2006 EICMA Show

Another notable trend was the proliferation of electric-powered scooters. To quote rock band REM, it's the end of the world as we know it, and many European city centers are frequently blocked to hydrocarbon-powered traffic. Not so if you're on your fuel cell, GPL or what-have-you clean-power two wheeler. To take advantage of what must be a growing market, the American-based Vectrix company showed an impressive and fully sorted-out solution. See below.

The Chinese motorcycle industry is the big dormant giant. The guys already produce most of our consumer products, so why not bikes? Why not indeed, and the more progressive makers like Keeway are starting to show some muscle as well as shrewd strategy by utilizing Western design consultancies.

EICMA was also a sort of Italy vs. Japan showdown. The Big Four smartly chose Germany's INTERMOT show in September to unveil their new wares, while Italians remained loyal to Milan's EICMA. I can't complain, as having Japan's new products already covered by Bob Stokstad's report made my life easier and my socks less stinky.

But I don't think that anybody expected Italy -- and especially the Piaggio group -- to put on such a show. Things are a-changing in Pizza Land and Piaggio is by now the world's third biggest player. Aprilia, Gilera and Moto-Guzzi are all Piaggio sub-brands and they all had plenty big news.

Piaggio's swift push highlighted the not-so-merry state of Cagiva Group (encompassing MV Agusta, Cagiva and Husqvarna), and to a certain extent Ducati as well.

There are new players that are gathering momentum like Benelli and Morini, not to mention the host of other small specialist builders. It's hard not to take your hat off in front of the only western country that is able to give Japan, inc. a real run for their money. At the EICMA show, Italy looked better than ever.

Aprilia

With 600-750cc nakeds being the biggest-selling class in Europe, youth-oriented Aprilia just couldn't afford to not hop on the bandwagon, and the 90-degree, V-twin-powered sport naked looks finger-licking good. It's definitely a match for the 599, Z750, GSR-600 and FZ-6 market leaders.

A step down in sportiness but much more innovative was the 850 Mana. Anticipating Honda's launch of an automatic bike next year, Aprilia has built a comfy super-commuter around the new automatic variator-geared Piaggio V-Twin 850 mill. Other fine touches include a "gas tank" that serves as a trunk; it's big enough to swallow a full-face h

Last but not least, the rumored Superbike V4 engine was shown too and if it'll really produce 210hp as claimed, then me thinks that we can start using the term "Hyperbike" from now on. Superbike just sounds too tame. Remember where you heard it first, OK? I just hope MO's Dynojet dyno will be up to the job.

Benelli

Even more surprising was Benelli's entry into the 450cc four-stroke MX class with its 449. Rumors hold it's partially based on an old Vertemati design, a tiny company that introduced new-age four strokes back in the late 90s-early 2000s and then folded. Nice, but I think it looks a bit too swoopy to be a serious supercross tool.

Oh, just in case you didn't notice, the original 900cc Tornado, with an engine capacity that was fixed to comply with old World Superbike rules got bumped up to 1130cc, just like the TNT.

Beta

The old model needed a serious update for quite a while now and it certainly got it. The Tesi 3D is practically a new bike. Dual swingarms made of steel tubing replace the extruded-aluminum ones of the old model while the design is quite extreme. I've got to try one of these. All of the models are powered by Ducati's two-valve air-cooled mills, rendering them quite expensive 95 hp toys at $35,000 and upwards. The price of exclusivity, you know.

Brako

The center stage belonged to the new superbike, the 1098. Just when you thought that twins hit the end of the road, bam! Basically, it's the same old formula, just pushed to the extremes. Bigger diameter and thinner tubing for the frame, huge 104 mm pistons, a close to 12,000 rpm redline for those 550cc jugs, 380 lbs, and that's not the end of it, as Ducati is pushing for 1200cc displacement limits for World Superbike in 2008. Out are the polarizing and angular looks of the 999, in are the soft and oh-so Italian feline lines of the EICMA's beauty queen. The Desmosedici, by comparison, looks kind of tame with its ultra-aerodynamic MotoGP clothes.

Other points of interest? The final version of the Hypermotard lost nothing of its aggressiveness on the way to the production line while the successful Sport Classic series got classy new color schemes.

Fantic

Gilera

The MP3 previously reviewed by MO gets a sportier brother in the shape of the Fuoco 500. This is an aggressive, leaning three wheeler with a full 500cc, 40hp power unit.

Moto Guzzi

After years of successful sales of the good old California, there's at last a fresh, new and up-to-date cruiser. The 940 matches the new-age engine/gearbox/single sided schwinger plot to custom looks. It's quite a surprise.

Highland

No leggy chicks on Nicky's past and future bikes though, just plain mechano-porn. The 69 machine is the 2006 990cc RC-211V world championship bike while the 2007 RC-212 800cc bike is wearing the number 1 for next season. Honda engineers did a fair bit of miniaturization to the new engine; just look at the length of the new model's swingarm and the distance of the footpeg to the swingarm pivot compared to the old model. Another trend is shrinking the bike's clothing to the minimum in order to improve fast direction changes. Check out the size of that tailpiece! Beautiful it is not.

MV-Cagiva-Husqvarna

A bit more cheerful was the 500cc Mito in bright white. Essentially a groovy 125 Mito with a Husky 500 four-stroke single stuffed into it. People have been doing exactly that in European Supermono racing for years and Cagiva saw the light Gabe says he'd rather ride the bike than the girl. Is that how he got out of the Army? now. It should be a fun tool if it gets into production, though nobody seems to care much about sporty street singles these days.

The old master Massimo Tamburini hasn't been really active lately. After all, his last creations -- the F4 and Brutale -- are a few years old by now. He tried his hand at something more accessible with the blue Husky supermoto prototype(picture is at the start of the article), but I'm not sure the result got blessed with his magic.

Hyosung

Morini

Scorpa

Another specialist trials bike manufacturer that's switching over to four-strokes, in this case with de-tuned Yamaha WR250F power units. The southern France-based maker had another two niceties on show. One was a Yamaha 660 single-powered street bike, designed by the noted French design office Boxer. If the name sounds familiar it's because they've created the beautiful "Blue Marlin" prototype for Aprilia a few years back.

Suzuki

Terra Modena

Turns out that only Supermoto supremo, British journalist Alan Cathcart, got to swing a leg over the thing. "We were honored that Sir Alan wanted to take it for a test". You get the idea; it's not a Supermoto for the plebes.

Vectrix

The New Bedford, MA-based company put a huge PR effort to push the scoot, including a test course where everybody could have a go on the thing. The verdict? Impressive and by twisting the throttle backwards you can turn the braking energy back into the system, saving loads of electric energy from the batteries. The whole system needs some heavy explaining, so for more info turn to http://www.vectrix.com/.

Vyrus