“For me, my biggest thrill so far was getting to my first Africa Eco Race finish in Dakar. And, to be clear, when I make this distinction, I’m not just talking about rallies, but from my whole life. Only those who have experienced the true spirit if the original Dakar can understand what it feels like when you get to ride your motorcycle down that beach in Dakar after more than 4000 mi/ 6500 km of all-out racing through the north African expanse. It was incredible.” – Paolo Caprioni
Team Kapriony, at its core, is a group of friends that love motorcycles. That loves enduro motorcycles and the passion and lifestyle that comes with competing in events throughout Europe and Africa. “Alessio, Giampiero and my brother Stefano and I make up the team. We all have the same passion, that undeniable one for enduro bikes. We’ve all known each other in some form for a long time, we all love the challenges that come with Rally racing, so it means we truly are as a team. So we’ve set our focus on facing new challenges and enjoy competing in new rallies every year.”
The team was born in 2013 in Argenta, a town in the province of Ferrara, Italy. Since the start, it’s been the brainchild and passion of the brothers Paolo and Stefano Caprioni. From an early age, the two siblings had fallen in love with the iconic Dakar races, Rallys through Europe and the types of motorcycles you only saw in the glory days of European Rally Raid. “Stefano and I have a great deal of experience with competing in numerous local and international Rally’s, so we decided our next step would be to start the Kapriony Team project together with our friends, Alessio Corradini and Giampiero Zanelli. We’ve also been very fortunate to have had the support of key brands in the Rally world that has truly helped us obtain the results we’ve gotten so far. Over the last ten years, the boys and I have participated in numerous rallies focusing on riding the more powerful twin-cylinder bikes. We’ve competed in Albania, Greece, Germany, Austria, Italy along with many races in Africa.”
The idea of Frusta 7.9 stems from the drive of the Kapriony brotherhood to expand on their past successes. “Our previous development of the KTM 950 and 990 platforms had reached their maximum potential, and it was necessary for us to turn the page. So, we jumped at the chance to get a new KTM 790 when it was released. We wanted to create a project that would keep us busy innovating for a long time.” So when they got their hands on a standard, but brand new KTM 790, through the San Marino KTM dealership, they got to work fast. “To be clear, we wanted the Swank Rally in Sardinia to be our initial test with this new setup and engine, so in our eyes even though we have done a lot of work getting the bike ready for that race, it’s not fully developed yet.”
Due to time constraints, based on the arrival of the 790 and the start of the race in Sardinia, the team had to improvise when it came to the initial set up for a Rally Raid endeavor. “For now we have used parts from the front ends of our old Zaira, a KTM 990, and Elvira, KTM 950, builds that we competed in before. This helped us out a lot, as the forks, triple trees and wheels had all already been tested during races.” Some specific parts had to be fabricated, and for the navigation tower, they turned to a trusted source. “The front turret was produced by Rebel X Sports, which developed it in no time directly on our bike. It just seems like it was born for her!”
With the need for Rally racing instrumentation the team also decided to drop the original wiring loom and have a completely new one build to spec by their personal friends the Balducci brothers. “They are absolute magicians when it comes to electrics and has been a great help.” The exhaust has been tailor-made by SC-Project, with a fit and purpose that draws on the KTM Rally pedigree. “The saddle, in turn, was produced by Selle Dalla Valle based near Verona. Having the right saddle is very import, especially in challenging races, so we had to go with the best.”
After our initial tests and shakedown rides, we ended up modifying the rear set up a bit by tweaking the rear shock. To balance this out, we’ve also had to adjust the front end suspension. Since the setup we used, although excellent, wasn’t initially designed for this specific model, there will still be a lot of work to do on the suspension in the future. The Frusta is still very ‘rebellious’ when it comes to some extreme or technical off-road sections, so we’ll need to tame her. For now, it’s probably best to view the Frusta as more of a preview, a work in progress. We’ll be designing a new swing-arm, couplings/linkages, and fitting new suspension specially tuned for this platform. It represents an excellent base for a regular off-road ride, but we will have to work hard to make it perform well enough to survive the Africa Eco Race.”
“So even though we have raced her, the actual construction process has yet to begin. Right now, we are working to understand what we can do to adapt the Frusta for the African sands. Given that one can argue it’s not a motorcycle born for this specifically. To get good results in Dakar, we’ll be changing the entire setup, keeping only the engine and part of the original chassis.” So with their dream of riding their improved Frusta 7.9 down the beach at Dakar in January, Paolo and the Kariony team will be competing and developing the platform over the coming months before heading to the starting line of the Africa Eco Race. “For us, every goal turns into a new starting point. You never get bored here!”
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Special thank you to Andrea Migliorati for some of the photography used in this article. Image ownership retained by individual owners. All Images supplied by Team Kapriony.
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