DB10 Bimotard
If you are old enough (I am), you will remember decades ago lusting after Bimota motorcycles pictured in magazines, when Bimota routinely took Japanese engines out of their flexi, low-grade steel tube frames and put them into light weight, billet aluminum masterpieces lovingly shaped by CNC machinery. Bimota would then tune the motor for higher output, and add exotic suspension and brake pieces to the package. There was nothing more drool-worthy, or expensive, at the time.
Bimota then fell on hard times . . . more than once. Among other hurdles it faced was the increasingly difficult task of improving on stock sport bikes. The stock machinery gradually became lighter, stiffer, and more powerful. More state-of-the-art. These days, Bimota receives far less attention, and frequently sources its engines from Ducati rather than the Japanese.
In Milan earlier this week, Bimota displayed two new models, including the DB10 Bimotard and DB9 Brivido.
DB9 Brivido
The Bimotard features a 1078 cc, air-cooled, v-twin rated at 98 hp (at 7500 rpm). In a package weighing a claimed 369 pounds dry, Bimota includes a frame that combines a steel trellis with machined aluminum pieces, and a massive Marzocchi 50 mm fork and an Extreme Tech shock, both fully adjustable. The DB10 Bimotard also sports the current braking standard, i.e., radial-mounted, four piston Brembos in front squeezing 320 mm discs.
The DB9 Brivido, on the other hand, gets the big gun 1198 cc, liquid cooled, v-twin delivering a claimed 162 hp at 9500 rpm. It is treated to the same, top-drawer Brembo brake package and weighs a claimed 389 pounds dry. The DB9 also has Marzocchi forks, but this time the 43 mm versions. The fully adjustable shock is again by Extreme Tech.
No word yet on pricing or availability of these low volume exotics, and you cannot inquire at a dealer near you (because there likely is none).
DB9 Brivido
I would love a Vee-Due. I don’t even care that it WILL blow up before I get home. Bike Porn!
not a jawa or chezet
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oelB-MVHnX0
1989 anyway
If I had the dough I would own one. There is a guy I always see having a coffee who rides a Tesi parked when Im coming home from a client. There almost every tuesday. They are beautiful bikes and the carbon is art
How many bikes do they actually sell?
These two do nothing for me …
You can park that DB10 motard in my garage anytime you want. LUST! And yes, I remember lusting after YB1’s, KB2’s and SB2’s back in my misspent youth.
Just give me an old Bimota YB8. I’d be happy.
Hmm… They look… different. I’m not sure why anyone would buy the Bimotas instead of a Ducati Hypermotard or Streetfighter. I guess rarity?
Hey I remember Bimota lusted after one when I was younger, my walls were plastered with photos of ’em, now I have a neat, some say ugly DB9R. I wanted something rare and exotic for when the (now with kids, etc) rare opportunity to get on for a blast comes about. Sure I could have got the latest and greatest YZRRHyper-whatever, but each time I climb aboard or gaze at the thing I just love the crazy hand made bespoke detail and design. We all ride bikes, so let’s respect others tastes and preferences, and give thanks we’re all different, just like our bikes.
“Bimota then fell on hard times . . . more than once”
This statement is the past, present, and future Italian motorcycle industry in a nutshell, scooters excepted. The entire Italian moto industry is built on the notion of exotica which is fine if you have deep deep pockets and don’t care about the bottom line. There is not a single Italian motorcycle that hasn’t been in bankruptcy, gone out of business, or teetered on extinction in the past 10-15 years. Bimota, MotoGuzzi, MV Agusta, Ducati (yep), Benelli, Aprilia, Cagiva, Moto Morini, etc. etc.
These bikes by Bimota will simply ensure the trend continues, as this is just more of the same low volume niche product that might look good on the showroom but does nothing to build a business.
I agree. Why don’t they follow Triumph’s business model? There’s a success story.
curious, what exactly is the “triumph” business model…? chinese outsourcing…?
No, a 25 year business plan for a start. Building on strengths and unique features, such as the Triple and the Bonneville heritage. Listening the what the customers (through RAT etc.) say and trying to work on that.
Are we talking about motorcycle or business models here? Admittedly the Italians have been up and down from a business standpoint, but when it comes to what you and I can buy, the bikes are generally very good, sometimes great and certainly more interesting than anything Japanese. Case-in-point: the 1199 Panaigale, which has more innovation in performance, features and design than all the current Japanese bikes put together.
Innovation is meaningful only if it happens to work. Case in point: Ducati abandoned the “frameless” chassis and starts testing the “Japanese” twin spar aluminum frame in their motogp bike the same week if not the same day the Panigale is unveiled which has the “frameless” chassis. Doesn’t exactly bode well for Ducati does it?
Furthermore, the Panigale is so bloated with electronic “aids” that the rider has become insulated from the bike. This is exactly opposite of what people want in a race bike, and indeed people are clamoring for MotoGP and WSB to return to simpler days when the rider was truly a pilot.
while I don’t disagree about the need for less electronic aids, Ducati is not going to be left behind the rest of the market since ALL of them are building bikes that have way-out-there-power, only to be curtailed by way-out-there-electronica.
And, I wouldn’t say Ducati “abandoned” the frameless chassis. It could be said that they brought in the twin spar to help them better understand how that type of chassis behaves with their motor, then evaluate that against the frameless cf chassis. If they can figure out what works better with the twin spar/v4 combo, maybe they just might develop the cf frameless chassis more holistically with the v4 motor?
Don’t you think Ducati has tested the Panigale chassis with the new twin?
The only testing that really matters is in competition. They won’t know the answer until next year in the heat of battle.
The Italian business model may be suspect, but their bikes are not. The new 1199 Panigale has more innovative design, features and performance than all the Japanese superbikes put together. Did Japan go on holiday?
Am I missing something, isn’t that a hypermotard?
i know right…!? while i fully understand the need to have an engine supplier they can trust (italy’s gon’ support italy), that model is definitely pushing it.
i would actually like to see them do stuff with japanese power again. i’ve always found those bikes VASTLY more interesting (and i believe others did/do as well?). that HB4 moto-2 bike was sweet. the timing is right for a resurgence. they’ve got both moto-2 and moto-1 rules working in their favor.
Same here, Norm.
I’ve always liked bikes and cars with stuff from different nations merged into one (Ariel Atom for example: Japanese engine, British chassis, like the great McLaren Hondas from the 80’s). Last bikes I saw that had Japanese power in an Italian chassis were the Cagiva Raptor and Mondial, I think.
Thing is, I don’t think any of the Japanese manufacturers currently offer a lightweight air-cooled twin (don’t quote me on this), which Bimota’s current road-going models seem to be based on. Racing might prove a different story though, with the Moto1 & 2 rules you touched on.
I wonder what happened to their “hub-center” steering bikes …Vyrus, was it?.
That DB9 Brivido looks wicked, btw.
Nice — very nice
Schwing!
I think you nailed it. They have an increasingly difficult time actually improving the stock machines from other manufacturers. Sure, the bits are gold crusted and diamond coated, but in the end they aren’t really improved. And in the case of the Brivido, that’s dang ugly to me (IMO).