I was recently invited by Vespa South Africa to take part in the Malossi year end event which is held in Italy. The class I would be competing in would be the ScooterMatic Extreme class and for the event it’s called the World Malossi Day Cup. As the event makes use of 70cc 2-stroke scooters, I thought to myself that it couldn’t possibly be that hard but I was wrong. Colin Edwards once said that when the word ‘world’ is thrown into the mix, you can be assured the level of competition is going to be ridiculously high and, unfortunately for me, he was right!

On arrival I was introduced to my two short Italian mechanics, one named Mannino Maurizio and the other Maggio Sebastiano. Maurizio was never without a cigarette in his mouth, even while syphoning petrol and he is a proper Italian, not speaking a word of English. He is also a 2-stroke fanatic, always fiddling and always smoking. Sebastiano spoke even less English, he did not even attempt it and has the most mild mannered nature. He fiddles when Maurizio fiddles and that's all the time. Both of them are beautiful people and we had a good time chatting and laughing, a lot of the time not understanding one word. I don’t think they even caught one of my jokes. I was then introduced to my teammate from Korea, a happy fellow who goes by the English name of Lee. By the end of the weekend he was smiling and hugging me a lot which had me worried but he was most definitely not that way inclined as I saw him react to some of the sassily dressed Italian ladies that passed our pit. I think he likes the way they swagger in their high heels and I think he likes the slightly bigger girls with slightly enlarged buttocks. The Italians ladies do wiggle their bums a little and I won't lie by saying I didn’t like it. They've got sex appeal and they know it.

But, I digress, so let me tell you a little more about my race bike. It started life as a 50cc Gilera Zip which was then stripped down to absolutely nothing. Little Sava racing semi-slicks were fitted as well as Malossi fully adjustable race shocks in both the front and the back. Then special brake shoes at the rear and a bigger disc in the front with braided hoses as well as special racing pads. And then the engine; upon inspection I think only the belt casings were stock because from there every little item that can make the engine go faster has been added. These include racing clutch, racing circle crank, ignition, piston, conrod, exhaust, special carb with intake manifold and carbon reed valves. Every little piece is a work of art and this is the Malossi way I would later find out. The bike has full GPS racing dash telemetry and my lines were compared to acceleration points, revs and heat. And all for scooter racing, whaaaaat? Oh, and last but by no means least, the most visually pleasing piece of all the tuning parts is the expansion chamber exhaust. The welding and detail truly is reminiscent of 500 MotoGP days.

Ok, so I've raced superbikes all my life and survived the Isle of Man so, seriously, how hectic could this be? Come on, they’re only 70cc bikes after all. Maurizio would never give me the bike until he had personally warmed it up to 52 degrees Celsius and I was given strict instructions to carry on revving it in the same manner otherwise it would bog down - temperamental little bastard and the bike was not easy either. The Adria track is not a scooter track, it's a proper 15m wide, 3km long race track with long straights and proper flowing high speed corners. As I was released on to the track, I opened the throttle to its max immediately and the little bike nearly threw me off the back. Wow, my 50 never went like that in high school; I loved it immediately, it was epic! It feels like the bike revs instantly to its 14,300rpm redline and only then starts feeding in the centrifugal clutch, the acceleration is fantastic for a 70cc and I loved the high tuned scream of the little 2-stroke, it just sounded sorted. I did a few laps and started to feel comfortable, a word which I use lightly here as you never really get comfortable with a scooter riding position on a knee down race track. Then, all of a sudden, my bubble was smashed! I was lining up for the bumpy left hander that leads to a short straight, which then gets you into a tight double left hander that gets you back to the straight and I had not realised that the flock of dayglo yellow and orange suited little suicide bombers had already completed their lap and were going to dive bomb me all together with absolutely no respect or regard for my safety. Fooking hell, how is it even possible to go that quickly, each and every one of them obviously on their quick lap and trying to break a world record. I later found out that they actually try to stay together because of the draft effect down the straight. By the end of the session I was about 10 seconds off the pace so maybe I should take up planting tulips instead because I am clearly not a bike racer.

