |
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More of cool stuff later. On to what's really interesting:
Pierobon
The Panigale frame
This new frame has been developed by Pierobon to address the perceived issues reported by some of the riders of the Panigale. While the bike has been very successful in Superstock racing, it has not been as successful in other competitions.
I have no views on Panigale headstock and I have listened to different stories from race teams and trackday riders - some teams don't have issues with setup, some riders do, or don't. Maybe it's a Marmite front end. Whatever. This new frame replaces the front airbox/headstock and extends down to the swing arm mount. This spreads load through the bike more evenly than the standard headstock and mounts the seat more securely.
The frame is at advanced prototype stage, with three candidate frames produced with different diameters and tube thicknesses to provide optimum feedback at advanced lean angles.
Perobon has crafted this air box to replace the standard unit. It allows more air into the motor, so it's likely that power may be improved.
The rear frame portions are cast alloy and join the seat unit to the tubular front subframe. The front and rear frame bolt together. Normally, you would think this would introduce flex or weakness into the frame, but in this case, the motor retains its role as a stressed member, so there should be no more flex introduced.
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Here, you can see that the headstock is cut away to provide more space for airflow through the new headstock, which extends out to the forks.
X60R
The X60R is not new for 2014, but it is still provides the platform for the ultimate air-cooled bike.
Depending on the build, these bikes can produce around 135bhp at the wheel and can get down to 110kg.
1098/1198/848
When the 99 was retired from racing, new rules prevented teams from running custom frames in WSB. The 1098R frame becomes the base for Ducatis WSB effort, but customers still required the ultimate frame for their race bikes.
This frame is built from 7075 aluminium alloy tubing. It is significantly lighter than the stock steel frame and uses machined joints with extended spigots over which the tube is welded. This produces an extremely strong joint, improving overall rigidity.
We had the opportunity to talk to Max Pierobon for a few minutes. His experience and knowledge of what makes a good motorcycle frame and of engineering in general brings to mind the old-school, artisan engineers like Colnago, and Enzo Ferrari, who could work with their hands as well as the most modern design tools and principles. He is also a really good guy!
Bimota
It's very good that Bimota has been rescued by motorcycle enthusiasts. Also good news is that they're still producing serious bike porn. This stand was not big, but it was packed. Very difficult to get close to any of the bikes.This is the DB8 OroNero - black gold. It's very difficult to photograph a black bike, but it is just amazing. By far the nicest road bike I've seen.
| OK, the front is maybe a little reminiscent of this guy. But, hey, even the Italians get it wrong sometimes. And to be fair, I think the lens adds a little distortion too. |  |
There's no plastic on the bike that I could see. Just carbon. Most of the metal is CNC machined, not cast.
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The Bimota model designation joins the motor manufacturers name to Bimota, so the DB8 is Ducati Bimota 8. The BB3 however is BMW Bimota. This takes the S1000r motor and adds some real class.
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I believe that Bimota will run a one make series with this bike for 2014. It may feature tyre temperature sensors and should be very impressive.
MV Agusta
This stand was right next to the entrance and was packed. Even my enormous son couldn't push people out of the way for photos!
This is MV's new tourer. Very high quality, looks are subjective maybe, but for me, tourers get dirty and you don't want to be cleaning all that exposed stuff there.
For the rest, there was the usual MV style and sophistication...
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...and then some really strange s**t... The kid is cool, not so much the 'paint'.
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Ducati
Man, the stand was huge, but again absolutely packed. Saturday really isn't the best day to go to EICMA if you want photos.
We couldn't get near the 1199 Superleggera, but you've seen the pictures anyway.
There was a good mix of road bikes for customers to sit on and a good number of race bikes to look at. This underlines Ducatis view that race bikes on Sunday sell road bikes on Monday.
The new 1200 Monster was very popular. Easy to see why. For me, I have an S4Rs and that's good for me! Speaking of which, I was talking to Bursi who is as mad as a box of frogs (please don't tell him I said that!). He told us that he once took an S4Rs and put a 1098RS motor in it for fun. Conservatively 185bhp at the wheel...
The swing arm is beautifully finished.
Bikes from three race divisions: motoGP, Italian Superstock and WSB.
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Finally for the Ducati stand, this picture illustrates the balance between the serious manufacturing and marketing of the Ducati brand and the approachable atmosphere of the Ducati 'family':
I'm going to add another post - this one is too long already.
Thanks for reading!
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