Spy photos have been published of a production-looking Bimota DB11 VLX, the supercharged sport bike displayed at EICMA last year (pictured above in concept form). According to information from Bimota, the DB11 VLX will produce roughly 190 hp (up from the 160 hp derived from the stock Ducati Testastretta 11° engine). Bimota says it is focused on reliability, more than peak horsepower, and the more important figure might be the massive 105 pound/feet of torque the engine is expected to develop in the mid-range from its screw-type supercharger.
Bimota claims the supercharger only adds approximately 10 pounds to the weight of the normally aspirated DB11, keeping claimed dry weight under 400 pounds. In addition to its close affiliation with Ducati, Bimota is working on a production BB2 superbike powered by a BMW S1000RR engine. Bimota also has a touring bike, of sorts, and an enduro, each with Ducati power.
Perhaps most interesting is the news being reported by more than one Italian ezine that Roberto Comini, the Milan-based pharmaceutical magnate, has reached agreement with an unnamed Swiss businessman to transfer ownership of Bimota to a Swiss group that will inject significant capital into the development of new models. According to sources, an official announcement should be made next week.
After several Ducatis I was lucky enough to acquire a DB6. Bimotas do compare to the brands from which their engines are obtained. But they are so much more. Jewel-like. Extensions of the rider–not the other way around. Difficult to explain but easily apparent. I do attribute much of it to chassis design.
A Bimota is different. And better.
Whether it is worth the price, a Bimota owner will probably affirm what others would unknowingly deny.
An 11 degree tettastrada motor street sport bike is the bike Ducati “should” build. The only thing that will be wrong with this bike is my bank balance isn’t big enough…… Dear Santa…..
This bike, like so many others these days are all about racing and have nothing to do with ‘motorcycling’ as far as I’m concerned. Wish the Mocos would stop producing every single bike to look like a racing bike and at least put out some simple standards with some classic aesthetics ie: organic lines, simple non garish paint jobs etc.
While their are a few of these types available again ie: Bonneville, W800, CB1100 they’re really too few. Other than these every other bike produced today share a similar decidedly non-classic aesthetic.
Norm G. Great write up. I agree! Come to Google+…
re: “Bimota is working on a production BB2 superbike powered by a BMW S1000RR engine.”
give this the green light and the next bike in the stable will be a BB2. always wanted to own a BIM and that one pushes all the right buttons for me. both modern and classic at the same time. as much as I hate the idea of Carmelo in control, it’s a platform they could successfully race under the “dumbed down by dorna” version of WSBK.
the only thing bimota lacks to be successful (by my read anyway) is some form of racing promotions just to keep the name out there and create “relevance” as TomR so wisely points out. can even be Moto2. xaus at one point was being tipped as their rider for a hot minute.
in a lot of ways they’re like the Italian Indian. a rich history is there to capitalize on even though anything modern they make will be hard pressed to break any sort of new ground. but that’s only the point if you LET it be. see entry for V-due, SB8, tesi, YB7, virginio ferrari, davide tardozzi, etc. bueller…? anyone…? no offense, but this is business. gotta stay away from the bottom feeders. they can continue to build around ducati, but since the ducati name is so omnipresent, it overshadows what they’ve been doing. their future lies with getting back to building around Japanese power. investors would call this “diversification”.
they could be selling the first Honda Moto2 bike, that BMW powered kit, a perfected Di 2-stroke V-due, etc. with the R1 being of “questionable aesthetics”…? can you imagine an attractively style modern YB10 crossplane…? or kit built around Honda’s gear driven cammed SP-2/RC51 engine…? (that bud’s for you colors! :)) gotta identify and work the niches. hell, i’m nobody and I just spelled out 5 of them (thank you Norm G, you’re welcome Bimota). big red would no doubt supply engines. might be tough getting Yamaha to play ball regarding their CP, but if there was ANYBODY in the industry they’d say YES to…?
I can afford to buy it, but there are so many other bikes that are less money with similar performance, and quite frankly, just as attractive. The only thing I would be getting for my money is the BIMOTA name, nothing else.
It’s incredible how Bimota has a history of teetering back from the financial brink at the 11th hour. More power to them I say.
I was a big fan of Bimota years ago. The most current designs don’t do it for me.
