+ Click to Enlarge ELEGANT ALL-ROUNDER: The Cagiva Gran Canyon was styled by South African design genius Pierre Terblanche. The waisted fairing avoids the slab-sided look of most big trailies. Pictures: DAVE ABRAHAMS

January 15, 2002
By Dave Abrahams

When Cagiva’s Castiglione brothers set out to create their interpretation of the fashionable big trailie genre in the early 1990s they used the Ducati 750SS desmo twin motor because that was what they had.

The result was a huge enduro tool they called the Elefant and it was so successful they offered it with the 900 motor and showed them the way to go.

Its successor, the altogether more stylish Gran Canyon, with its elegant body panels styled by South African Pierre Terblanche, still looks like a supermotard but is clearly tarmac-orientated; its off-road capability may be limited but on the tar it’s a competent all-rounder.

Motive power is still provided by Ducati: the two-valve, air-cooled, L-twin motor has a pedigree going back to the middle 1970s when gifted designer Fabio Taglioni penned the 500cc Pantah. He’d abandoned bevel cam gears in favour of belt-driven camshafts, adding a rigid one-piece crankshaft and a spin-on oil filter (which came off the Simca Aronde!). This engine design was, and is, so sound that little has changed; some parts will still interchange.

The current edition has Weber-Marelli fuel injection rather than the traditional big Dell’Orto carburettors and it gives instant, crisp response at the expense of a sensitive throttle action at small openings. This is common to nearly all spritzer systems - and this one is better than most. Despite claims from the makers to the contrary, its 54kW is the same as the parent 900SS and 900 Monster street bikes. The Cagiva’s final gearing is a little shorter, though, to improve mid-range performance and the test bike topped out at 185km/h, with the rev-counter at a conservative 7500rpm.

The motor runs astonishingly smoothly for a big twin, amply demonstrating Taglioni’s assertion that a 90-degree L-twin has perfect primary balance; the only vibration is a high-frequency rocking couple caused by the cylinder offset. It will pull without juddering from anywhere above 2000rpm, gets really strong from four and stays that way until after eight.

The midrange is hugely torquey (72Nm at 5200rpm!) and short-shifting is the order of the day; there’s really no need to rev it past seven, even though the famous desmodromic valve system makes it impossible to bounce the valves.

Its major advantage is that it makes possible very abrupt cam profiles without smoothing curves - the big valves open and close like slamming doors, with corresponding improvements in gas flow of which the sequential timed injectors - one per cylinder - take full advantage.

I was expecting more mechanical clatter but the Gran Canyon runs very quietly without the full fairing of the SS to channel the motor’s noise up to the rider. The engine belies its dated pedigree and conservative (by today’s standards) specifications, driving the bike without fuss or temperament.

This motor shares with the 916 family the only multi-plate dry clutch in series production, but with different friction material. While the 996 SPS I tested in 1998 had a clutch which went on and off like a light switch, the Gran Canyon is blessed with a superbly progressive action. Its take-up is a little sudden, becoming distinctly grabby when hot, but always predictable and taking up at exactly the same point, hot or cold.

The six-speed all-indirect gearbox has the same ratios as the parent bike and has the same slick, crisp-as-breaking-glass action, although the longer gear lever engenders a noticeably longer throw. Nevertheless, within 10 minutes of picking up the test machine from suppliers Boland Bikes in Paarl, near Cape Town, I was making seamless upchanges without benefit of clutch. Since the bike had very low mileage on it I didn’t try downshifting without the left hand but conventional downchanges were light and positive, if a little vocal at low revs.

This user-friendly drivetrain is mounted in an unremarkable trellis frame made of square-section steel tubing with two big triangular plates to stiffen the head-stock area. The motor was designed to be a fully stressed chassis member and is used as such in this application, so there are no downtubes or cradle below the sump. The extruded aluminium swing-arm is pivoted in classic Ducati fashion on the back of the gearbox but the pivot shaft is extended to mount on the frame as well for extra rigidity, predating Honda’s much-hyped application of the same idea by six years.

The rear suspension has a rising-rate linkage and a single Boge shock absorber that is adjustable for rebound and spring preload while the 19-inch front wheel rides in 45mm conventional Marzocchi forks, admirably free of flexure and stiction - as well they should be given their impressive diameter - but devoid of adjustment.

Braking is provided by Japanese specialists Nissin and at first glance it’s uninspiring, with twin-piston floating callipers on 296mm discs, but looks in this case are deceiving. The Gran Canyon has some of the most powerful brakes yet fitted to a so-called dual-purpose bike, with next to no lever travel and instant response. Lever effort is a little high and there’s not much feel for what’s going on between rubber and road but, with a bit of practice, the Cagiva can be made to stop in distances that’ll raise eyebrows among even sport-bike riders. The rear brake also works better than I expected, given another low-tech floating calliper set-up, but needs to be used with discretion as it will lock up with only mild provocation.

