At
the beginning of this year, Barrus announced that
it had been appointed the UK importer and distributor for
the range of scooters and small motorcycles manufactured by
the Italian Malaguti company. There's a good symbiosis in
this tie-up, as both are long-established family-owned engineering
firms, Malaguti starting up in 1930 building bicycles, and
EP Barrus first importing American engineering goods and equipment
way back in 1917.
A few years ago Barrus
set up a vehicles division and began the import and distribution
of the Moto-roma range of small motorbikes, quads and buggies,
and the new deal with Malaguti is seen as a logical extension
to this business. So when Barrus invited the press along to
their Bicester HQ to look at their full range of vehicles,
and more importantly try them out, what self-respecting journo
could possibly refuse such an invitation.
 Although
the name Malaguti first appeared on the UK roads
back in the early 1970s, in recent years the brand has become
exclusive almost to the point of invisibility! Barrus plan
to change all that, and they have the engineering know-how
and experience to make it happen. Malaguti are already well-known
for their quality engineering and product design, and to this
Barrus brings a company that has supplied into the demanding
military and marine markets for many years, with the systems
already in place for the, support, spares and logistic operations
that can dramatically reduce the time that any piece of equipment
is out of service.
The core of the Malaguti
dealer network is already in place with more to follow over
the next few months, and a comprehensive spares inventory
has been set up, that dealers can access using the same systems
that give next-day-service to the MoD and
the RNLI. This is backed up by a full spares
holding from Malaguti in Italy that can be delivered direct
within 24 hours.
So
much for the organisation and backup infrastructure, but what
about the bikes themselves? Having drunk the coffee and eaten
all the biscuits, it was time to leg it off to a nearby airfield
and get down and get dirty - as they say. The Barrus transporter
had got there before us and unloaded an array of 2 and 4 wheeled
toys to play with; it was like watching a bunch of 6-year
olds being let loose in a sweet shop while the owner's at
lunch.
Strangely enough, for
a bunch of hacks that are fed a regular diet of litre superbikes
with racetrack handling and outrageous power outputs, the
bike that almost everyone liked the most was the Malaguti
XSM, a 50cc 2-stroke Supermotard. Perhaps it was
the kick start, maybe the 6-speed gearbox that you had race
up down incessantly in order to keep the motor screaming in
its powerband, that took us all back to days of our pimply
youth. It certainly wasn't the top speed, but no one could
fault the handling which gave an excellent ride, the long-travel
Paoli forks soaking up the bumps but at the same time not
diving excessively under braking. Not bad, when you consider
the weight of some of the "16-year old" riders involved.
Pulling
a stoppie at the end of the race to the chippy has got to
be worth some street cred! However, wouldn't an XSM125 or
even an XSM250 be interesting?
By comparison, the
Moto-roma MRX125 was a much less frenzied
ride. The single-cylinder 4-stroke fired up at the touch of
a button and pulled cleanly through its 6-speed box. This
trials-type bike is a serious alternative to the 125 "learner-legal"
fare, although its high seat height and firmer suspension
means that it won't be ideal for the short of leg. But with
dual-purpose tyres as standard there's no reason for you having
to stick to the tarmac to be first in the queue for a large
cod and chips.
For
the young "twist 'n' go" aficionado, Malaguti produce
a range of 50cc scooters that are mechanically similar but
cover a range of different styles. We all had our eyes on
the very tasty Ducati Corse Capirex model
in the showrooms, but had to be content with an F15
Firefox for our laps of the airfield. This was a
very sweet-handling machine that soaked up the bumps of the
less-than-perfect surface of the old airfield, and the little
water-cooled motor pulled cleanly all the time. And the lcd
instruments have got to be worth a few brownie points. For
more oomph, the Phantom Max 125 will get
you to the shops even quicker, and would be more than capable
of some medium-distance commuting work. Although powered by
a 125cc single-cylinder 4-stroke engine, this is still a small
machine that could be hustled through the city traffic with
ease. But if you want to get there even faster, then the Phantom
Max 200 has the larger 200cc engine in exactly the
same sized package. Both these scooters have good ride and
handling characteristics, although the space available meant
that we couldn't get anywhere near the top speeds that they
are capable of. However, we plan to test all three scooters
as well as the MRX125 and the XSM50 in the very near future,
so keep an eye on these pages for the full story.
Malaguti also produce
a 400cc scooter, the Madison, but this won't
be launched until later in 2004, when it will fully comply
with the latest Euro-2 emissions regulations
that all the other models in the Malaguti line-up already
meet.
And now it was time for something a
little different.
Barrus
had laid on three different quad-bikes for
us to play on, with engine sizes ranging from 100cc to 250cc,
one of which was even road-legal. These were all a complete
hoot, once you'd got used to the thumb-operated throttle,
the fact the front wheels pivoted around the handlebar axis,
and that you had to seriously hang off the inside of the quad
on the corners to get round at any sort of speed without the
feeling that the whole thing was going to turn over. Even
then, two-wheeled cornering quickly became the norm. At this
point, I think it's only fair to say that the guys from Barrus
had obviously had a lot more practice at riding quads than
most of the rest of us! You could possibly surmise that they
even lay on these kind of events just so that they can play
around on the things.
Last up were three
buggies, a number quickly reduced to two
when one of the "gentlemen of the press" made an
over-enthusiastic turn on the grass and rolled it onto its
cage. The single-seater 125cc-powered one was my favourite.
Its "semi-knobbly" tyres gave excellent grip on
the tarmac, and full-power cornering even in the wet only
induced a small amount of oversteer. On the grass however
it was lock-to-lock fun. And don't forget that this buggy
is road legal!

The two-seater only
had an extra 25cc of capacity, and with two adults on board
seemed to be lacking a bit in the "get up and go"
stakes. A 250cc engine would make all the difference! In spite
of this it was still an immense amount of fun, but just make
sure that the driver and passenger are on very good terms,
as the cockpit is a little cramped.

At this point we'd
ridden everything that was available, and although the day
had started overcast but dry, the drizzle had turned to serious
rain. As lean angles lessened and the mud thickened, we felt
that we had done our bit for journalistic integrity, and the
rain trickling down the back of the neck had made a big dent
in the fun-factor ratings. It was time to return to Barrus's
offices for what we felt was a very well-earned lunch.
A big Thank
You to Karen Williams and everyone else at Barrus
for laying on an excellent event, and for putting up with
all those egos trying to wreck a very good product.
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