During the next day’s practice I had various ups and downs, at least always going a bit quicker but, believe it or not, so did they. I was closing the huge time difference one millisecond at a time and in the end I got to about 4 seconds off the main fast group, with some of the slower guys getting to within a second or so quicker than my pace. There were 2 guys from Holland who were light years faster than the others and they still managed to squeeze another second faster out of their little steeds, and all I can ask is how? I managed to blow my bike up in qualifying and had to start off at the back, not that going flat out would have made much of a difference, I was definitely filling up the cheap seats.

Race day came and I lined up at the back of the field, 33 bikes on the grid, 3 on each row which makes for quite a long way back and my heart was pounding by the time the lights went out. What followed was the quickest 7 laps of my life, the little bikes are so light it’s not hard work physically but it’s frantic and brash and there is absolutely no manners or sportsman like behaviour in scooter racing. It’s more like a case of ‘if you can think it you can do it’ and I had the most fantastic display of Ching-Chong-Cha being played out in front of me. I was almost laughing at some of the moves they were that crazy. I managed to beat my Korean teammate but could just not hang onto the tail in the end, finishing just 3 seconds off it and 50 seconds off the front guy. Man it was fun and all of a sudden you do not need a R150k superbike, you can have just as much fun on a scooter, it’s so relative to the company you keep.

Just a short word of thanks to Vespa SA, Mr Malossi and my two Italian mechanics. A few less pies for me for next year, another 100cc and I should be bang on pace!

What is Malossi?

Malossi a family run business which originated back in 1930 by father, Armando Malossi, and is still run by his two sons, Mr Sandro Malossi (head of marketing and sporting events and Mr Ugo Malossi, the president). Malossi produce racing parts for all makes of scooters from 50cc right up to the TMAX. They have various options and different stages of tuning, and each and every one is completed to the finest detail. I have seldom met people, and I meet a lot of people in my job, who immediately command such respect and just by their presence and aura. For example Mr Sandro Malossi had the whole event's reins in his hands; nothing happened that he did not authorise and that he personally did not give the nod for. He was the first one on the job in the morning and he was the last one off to bed at night. One would think he has trust issues but if you look at the company and how they have run it for all these years, who are we to judge? Maybe they have got it 100% right. The whole family is involved but he does it first and then passes it on to someone else. Take my greeting for instance, I did not know at first know who this well dressed gentleman who came to find me was and only once he knew I was ok and comfortable, did he pass me onto his PR lady, who later informed me who I'd been dealing with. I mention this as I later saw this quality run through their whole company. No detail is overlooked, each part is made up of the absolutely best possible material and they absolutely live and trust their brand. After all it's their legacy, they are proud of it and you can see it, it’s infectious and all of a sudden I want Malossi parts on my scooter.

The history of the actual beginnings of the factory is very interesting. I went to their website and there you will read stories of how the old man's building was hit by a bomb, how guys who hid their bikes away from army requisition weren’t able to ride them as there was no fuel. Later on his oldest son, seeing all of this, told the old man to stop making and repairing bicycles but to rather start repairing motorcycles, and the rest is just fascinating.

Go to www.malossi.com and read if you are a little bit of a historian, you'll love reading it. 

Cayenne World announced today that they have been awarded the sole agency for South Africa for the famous Italian Zard motorcycle exhaust systems.

“Zard make beautiful pipes for all the top brands and certainly for all the top Italian brands of which we have a few at Cayenne, MV Agusta, Bimota, Aprillia and Beta,” said Craig Langton co-owner and Sales Director for Cayenne World. “The Zard systems are like any two wheel product or motorcycle that comes out of the Italian factories, they are great looking, state of the art performance systems.”  “They make systems for almost every available brand and model in the world.” said Langton

Zard was born as a branch of G.P. Tecnica Company dedicated to the production of motorcycle exhausts for both aftermarket and original equipment.

G.P.Tecnica was established in 1989 and worked in the industrial field of die construction, cold forming and assembly of bodywork parts for motorcycles and the automotive industry.

Zard now manufacture innovative, high performance motorcycle components and is a leader in this field of production and technology, added to this is their creativity and their experience of their management and staff in the motorcycle industry for both street and racing exhaust systems. 