The distinctively styled body panels have the signature of South African designer Pierre Terblanche all over them; there are no sharp edges or straight lines. Everything is organically curved and smooth. The fairing is neatly waisted along the line of the top of the fuel tanks (yes, Cyril, tanks) to separate the centre of the bike from the top hamper. Nothing sticks out - the indicators are mounted in neat circular cut-outs at the widest point of the centre module and the built-in rear carrier mirrors the line of the tail-piece, making it the only example I’ve seen that looks designed-in rather than added-on. Its leading edges are thickened and rounded so that it becomes a very practical and comfortable grab-handle for the passenger.

The big air box above the fuel injection throttle bodies would have made a conventional saddle tank unattractively hump-backed, as well as appreciably raising the centre of gravity when full, so Terblanche fitted twin 10-litre plastic tanks on either side of the frame, with their identical aircraft-style filler caps side by side in a separate centre panel. The tanks are Siamesed by a balance pipe across the frame under the tanks fuel is drawn evenly from both sides but it’s much easier to fill them individually - and so cool!

The only drawback to this arrangement is that the front of the saddle is a little wide and I found that it caught me on the inside of the thighs, which took a little getting used to. That aside, the seating position is superb, the saddle wide and deeply padded, with just the slightest step up to pillion country and plenty of room for both pilot and navigator to move around on long rides. The wide handlebars have very little rise but the steering head and upper triple clamp are relatively high so hand position is just above elbow height, about right for a big trailie, if a little upright for the speeds this one can reach.

The controls are chunky and positive in operation, the car-style fascia very neatly laid out with speedo, rev-counter and (hooray!) a clock with real live hands, plus the usual idiot lights, all wrapped up in a single faired-in pod that was really difficult to photograph because of the glare off the clear cover. Nevertheless, the flight deck earns top marks for neatness, fit and finish.

With its upright seating position and a saddle height of 825mm - high for a street bike if reasonable for a trailie - and the wide bars giving plenty of manoeuvrability, the Cagiva handles commuting in the heaviest of traffic with aplomb. The bike is stable right down to walking pace and you can see over most of the tin-tops and plan your moves two and three cars ahead.

On the open road the little screen protects well up to over 160 km/h, and the bike was rock-steady right up to its top speed, as well as immune to crosswinds. The supple suspension soaks up the bumps like a luxury bus and the total lack of vibration makes the bike a very relaxing companion. My only quibble is that the seating position is a little too sit-up-and-beg for all-day comfort, unless you’re into touring at relatively modest velocities - like around the legal limit.

It’s on the twisties that this motorcycle comes into its own; the Gran Canyon is a trailie that thinks it’s a sport bike. It can be flicked around like a much lighter bike because of the leverage afforded by the wide bars.

The forks are actually a little underdamped, which shows up as a slightly choppy ride in town and a distinct tendency to “pogo-stick” when pushed hard on bumpy corners. It never got out of hand and the bike held its line like it was on rails, but the front wheel could be made to feel unsettled, not as planted as an Italian front end should be. It must be said that the bike’s superb open road comfort is in no small degree due to its supple suspension, so I felt that this was an acceptable compromise.

Cagiva’s Gran Canyon is more of a street bike than its styling would suggest, although it’s as sure-footed on gravel roads as any other 193kg light tourer and better than some purpose-built mudpluggers. Nevertheless, it’s superbly competent on tar; it’ll commute, it’ll tour, it takes two in comfort and it’ll give you the kind of Sunday morning rides that make motorcycling worthwhile. Build quality, fit and finish will stand comparison with the best in the world and the design shows real insight into what a motorcycle actually does; it’s cohesive, smooth and very practical.

Thanks to Robbie Perold at Boland Bikes for lending us his own Gran Canyon - a new one costs R56 995.

SPECIFICATIONS

Motor: Air-cooled four-stroke 90-degree L-twin.
Capacity: 904cc.
Bore x stroke: 92 x 68mm.
Valvegear: SOHC with 2 desmodromic valves per cylinder.
Compression ratio: 9.2:1.
Power: 54kW @ 7500rpm.
Torque: 72Nm @ 5200rpm.
Induction: Weber-Marelli fuel injection.
Ignition: Electronic.
Starting: Electric.
Clutch: Hydraulically actuated dry multi-plate clutch.
Transmission: Six-speed gearbox with chain final drive.
Suspension: 45mm Marzocchi cartridge forks at front, Boge monoshock adjustable for preload and rebound damping at rear.
Brakes: Twin 296mm discs with Nissin twin-piston floating callipers at front, 240mm disc with Nissin twin-piston floating calliper at rear.
Tyres: Front: 110/90 - 17 tubeless. Rear: 150/70 - 17 tubeless.
Wheelbase: 1548mm.
Seat height: 825mm.
Dry weight: 193kg.
Fuel capacity: 20 litres.
Price: R56 995