Little Bikes, Big-Time Performance
Little bikes, big-time performance
ROUNDUP
THE BEST-SELLING BIKE IN ITALY this year? Easy. It's the Cagiva Mito, a Ferrari-red sportbike with dual headlamps, a twin-spar alloy frame, fat, 17-inch radial tires, and styling that'll knock your eyes out. Mito is the Italian word for "legend," and it's the name that appears in huge letters on Cagiva GP star Eddie Lawson's leathers.
What may surprise, however, is the size of the Mito’s engine: just l 25cc, or 7.5 cubic inches. Most Americans would consider that just about right for a bottle of shampoo. But in parts of Europe—and especially in Italy—the l 25 class is the most hotly disputed streetbike class of ail.
Driven by legislation that restricts beginning riders to smaller—and
theoretically slower— bikes, many European manufacturers, and the Japanese importers, too, offer not just one, but several, small-bore screamers designed to
meet the letter of the law while perhaps sidestepping its spirit. Varieties include sportbikes, customs and semi-knobbyequipped “explorer”
models. These different types all have two things in common: Each is powered by a l 25cc Single, and all are more exciting than you'd believe possible.
Take, for instance, the Mito and its main sportbike rivals, the Aprilia AFl Futura, the Gilera Crono, the l londa NSR 125—built in Honda’s plant near Rome—and the Yamaha TZR l 25. Each weighs barely 250 pounds, and all will accelerate fiercely to more than 100 mph, provided you keep their 30-horsepower two-stroke engines running near their 12,000-rpm redlines.
To help the rider along, the Mito is equipped with a seven-speed transmission. The Futura and Crono have just six. but gain points for having upside-down forks. Exhaust powervalves, four-piston brake calipers, GP-style banana swingarms, and 4-inch-wide rear radiais complete the packages.
Don’t like sportbikes, you say? No problem. Several of the above models can be had sans fairing, and Aprilia makes a neat naked I 25 called the Europa. Alternatively, there’s Gilera’s stunning CX (see Cycle World, May, 1991), powered by a slightly modified Crono motor and wearing a single-sided fork. Perhaps you’d prefer Yamaha's TDM 125 Lightburner or Cagiva's Supercity—both Superbiker-style machines with trail-bike riding positions, sticky road tires and flashy color schemes.
Naturally, all this performance and style comes at a price. Given their specifications, it is not surprising that the top models sell for about six million lira —more than $4000.
Sadlv, the days of these minirockets may be numbered. Many European countries have tighter laws for beginning riders than Italy. And as the Continent becomes increasingly united, its laws harmonized and tightened by an army of hand-wringing Eurocrats, it is likely that the l 25 superbikes will be legislated out of existence. What a shame. —Roland Brown