Bimota should build the Triumph twin and triple that Oberdan Bezzi designed.
one of the sexiest Bimotas ever.
there are some details on this bike
that in all honesty I didn’t really
expect to surface right now.
obviously (tough) competition is still
the best inspiration there is.
as opposed to the previous trend of the
ultra-sports bikes getting more and more
similar to each other, now we are facing
a divine and radical flourish of wildly
diverse, divergent and different approached
to form/function/performance –> styling.
if someone told me 5 years ago that I could
have “trouble” choosing between a ZX10,
S1000RR, Panigale, Agusta, Fireblade,
a RC8, a cross-plane “boomy” R1 and this Bimota,
I’d think I’d died and went to heaven.
Good times indeed.
Like a beautiful woman, I’d like to take her for a spin but couldn’t afford her in my place.
I’ve been a Bimota admirer for 30 years. Just when I think they irrelavant they come out with this. I love it. I wish them well but not in a position to help them out.
I’m with you. I still regularly surf the ‘Bimota’ section on Ebay, as if someone will post up a DB1 for $1200 or some such 🙂
Someday…
Bimota would make a lot more money building 350lb, 100+HP Adventure bikes. Seriously.
We can call it “different” or even “strange”.
May be somebody will buy this thing.
I have gotten so used to underslung exhausts that my first reaction was, “What is that thing hanging by the wheel?”
In all seriousness, does this exhaust configuration make the design “classic” or “dated”?
you may have a point. retailing it with a MotoGP stubby is almost night and day. but what I don’t get is why build superbike kit around the lesser T11 (touring) engine and then add the cost/complexity of a supercharger to boost the performance back up…? and then put it all in the same package as the normally aspirated “Tevo” powered DB7 and DB8 bikes…? or does this bike replace those models…? are riders jonesing for superchargers…? dunno…?
honestly, they only need ONE 4V water cooled based ducati and ONE 2v air cooled based ducati. too many is “self-diluting”. if they had other engines like the Honda and the Yamaha to play with, I don’t think you’d see them wasting time on nonsense like this.
Nice bike. I would like to see a close up of the rear shock and how it’s mounted. It looks a little 1980ish if you ask me.
“It looks a little 1980ish if you ask me.”
But they dressed it up with KTM’esque angular lines on the tank!
It’s nearly identical in shape to a Daytona/Street Triple as well.
I see BWM S1000RR in the angle/shape of the front of the fairing…
but I don’t see any resemblance to a Daytona… & the Street Triple is a naked bike with a squatty short pipe…
the similarity seems to only be that they are motorcycles…
It’s a pretty standard top-at-swingarm, bottom-at-linkage progressive linkage setup. It looks odd in the pics because the top mount is typically obscured by bodywork on modern sportbikes.
It looks like the swingarm is kind of thin. I say this because the upper “brace” of the arm merely attaches to the top of the shock.
Honestly does nothing for me. When it comes to beauty this thing doesn’t hold a candle to an MV. Imo
Another beautiful aesthetic, but has Bimota ever designed something that actually worked, glitch-free? They always seem to take these perfectly capable bikes and make them prettier, sure, but with entirely sketchy performance. It’s like there’s no R&D $$ for sweating the basic rideability details.
re: “It’s like there’s no R&D $$ for sweating the basic rideability details.”
that’s prolly not far from the truth.
From what little I’ve read in magazines and forums, aside from the occasional electrical problem (mainly fuses blowing or water getting to rear brake light housing), the Suzuki powered Bimotas were quite reliable. Obviously those were simpler times.
Agreed. All the OEMs have the ability to do design, performance and durability analysis plus top notch test riders to verify it. This is the modern world. 25 years ago, the black art of bespoke chassis design was possible provided there was real experience behind it. Bimota simply can not design a better handling chassis than the OEMs. All they can do is take a SWAG at it and hope to come close. And the tuning? It’s always a crap attempt.
IMO, Bimota is irrelevant and has been for nearly 25 years. They simply exist to repackage other OEM’s parts for ridiculous money.
Even many of us consumers are capable of buying an engine package and designing our own bespoke chassis. I doubt we’d do any worse. I’ve done several modified and altered chassis for land speed racing. I have no doubt I could do one that worked for the street if i were inclined.
Wrong on several counts.
Crack is whack…
Just what modern motorcycles need-more power…from a supercharger.
Bimota is desperately trying to avoid being irrelevant.
I knew it! It is still possible to design a good looking supersport bike!
This bike is a jewel, no kidding. This applies for most of Bimotas too.
I hope they do well, I’ve always enjoyed their designs.