Zongshen to make Apriliapowered 900 cc twin By Ben Purvis
Zongshen has worked with Piaggio for well over a decade , having established the Piaggio Zongshen Foshan Motorcycle Co , Ltd . back in 2004 . Later this year , the Chinese company is expected to launch its largest-capacity bike yet in the form of a 900 cc V-twin , using an engine designed by Piaggio ’ s Aprilia subsidiary . That engine will almost certainly be the same design that powered Aprilia ’ s Shiver and Dorsoduro , and the announcement suggests that the
Zongshen Cyclone RA9 concept bike shown last year might well become a production machine . The RA9 , shown at the CIMA event in China in late 2021 , was effectively a rebodied version of the Aprilia Shiver 900 , sharing the same V-twin engine and an identical part-steel , part-alloy chassis . It differed from the Aprilia it was based on by using a single-sided swingarm and completely new styling that included a distinctive , oversized exhaust pipe under a foreshortened single seat tail .
A production RA9 would probably be a later step in the process , since the initial result of the 900 cc V-twin announcement is expected to be an Aprilia-branded model for the Chinese market . That may well turn out to simply be the Shiver or Dorsoduro , reworked to suit Chinese customers , but otherwise largely unchanged . At the moment , the Piaggio Zongshen venture makes several Aprilia models , up to and including a 250 cc sports bike based on the RS125 we get in Europe .
BRP - jobs offered on Côte d ' Azur
Valcourt , Quebec based BRP ( Bombardier Recreational Products ) says it " has a longstanding history of putting design and innovation at the core of its strategies ". Having opened the Laurent Beaudoin Design & Innovation Centre at its Canadian HQ , the company has now announced a second such centre with the implementation of a design |
studio in Sophia Antipolis in the South of France . " The new studio will officially open its doors in December 2022 , marking another important step towards developing and leveraging its design expertise worldwide . In this new studio , design professionals will further |
make use of BRP ’ s diverse know-how and focus on conducting advanced concept studies in the world of sustainable mobility amongst other things . " Due to geographical proximity and understanding of market dynamics , the facility is also uniquely positioned to provide additional design services to |
internal partners based in Europe and Scandinavia such as Rotax ( Gunskirchen , Austria ) and Lynx Snowmobiles ( Rovanniemi , Finland )". The European design studio team will be headed up by a dedicated design manager and comprised of several product , transportation and CAD designers . www . brp . com |
Brabus / KTM collaboration gone in 115 seconds
The BRABUS 1300 R , the first motorcycle in a new official collaboration between KTM and |
German " luxury mobility experts " Brabus , is an exclusive 154 model limited edition " luxury naked bike "… and if you wanted one ? Bad luck . They ' re gone . Done . Over . Sold from the KTM website in 1 minute and 55 seconds apparently ! Known for aggressive pricing and exclusivity , the 1300 R was the first ever Brabus branded motorcycle and is said to represent just the start of an official partnership between the Gelsenkirchen based Mercedes tuner and customiser and KTM - the goal |
being to create " unique and fresh modern luxury motorcycles clearly differentiated from the standard KTM product portfolio ". Described as a " fascinating new addition to the Brabus portfolio of bespoke , high-performance luxury mobility products that fuses the Brabus -typical ' Black and Bold ' design language with the highly sophisticated platform of the KTM 1290 Super Duke R EVO ", the 1,301 cc V-twin platform is said to deliver " high levels of rideability thanks to WP semi-active |
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suspension technology and riderenhancing electronics ". Built with " exclusive high-end elegance ", bespoke carbon fibre elements and a " host of signature Brabus features " including lightweight Brabus monoblock Z forged wheels developed specifically for this model . It was available in a choice of two exclusive colourways - Magma Red and Signature Black - with both variants limited to just 77 units . www . brabus . com |
Ducati Unica programme By Ben Purvis
For years , top-end car copmanies like Ferrari and Rolls Royce have offered to tailormake vehicles to suit the precise requirements of their wealthiest and most demanding customers . Now Ducati has added a similar ability in the form of the Ducati Unica programme . Operated by Ducati Centro Stile , the companys ' s design department , Ducati Unica allows customers to interact directly with designers who will interpret their desires and create one-off machines to suit their precise demands . Customers joining the scheme will be invited into Ducati Centro Stile to speak directly to designers and establish their request , with follow-up visits to see the progress of their bikes during the building and customisation process .
Ducati has shown three custom models to illustrate the capabilities of the service . There ' s a Superleggera V4 - already a limited-edition machine at the very top of Ducati ' s range , Unica ' s Streetfighter V4 ' Uno di Uno ' and a Scrambler Unica . The involvement of Ducati ' s own designers is intended to ensure that the one-off customs from the Unica programme are still genuine Ducatis . The company says it will only consider custom requests " considered to be in line with the values of the brand ". Each bike also comes with a certificate to show its origin .
24 INTERNATIONAL DEALER NEWS - FEBRUARY / MARCH 2022 www . idnmag . com