Zard components have to be considered as crafted, as they are manufactured with the most modern technology and materials. Quality, design and performance are the main features of Zard exhausts, developed first for racing and then homologated for the street machines.

The manufacturing process is carried out totally from A to Z in their own plant in order to provide a guarantee that all their parts and components are strictly ‘Made in Italy’. The know-how applied to every Zard product comes from the experience and testing in their very sophisticated R&D department. Equipped with the most modern hardware and software solutions, all coupled with the latest presses, 3D lasers, robots, electric pipe benders and folders, atomised working stations and dyno testing. 

All raw materials used in the production are special steels, titanium, aluminium alloys, carbon fibre and ceramic coatings. Each unit during the working progress is submitted to many specific treatments and tests such as the high temperature-resistant test (over to 800°).

Zard is the first manufacturer to supply the legendry Bimota’s, Morini, Indian, Vyrus, Ncr and Zard designers and engineers collaborate direct with the Ducati R&D department and is supporting leading teams in Moto GP, plus the Italian CIV and Supermoto Championships. Their aftermarket range of exhausts systems are sold worldwide and will be available in South Africa at Cayenne World in the New Year.

For more information call Cayenne World on 011 244 1900 or visit their web site www.cayenne.co.za                

Go big or go home! That’s the favourite adage of KMSA MD Chris Speight, and he’s put his money where his mouth is by adding two big-bore scooters and a 600cc quad to the SYM product range in South Africa. “When we acquired the right to distribute the SYM brand six months ago we knew we were going to do well with them,” says Speight. “The products are excellent and they complemented our existing product range so we could properly represent SYM as a quality brand in its own right. Our SYM sales have already more than doubled, surpassing all records set for the brand over the two decades it’s been in South Africa. We expect further excellent growth in the medium to long term.” 

Where scooters were traditionally small 125 or 200cc commuter machines used for nipping around town, urban sprawl has led to a worldwide demand for bigger, more powerful scooters that can be safely used by time and cost conscious men and women for longer trips between the suburbs and the cities at highway speeds. The MaxSYM 600i and 400i, with their liquid cooled fuel-injected four-valve single cylinder engines fit the bill perfectly, adding freeway-gobbling performance to the usual scooter attributes of comfort, convenience, decent weather protection, economy and a more genteel riding position than that of a motorcycle. The 400cc version is good for 24,5 kW of power and 34,5 Nm of torque, while the MaxSYM 600 dishes up a very healthy 30,3 kW and 43,2 Nm. Both are easily capable of cruising at and above the national speed limit, making freeway travel a cinch.

The MaxSYM scooters both have automatic CVT transmissions, dual front petal disk brakes with twin-pot calipers and ABS, twin halogen projector headlights that switch automatically from day-riding to full power mode when the light begins to fade, dual LED matrix tail-lights, handlebar levers adjustable for span to accommodate small or large hands, comfortable seats with lumbar support for both rider and passenger, two dashboard cubby holes, LED instrumentation, and storage under the seats for two crash helmets. The scooters come with windscreens that are easily adjustable for height by removing one plastic cover to get to the fasteners, and both have main and side-stands. The MaxSYM 400i and 600i come with 15” front and 14” rear wheels to cater for the high speeds that can be attained by these machines – 143km/h and 160 km/h respectively. Next time your uncle starts going on about how his old 650 Triumph or BSA could do the magic ton – 100 mph - you can tell him that your scooter does that a lot more reliably, comfortably and safely!  

The SYM MaxSYM 600i and 400i will both be here in December at very competitive prices, complete with two-year unlimited distance warranties.

The third new SYM model, scheduled to arrive early in the New Year, is the SYM 600 QuadRaider 4X4, a very useful workhorse quad at a very competitive price. Its liquid-cooled 565cc single cylinder engine generates 15kW and 34, 5 Nm while the CVT transmission includes two and four-wheel-drive modes, and a low-range option for when the going gets really tough. The QuadRaider comes with head and taillights, turn indicators, a pillion seat, fully adjustable suspension and a reverse gear, and will be of particular interest to farmers, hunters, fishermen and people who just love exploring the outdoors.

visit http://www.symsa.co.za/ for further information.