Timewarp Bimota Going...
Discussion
Hello friends, thought I'd share this one with the group, as it seemed to strike a chord with friends.
Twenty years ago I parked my Bimota DB2 in the garage after a track day. I'd recently got married and bought a BMW GS and found I quite enjoyed heated grips and comfy seats...Who knew? I wasn't going to get rid of the Bim - I loved it too much. I was just resting it for a while.
Scroll forward two decades and several bikes, kids, houses and businesses later...the Bimota was still under a dust sheet, not having moved since 2001. By this point another exciting, impractical and expensive Italian was taking up my time - a 2006 Maserati GranSport. (The Maser briefly became a home for rodents last year during lockdown so is now known as the (Maser) Ratty. Of course.) It is a flawed and deeply wonderful bit of kit...and now rusty.
£££££££££££
So, after some encouragement from my beloved ("You're too old" / "You don't have time" / "You have another bike coming" / "How many hobbies do you need? / "You home-school the bloody kids, I'm going out") I have reluctantly decided to move the Bimota on, in order to fund rust repairs.
A legendary bike guy called Viv Cowley (look him up) now has the bike and is going through it in forensic detail to make sure its on the button. He called the other day to say "Its a time-warp!" and marvelled at the condition. Guess spending £20k on garages to keep it dry worked then...
Looking at the pictures he's sending over I feel deeply stupid for not getting it back on the road years ago, and enjoying it. All those missed adventures! I can't think why I didn't do it now - busy with life I guess. Part of me thinks, no way can I let this go...but, looking at the all the stuff in the garage - once essential, now gathering dust - its time.
Man, growing up is hard!
Here's a few pics if you're interested, including one from its last outing 20 years ago...
![](https://thumbsnap.com/sc/G14TTVEy.jpg[/img]</a> <a href="https://thumbsnap.com/bvv8BbCo" Target="_blank" rel="nofollow">[img]https://thumbsnap.com/sc/bvv8BbCo.jpg[/img]</a> <a href="https://thumbsnap.com/CZeSRS4T" Target="_blank" rel="nofollow">[img]https://thumbsnap.com/sc/CZeSRS4T.jpg[/img]</a> <a href="https://thumbsnap.com/CZeSRS4T" Target="_blank" rel="nofollow">[img]https://thumbsnap.com/sc/CZeSRS4T.jpg)
Twenty years ago I parked my Bimota DB2 in the garage after a track day. I'd recently got married and bought a BMW GS and found I quite enjoyed heated grips and comfy seats...Who knew? I wasn't going to get rid of the Bim - I loved it too much. I was just resting it for a while.
Scroll forward two decades and several bikes, kids, houses and businesses later...the Bimota was still under a dust sheet, not having moved since 2001. By this point another exciting, impractical and expensive Italian was taking up my time - a 2006 Maserati GranSport. (The Maser briefly became a home for rodents last year during lockdown so is now known as the (Maser) Ratty. Of course.) It is a flawed and deeply wonderful bit of kit...and now rusty.
£££££££££££
So, after some encouragement from my beloved ("You're too old" / "You don't have time" / "You have another bike coming" / "How many hobbies do you need? / "You home-school the bloody kids, I'm going out") I have reluctantly decided to move the Bimota on, in order to fund rust repairs.
A legendary bike guy called Viv Cowley (look him up) now has the bike and is going through it in forensic detail to make sure its on the button. He called the other day to say "Its a time-warp!" and marvelled at the condition. Guess spending £20k on garages to keep it dry worked then...
Looking at the pictures he's sending over I feel deeply stupid for not getting it back on the road years ago, and enjoying it. All those missed adventures! I can't think why I didn't do it now - busy with life I guess. Part of me thinks, no way can I let this go...but, looking at the all the stuff in the garage - once essential, now gathering dust - its time.
Man, growing up is hard!
Here's a few pics if you're interested, including one from its last outing 20 years ago...
Nice bike - stick a figure on it and put it in the classifieds.
