Remembering The 1987 Cagiva 650 Alazzurra
The 1987 Cagiva 650 Alazzurra was a sporty little motorcycle that was nimble enough to zip in and out of traffic and get you from point A to point B in a minimum amount of time, even in the busiest of cities. It was also an agile little bike that fit almost perfectly for sport riding. As a result, a lot of people loved the bike for a variety of different reasons. In fact, it was so versatile that it was capable of fulfilling a number of different roles almost equally as well. For that reason and that reason alone, it’s worth remembering why this bike was so special in the first place.
Specifications
There were a lot of things about this bike that made it stand out. For starters, it was a lot heavier than you might expect, especially for a bike of its size. Filled with oil and gas, the bike weighed an astonishing 443 pounds. That’s a lot when you consider that it definitely falls on the smaller side of things, regardless of the class of motorcycle that it’s being compared with. That being said, it also had a power plant that was capable of allowing it to go from place to place as if it weighed almost nothing at all. That’s all because the four-stroke V2 engine was capable of generating 56 horsepower at 8250 RPM. That was enough to allow the motorcycle to easily go 192 mph for its top speed. As you can see, riders who were courageous enough were capable of zipping around at well over 160 mph without even touching the maximum performance capabilities of this motorcycle.
That meant that it was capable of going a lot faster than anything you were probably handling at the time without even breaking a sweat. That’s just one reason why this motorcycle became so popular. It’s also worth noting that the heavier weight actually became a benefit, although that’s probably not what engineers thought would happen at the time they designed it. When the bike was manufactured, it ended up being impossible for engineers to get all of the components they felt were essential onto the bike itself. However, they fully realized that they were competing with motorcycles that weighed roughly half as much. As a result, they weren’t terribly happy with the weight of the motorcycle. That being said, it ended up being very beneficial because riders absolutely loved it. The added weight actually made the bike more stable as opposed to being so light that going over even the slightest bumps could upset it. It made it easier to control and that was something that riders absolutely adored. This motorcycle’s final weight might not have been intentional, but it definitely proved to be advantageous.
High Performance and Solid Reliability
There’s no question about the fact this was a motorcycle capable of outperforming most of the other things that were available at the time, another reason that people loved it so much. As a matter of fact, it was capable of accelerating from a standstill to 60 mph in just 4.6 seconds. That’s definitely enough to get the attention of even the most hard to impress motorcycle riders. It’s also worth noting that this particular bike had better than average reliability, even in the long-term. It definitely wasn’t indestructible, as there is no machine that is completely indestructible. That being said, it was capable of taking quite a lot of abuse without complaining. As a result, it obtained a score in the low 60s when rated from 0 to 100 on a reliability scale. For something that was made in 1987, that is quite impressive in and of itself. It’s not that motorcycles that were manufactured back in the 1980s were of poor quality, only that they didn’t tend to last as long as some of the modern-day machines that are currently produced. This one was definitely the exception and not the rule.
Limited Availability
One of the saddest things about this particular motorcycle is that it has rather limited availability. Despite its popularity and solid reliability, it was only produced for three years. When you consider how long it’s been since the 1987 model year, that automatically tells you that there aren’t going to be an overwhelming number of these motorcycles available in today’s world. Despite that fact, the price of the bike hasn’t really changed all that much. When it was brand new, it sold for $3,750. At the time, it was considered to be one of the more expensive motorcycles available. If you find one in good condition today, it’s entirely within the realm of possibility to own it for somewhere between $3,000 and $3,500.
In a world where the cost of everything is going up two or three times over, it’s nice to see that you can get something that’s still in good condition and pay just a couple of hundred dollars less for it then you would have when it was brand new. This might be the only time in your life that you get to experience that, so if you’re in the market for one of these bikes and you find one, you should snatch up the opportunity to get your hands on it while you still can. Eventually, somebody will figure out that they could have probably charged twice as much for this bike in the current market and still have plenty of interested buyers. Even if you find one that needs a little bit of work (that’s almost bound to be the case for something that was manufactured in 1987), you shouldn’t hesitate to purchase one if you can find it. It will definitely be worth the effort. Most likely, it will provide you with years of enjoyable riding that will probably still outperform a lot of the things that are currently coming off the assembly line.