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The engine is a Vertimati project.
The frame was on Benelli, before they became aquired by the chinese.
This has been one of the best threads on here in a long time.
With the Benelli.... anyone ever ridden one?
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Has anyone mentioned Rev? It was a two stroke project out of Michigan about 25 years ago. They were claiming asemi-custom build from the factory, with suspension and ergo's setup for each rider. It was direct injection as well. Ican't find any info online , but I remember video of someone riding a prototype
Any one else notice the leaf spring suspension? look under the engine cradle
This is tickling my brain, I swear I saw something about it a while back. Maybe from @tblazier ?
My 2003 600 Vertemati. One of 2 left of the 4 i owned.
And an Aprilia MXV 450 i have been chasing for a while, that needs to be back to running condition.
"...i vaguely remember that it pulled the shock, not compressed it."
I'm glad my brain still understands a little bit of basic physics, because that's exactly what I thought when I saw that linkage. I wonder how the engineers thought that would work and not snap the spring at worst, or stretch it to holy hell at best, especially after it started to heat up.
@Robgvx given your background, I'm curious if that KX500 was the most exotic bike you had the chance to ride, and if not, what was?
Does the Aprilia count? That bike sounded soo mean, in an interview Coppins mentioned that the bike was waay too powerful, it was a rocket and he had trouble riding it.
Yup. That bike was never a real thing. Dubachs kid never tested one either, he would have been about 3-4 years old when that article came out. People are thinking the bbr yz150f is this “prototype” bike
I rode this once. It was pretty awesome. Whatever gear it was in, it seemed to have the same, smooth, linear thrust. Torquey, powerful, but very controlled.
Yamaha finally released the yz150f... but it weighs 304 pounds.... ouch
https://www.vitalmx.com/forums/moto-related/new-wr125r-304-pounds
Honorable mention?
Mark Hucklebridge won a British Championship race (and the overall on the day I think) on one of those. I remember reading that they were continuously cannibalising bikes to keep one good one running.
I only saw one a couple of times at local club days being ridden/tested by an enduro racer.
Pit Row
Was that Lyng in 2003? That seems to ring a bell. Maybe 2001.
Just noting that it was ‘98 here.
*Almost certain it was a 3-speed too.
Yes! Almost forgot about the Benelli and the Aprillia..
Not sure of the year but I'm pretty sure it was Culham
CCM CMX 450
In re the Aprilia MXV 450: The problem with the Aprilia wasn't the bike, it was the regulators. The AMA wiped the thing out shortly after it was introduced by banning twin engines from MX. It wasn't a bike that could have been, but was.
I ride one regularly and like it a lot, although it took quite a while to get the Mazorchi/Sachs suspension sorted out. The motor is electric and works especially well for old guys, or can be tuned to the moon for fast guys. The first thing I did, though, was to get rid of that fugly front fender/number plate combo. I mean, what were they thinking?! (Turns out, the fender off a '98 XR400 works perfectly). The side plates suck as well, and I got rid of those eventually once I could come up with some customized plating.
On the other hand, the bike has so many cool and innovative features that its hard to list them all. Some good, some not so. For example, the motor is in a very neat hanger, glued together, ladder-bar frame, but the trailing cylinder is stuffed so far in that, to adjust the valves, you need to pull the engine out. Ouch.
This one made it to production but I think only a few were made. TM blackdream
I knew Coppins winning time was done when he signed on to ride one of these 😂😂😂 crazy looking bike.
I'm going to need to see the Aprilia with the XR400 fender and custom side plates lol
I gotta see a pic of this thing as well. Sounds sweet!
Think the timeframe lines up, that Bradshaw may have ridden it?
Rob, you're one lucky guy.
👍
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