Viv Cowley is a genius - he can weld bananas to glass if asked and did a fine job resto’ing a mate’s 888. First time I saw him in early 90’s he was repairing a Group C sportscar ally tub and he did a few years with Team Roberts long enough to get me a backstage pass at Donington GP and then get scowled at by Kenny Roberts Snr.
Like all good engineers isn’t the speediest so expect to see the bike finished in another 20 years. Bizarrely he has the world’s longest eyelashes (think RuPaul Drag Race x 2) and when you’ve noticed them you can never not see them.
Viv Cowley is a genius - he can weld bananas to glass if asked and did a fine job resto’ing a mate’s 888. First time I saw him in early 90’s he was repairing a Group C sportscar ally tub and he did a few years with Team Roberts long enough to get me a backstage pass at Donington GP and then get scowled at by Kenny Roberts Snr.
Like all good engineers isn’t the speediest so expect to see the bike finished in another 20 years. Bizarrely he has the world’s longest eyelashes (think RuPaul Drag Race x 2) and when you’ve noticed them you can never not see them.
“So, after some encouragement from my beloved ("You're too old" / "You don't have time" / "You have another bike coming" / "How many hobbies do you need? / "You home-school the bloody kids, I'm going out") I have reluctantly decided to move the Bimota on, in order to fund rust repairs.”
I know what I would be getting rid of before the bike (and not the Maserati).
I know what I would be getting rid of before the bike (and not the Maserati).
The new Bimota Tesi H2 looks rather nice. Limited edition with 228 bhp from the 1000cc supercharged Kawasaki engine.
As long as they ditch the horrific exhaust system after purchase for something a lot smaller, that'll be quite something.
The little matter of almost £50 grand will be an issue to most though, including me.
As long as they ditch the horrific exhaust system after purchase for something a lot smaller, that'll be quite something.
The little matter of almost £50 grand will be an issue to most though, including me.
BroadsRS6 said:
The new Bimota Tesi H2 looks rather nice. Limited edition with 228 bhp from the 1000cc supercharged Kawasaki engine.
As long as they ditch the horrific exhaust system after purchase for something a lot smaller, that'll be quite something.
The little matter of almost £50 grand will be an issue to most though, including me.
The exhaust is hilariously awful on that, it's half as big again as the tank! As long as they ditch the horrific exhaust system after purchase for something a lot smaller, that'll be quite something.
The little matter of almost £50 grand will be an issue to most though, including me.
I've since found out that an Arrow end can/s is/are available almost immediately which is/are presumably not for road use (yeah right!) and is about a third of the bulk of that ocean liner of a muffler the bike comes with. Once a tail tidy is sorted that will be a bike i'd absolutely love.
There’s a pair of Bimotas that seem to get used regularly where I park the bike in London. It’s usually either one or the other in the same spot, so I guess it’s the same guy using both of them to commute on.
Genuine question - are these things particularly valuable or something? I don’t know anything about them other than they seem to make some bikers go weak at the knees. Personally they do nothing for me, other than recognising the name on the tank I wouldn’t look twice.
Genuine question - are these things particularly valuable or something? I don’t know anything about them other than they seem to make some bikers go weak at the knees. Personally they do nothing for me, other than recognising the name on the tank I wouldn’t look twice.
mikey_b said:
There’s a pair of Bimotas that seem to get used regularly where I park the bike in London. It’s usually either one or the other in the same spot, so I guess it’s the same guy using both of them to commute on.
Genuine question - are these things particularly valuable or something? I don’t know anything about them other than they seem to make some bikers go weak at the knees. Personally they do nothing for me, other than recognising the name on the tank I wouldn’t look twice.
They were expensive new (very in some cases!) but they have never been built/sold in any number so they’re rare. Genuine question - are these things particularly valuable or something? I don’t know anything about them other than they seem to make some bikers go weak at the knees. Personally they do nothing for me, other than recognising the name on the tank I wouldn’t look twice.
They have always been an enthusiasts machine. Exotic materials, off the shelf engines and wrapped in Italian styled bodywork. They’re a work of art in the flesh!
Someone said to me if Ducati is the bike Ferrari, MV is the bike Lamborghini then Bimota are Pagani
BroadsRS6 said:
The new Bimota Tesi H2 looks rather nice. Limited edition with 228 bhp from the 1000cc supercharged Kawasaki engine.
