Hello from Milano

It’s the Bear here, enjoying the hospitality of Fiera Milan and checking out the latest machinery from Europe… and doing it all for you!

I won’t go through the startling statistics of the Milan show again; I’m sure you remember them from previous stories. Let it just be said that this is by far the biggest motorcycle show in the world, both in terms of space and attendance, and it provides a brilliant opportunity to see what the most creative minds in motorcycling are coming up with. Everyone’s here, even if everyone does not consider the show equally valuable.

The Japanese manufacturers still treat Milan as a regional show, managed by their Italian branches. They launched the bulk of their 2008 models at the earlier and smaller show in Paris. The Europeans, on the other hand, save their efforts for this show. BMW (except for the HP2 Sport, launched earlier) and KTM join Aprilia, Ducati, Moto Guzzi, Moto Morini, MV Agusta and minnows like CR&S and present their new models at the Milan show every year.

There was an odd sort of problem this year, though. Many of Europe’s motorcycle manufacturers seemed to be having trouble with their numbers…

We’ve become used to rounding up, where a 230 cc bike might be called a 250. But this was different. For many decades, BMW for instance has been quite strict in naming bikes according to their capacity, but this year they decided that the latest F650GS would have 800 cc. Tricky!

Ducati, meanwhile, gave the new Monster the engine from the 695 but calls it the 696, and introduced the new 1098R with a capacity of 1198 cc. Cagiva’s new Mito, on the other hand, features a prominent ‘525’ on the bodywork but is in fact only a 125, although it is a pretty hot two-stroke.

Ah well. Lots more stuff about Milan coming up in Road Rider!