Gilera Raptor
Gilera Raptor
ITALY 2003
Another day, another name
MAYBE IT'S THE CURSE OF LAKE VARESE, BUT THE storied motorcycle factory on the north shore in the tiny village of Schiranna has had almost as many names over its entrance as Texas has had flags.
Forced in the wake of WWII to quit building the “air machines” that gave the company its original name, Aermacchi turned to building lightweight motorcycles, and in 1961 was tapped by Harley-Davidson to combat increased competition from the Japanese. The Motor Company eventually acquired a controlling interest, but when sales didn’t meet expectations, sold Aermacchi in 1978 to the Castiglioni Brothers, who renamed it Cagiva in honor of their father, Castiglioni, Giovanni di Varese.
Cagiva went from strength to strength, acquiring the Ducati, Husqvama and Moto Morini brands, until an overambitious racing program brought the company to the brink of bankruptcy. Older brother Gianfranco left to run the family fastener business, while younger brother Claudio sold off Ducati and acquired rights to the MV Agusta name, eventually producing the exquisite F4S 750.
Things looked good.. .for a while. Recently, however, visitors reported seeing the all-too-familiar sight of half-finished motorcycles awaiting delivery of parts from vendors who were presumably awaiting delivery of funds.
That’s when Piaggio, parent company of Vespa motorscooters, entered the picture. Details of the buyout were initially sketchy, but have now become clearer: Castiglioni will retain the Cagiva name, the MV Agusta product line and the original Aermacchi factory, while Piaggio will take possession of the two newer factories south of the lake. There, it will produce Husqvarna dirtbikes and Cagiva streetbikes, the latter to be re-badged as Güeras, that oncefamous brand having been acquired by Piaggio in 1969. First product will be a new version of the Cagiva Raptor naked bike, with an in-house engine replacing the current Suzuki TL1000 unit.
On two consecutive days following the CW Euro-Tour (see page 68), I had a unique opportunity to compare the Suzuki and Gilerapowered Raptors. First up was the Cagiva Xtra Raptor, the ultimate, carbon-clad expression of the bike that debuted at the 1999 Milan Show. Designed by Miguel Angel Galuzzi, who also penned the Ducati Monster, the Raptor never made it stateside due to Suzuki’s demand that it not be sold here.
Which is too bad, because it would have given even the 916powered Monster S4 a run for its money.
The TL-derived engine feels more at home in this chassis than it does in any of Suzuki ’s products, VStrom included.
Snappy off the bottom, yet with stomping topend, the 996cc, dohc,
90-degree V-Twin perfectly complements the Raptor’s hooligan nature. With a claimed 100 rearwheel horsepower and 65 foot-pounds of torque, wheelies aren’t a question of if, but how far.
The Raptor handles well, too. I took it for a 100-mile spin along the shore of Lake Maggiore to the Swiss border, and it felt right at home-of course, it should, since much of the development was done over these very roads! The seating position is comfortable with just the right forward cant, and the bars are at a much more natural angle than the elbows-out posture of the S4.
Aside from more upright handlebars, the prototype Güera Raptor I rode the next morning at Piaggio’s R&D facility in Velate felt much the same-surprisingly including the new engine.
That 859cc sohc VTwin was made by grafting the cylinder and head (two of them, actually) off of the Piaggio X9 maxiscooter onto an all-new crankcase, using clutch and gearbox parts from a stillborn 75-degree VTwin developed in 1992.
At the moment, the clutch is the weak point, with excessive slop producing a woeful amount of mechanical noise. But the engineers with whom I spoke explained that they are developing a slipper clutch that should alleviate the problem.
Otherwise, the Güera engine is ready for primetime. I headed out in the company of a factory test rider aboard an X9 scooter, whose instructions apparently were to take me to every long straightaway in the vicinity and wave me past so that I could appreciate the engine’s performance.
Which I did: Despite the fact that the V-Twin makes “just” 85 bhp and 59 ft.-lbs. of torque at this early stage of development, it feels far closer to a TL1000 than, say, an SV650. And what the Güera gives away on top, it makes up down low: You can lug it down to a near-standstill in first or second gear, then whack open the throttle and it just motors away, without any of the coughing or chugging common to other big Twins.
When I mentioned this to Director of Operations Roberto Restelli, he smiled and explained they had worked very hard on this characteristic. “We want to build a Japanese-style engine, not a Ducati 996,” he said. “It will be used for a whole family of bikes, such as the Raptor and the Navigator adventure-tourer, plus a new touring bike.” A sportier full-liter dohc VTwin is also said to be under development.
When the Güera Raptor will go on sale in Italy, let alone America, is at the moment unclear. What is clear, is that there’s another player in the European motorcycle market. Welcome back, Güera.
-Brian Catterson