As long as they ditch the horrific exhaust system after purchase for something a lot smaller, that'll be quite something.
The little matter of almost £50 grand will be an issue to most though, including me.
And the rest ! They are £59k .As long as they ditch the horrific exhaust system after purchase for something a lot smaller, that'll be quite something.
The little matter of almost £50 grand will be an issue to most though, including me.
bimsb6 said:
BroadsRS6 said:
The new Bimota Tesi H2 looks rather nice. Limited edition with 228 bhp from the 1000cc supercharged Kawasaki engine.
As long as they ditch the horrific exhaust system after purchase for something a lot smaller, that'll be quite something.
The little matter of almost £50 grand will be an issue to most though, including me.
And the rest ! They are £59k .As long as they ditch the horrific exhaust system after purchase for something a lot smaller, that'll be quite something.
The little matter of almost £50 grand will be an issue to most though, including me.
mikey_b said:
There’s a pair of Bimotas that seem to get used regularly where I park the bike in London. It’s usually either one or the other in the same spot, so I guess it’s the same guy using both of them to commute on.
Genuine question - are these things particularly valuable or something? I don’t know anything about them other than they seem to make some bikers go weak at the knees. Personally they do nothing for me, other than recognising the name on the tank I wouldn’t look twice.
Bimota are revered because back in the 70's when bike frames were the same strength and thickness as tent poles they designed and built bikes that actually went round corners properly.Genuine question - are these things particularly valuable or something? I don’t know anything about them other than they seem to make some bikers go weak at the knees. Personally they do nothing for me, other than recognising the name on the tank I wouldn’t look twice.
They used other manufacturer's engines, the bikes were pretty much hand-built and used top notch components so they were bloody expensive, but they went well, handled so much better than anything you could buy 'across the counter' and gained a cult following.
In the 80's, they were still streets ahead with alloy frame designs but then by the 90's the big four had sort of caught up in the handling stakes so they became pretty much irrelevant.
They had a couple of howlers along the way like the Mantra and the Tesi (the Mantra was pig-ugly, the Tesi was a massively complex hub-centre steered bike that was also pretty rubbish looking with handling that apparently took a lot of getting used to).
Their last big project was the Vdue which was a fuel injected two stroke engine of their own design but it was just a bit too complex and never ran properly so ended up being dropped.
They make good usable classic bikes these days as long as you are aware that bodywork is unobtainable new and don't fling them up the road.
One of the main advantages of the early BiMoTas was the frame design.
They designed the tubing between the forks and the swingarm not "over and under engine" like most cradle frames,
but "as straight and stiff as possible" on the left & right side "around" the engine.
Because they built wide frames with a straight connection between headstock and swingarm,
they could put the swingarm axis in the same level as the spocket shaft,
thus keeping the chain always at the same amount of tension regardless of rear shock compression.
I never had one but read that this not only improved drivetrain life but also made a better ride.
They also liked to attach the rear brake anchor rod to the chassis, not the swing arm, thus not loading up the suspension.
They designed the tubing between the forks and the swingarm not "over and under engine" like most cradle frames,
but "as straight and stiff as possible" on the left & right side "around" the engine.
Because they built wide frames with a straight connection between headstock and swingarm,
they could put the swingarm axis in the same level as the spocket shaft,
thus keeping the chain always at the same amount of tension regardless of rear shock compression.
I never had one but read that this not only improved drivetrain life but also made a better ride.
They also liked to attach the rear brake anchor rod to the chassis, not the swing arm, thus not loading up the suspension.
Beautiful machine with awesome handling but a bit under powered.
A mate transformed his with a big bore kit, cams and flat slides but, iirc, ruined its looks with a custom paint job.
Actually he would prob the same about my SB7, I think we both had them painted at Kinetic Art in Wimbledon
A mate transformed his with a big bore kit, cams and flat slides but, iirc, ruined its looks with a custom paint job.
Actually he would prob the same about my SB7, I think we both had them painted at Kinetic Art in Wimbledon
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