Gilera Ferro 850 automatic motorcycle

Gilera 850 v-twin automatic bike everyone?

Gilera's parent company Piaggio have been rumoured to be developing the biggest scooter to date by marrying together their existing 850cc, 90 degree v-twin bike engine and a Suzuki Burgman type CVT automatic gearbox.

However, to general surprise, what we've seen first at the Milan motorcycle show is this engine with an "electronic power-assisted transmission and an automatic clutch" in a rather tasty prototype naked bike, the Gilera Ferro. An automatic bike sounds a crazy thing to do in the rather conservative world of motorcycling, but bear with us as it really makes quite a lot of sense.

One of this years must-have track accessories has been thumb push button power-assisted gear changers (eg the Kliktronic quickchanger system, made up the road from us), which gives ultra fast and ultra reliable gear changes. Ultra fast means about 40ms, which is less than 10% of the time we mere humans take to manually change gear, so the engine spends more time driving the rear wheel, saving up to half a second on the quarter mile time. Conventional manual changes also seriously unsettle the suspension, but a quickchanger is so fast that the effect on the suspension is much reduced. Ultra reliable means no more dangerous false neutrals at critical moments. A slipper clutch (which can be incorporated into certain types of automatic clutches) would probably be needed to prevent rear wheel lock on down shifts on this 850cc v-twin. By integrating these components into the electronic engine management system, Gilera could include control over numerous parameters such as engine braking. Add some extra processing power and perhaps a gyroscopic sensor (for cornering and excessive wheelie height) and you have an option for the bike to make the gear changing decisions for maximum performance, or even maximum fuel economy. Are you getting caught out by the rev limiter at critical moments? This could be the answer. Gilera could even include a MotoGP type push button launch control. They might not be marketing the Gilera Ferro as a track tool, but if their system is good enough to produce a real performance gain, the quickchangers currently on the market show that sports riders could be converted.

From the other side of the spectrum, there's the current twist-and-go owners who like the idea of a "proper" bike but are rather put off by all that very odd left hand clutch, left foot gear change stuff (let's face it, it IS rather arcane). Put the Gilera Ferro gearbox in its (adjustable) automatic mode or thumb through the gears in pseudo manual and ...voilà.

We take our bikes for a sporty spin on a Sunday afternoon, we commute to the big cities on them, we take our partner for leisurely continental tours on them (with blasts on the twisty bits). But we don't (generally) have a sports bike, a big scooter and tourer sitting in our garage. Is the Gilera Ferro multifunctional gearbox the answer? Can this bike be all things to all men? That's a unisex "men", as we think it could be just as popular with women (the wife has been waiting for a bike just like this).

If only they could integrate the Öhlins Continuously Controlled Electronic Suspension system and you'd have the perfect do-everything bike .....but that's another story.

Getting back to that gearbox, Gilera has been rather coy about exactly what technology they're using, and in his presentation, Lucio Masut, director of R&D, mentioned a full-CVT automatic mode. CVT (Continuously Variable Transmission) provides, as the name implies, an infinite number of ratios, often through belts and cone shaped pulleys, to perfectly match the engine speed to the throttle position, bike speed, etc. In theory, to get maximum performance, you just have to hold the throttle all the way open and the engine revs to the exact point of maximum power and stays there while the CVT runs through its infinite ratios. No pauses for manual gear changes, just continuous maximum power to the rear wheel. In practice, problems with torque capacity and internal inefficiencies mean CVT systems have so far been unable to match the performance of manual gearboxes. It looks as if we'll have to wait to see exactly what Gilera have up their sleeve for the Ferro.

Do you feel that manual gear changing is part of the "essence" of motorcycle riding? High performance car drivers used to say something similar about their steeds, but the prevalence of semi-automatic and fully automatic sports cars show that they've moved on, so why not motorcycle riders.

"Streetfighter" styling of the Ferro is very attractive, neat and minimalist with under seat exhausts and single sided swing arm. We'd like to see a bit more work on that bikini fairing though.

Dry weight is around 189kg.

Power from Piaggio's standard 850cc 90° v-twin, four valve per cylinder, dry sump engine is 86bhp @ 7,750rpm. Gilera haven't released figures for their variant yet.

We really hope the technical obstacles are overcome, but there's no indication of price or availability dates for the Gilera Ferro, though we fear that it may have a gestation period similar to the Gilera 600 supersport...