Project Derbi Derbi GP1 Open 50cc 5 seconds before this photo was taken I asked Tim if he wanted to start Project Derbi Brendon With the ADR approval through & imminent release of the GP1 range in Australia it was time to get cracking on project Derbi. We have had the Derbi's sitting in the showroom for quite some time now & have been patiently waiting for the ADR process to be completed. At times we have felt like a child who has unwrapped his birthday present to find the Megatron or Optimus Prime transformer they had asked for and been unable to take it out of the packaging & play with it.
It was a bit quiet in the workshop & knowing he really wanted to play with Megatron I grabbed the camera with the intent of catching the excited look now he can take it out of the box, 5 seconds before this photo was taken I asked Tim if he wanted to start Project Derbi. Never seen him move so fast
Out of the box the GP1 is one fine piece of kit and is Derbi's entry level sports 50 which sits alongside the likes of the new SR50 Aprilia, Yamaha Aerox, Ludix Blaster. Above all these scoots sits the pinnacle of 50cc Scooters, the GP1 50cc Racing which if you believe the talk in Europe is simply a cut above everything on the market with it's perimeter frame, centrally mounted engine, monoshock rear suspension, utilising the same upside down fork & radial mounted brake setup as the bigger GP1 Racing 125/250 plus chain drive. So good in fact Malossi teamed up with Derbi to produce the "Malossi Limited Edition".
The GP1 Open 50cc scooter is one of the best handling 50's out there, but to gain Euro 3 compliance the Piaggio sourced "Revolution Series" liquid cooled 50cc two stroke engine is choked, sapping it of its performance. This is something we are starting to see more of with tightening of European emmissions standards this same engine is used by a number of Piaggio owned European sooter manufacturers.
We have a few goodies sitting on the shelf waiting to go including a Gianelli Reverse exhaust sytem, Malossi Variator, Delta clutch & Malossi 70cc kit. Tim loves the 50cc class more so than any other capacity & like the rest of us has been patiently waiting to get stuck into the GP1 50.
The aim of "Project Derbi" is to let the engine breath a bit better to gain improvements in performance & efficiency. We don't intend on taking the engine to the limits of its construction, no peaky unweilding self destructing hand grenade, rather we intend to make it compliment the brilliant chassis. Naturally it has to be reliable and to exploit the chassis it also has to be quick, real quick.
published 2/04/2008 |