In twenty years or so when the history of
motorcycling over the past decade comes to be written, classic bikers of the
21st Century will be able to take a dispassionate look at what we may call the
"Bimota Syndrome". Analysis, take one bog standard megalump of Japanese
origin, devise your own exhaust system, and lay the result on a table. Take
ample supplies of high tensile chrome Moly Columbus tube, ditto sheets of
ultra light and very strong Avional and Ergal aircraft alloy. Mill, drill,
stamp, weld the said materials around your power unit, then hang the very
best in aftermarket components and accessories. Such as Forcelli Italia
forks, Golden Brembo calipers, floating discs, De Carbon suspension units
etc. Not happy with the steels available? Make your own in aircraft alloy
with four sections bonded and riveted together - 16 inches front & rear.
Then put the whole thing together within a seductive, alluring but
voluptuous set of bodywork with superb graphics and a high quality paintjob,
multiply the price you first thought of by two. Just sit back and wait for
the orders to flow in as punters would not be seen dead on anything else but
the best, Because make no mistake, when it comes to riding road bikes, The
best has been Bimota. Of course in the same way as this description of design
and construction of these beautifully made products of the Rimini based
company is hopelessly facile, so there is much more to explaining the Bimota
Syndrome than just simply saying that people buy them because they are scare
and expensive. Perhaps we may have to wait for our 21st Century man to take
a significantly objective look at the "why's" and "wherefores" to give the
answer, but there is no disputing that not only have Bimota's products
always been superbly made, they also set new standards of road holding and
handling at the end of the 70's and early 80's for bikes powered by oriental
multi cylinder engines.
And there is no doubt that for every Bimota customer over the years who
has been a pavement poser, there has been another riding the bike hard
enough to explore the additional potential it offers. Not for anything is
Germany easily Bimota's largest market, with its no limit Autobahn's and the
twisting mountain roads. Yet their second is Japan with its crucifying speed
restrictions and predominantly image orientated Motorcyclist population. All
of which makes the fact that it has taken Bimota almost ten years to build
their first model capable of use as either a single or dual seat machine
rather surprising. Not being a two-wheeled boulevardier myself, I do not
really know what makes these people tick, but I'd have thought it was
desirable to take someone along to show off to in case you cannot find an
audience anywhere else? But at the same time and more seriously, there is no
reason that riding a sports bike should be a solitary experience most
manufacturers deem it ought, while at the same time I don't honestly fancy
having someone on a pillion while I exercise the 150 mph potential of a one
litre engine or bigger. What is more sensible therefore than to build a bike
capable of ready conversion from one to the other without adversely
affecting either the performance or handling - or, lets face it the looks?
The Bimota SB5 is that bike. Like the single seat SB4 from which it is
derived (a slightly longer wheelbase, altered suspension curve and altered
weight distribution, together with the "decapotabile" rear seat squab are
the only real differences between the two). The SB5 is powered by a standard
1135cc DOHC Suzuki engine, supplied directly to Bimota (together with the
instrument cluster) by the Japanese manufacturer in a ground breaking
agreement that Bimota no longer have to buy complete bikes and hope enough
people lunch their GSX1100ES's to enable them to sell off the unwanted stock
of cycle parts. Nevertheless, an increasing number of local Bimota
Concessionaires, such as British distributor Dick Linton of FCL in Cranleigh,
are buying frame kits and building complete bikes out of locally available
engines in order to defray slightly the, by any standards, alarmingly high
price, figure at least £9700 for the fastest dual seat road bike in the
world, and now you know why it is called the "Ferrari of Motorcycles". Who
said the best ever came cheap? I've ridden half a dozen different Bimota's
down the years (yes I know this job is hell isn't it?) but while I have
always admired their execution, I must honestly admit that even if they were
half the price I have never really fancied owning one, even though I have
always liked big bikes and with my lanky build find it hard to stay
comfortable for a long ride on something like a Ducati 600 TT2 replica.
Actually that part of the problem with Bimota's in general for me, they are
very low built and the 16 inch front and rear wheels means a low seat height
which is compensated for me by jacking the footrests up a bit higher than I
like to give sufficient ground clearance. I am not that big a fan of 16-inch
wheels anyway, even if the Bimota has not suffered any of the high-speed
stability problems latterly experienced by the German testers with bikes
fitted with two 16-inch rims. I do not like the way such machines sit up on
you under braking and try to under steer straight ahead, especially if you
have the anti dive torques up, because the degree of rider effort you have
to exert to shove down on the bar in order to make it go where you intended
completely negates the faster steering and more positive directional control
you get with a smaller rim. And before you remind me that many (though by no
means all) current GP bikes have 16 inch wheels, let me point out that you
need a lot less effort to tell a 90-120 kgs racer where to go than a fully
equipped road bike scaling twice as much or more. Anyway back to Bimota's. I
think the real reason why they have never really enthralled me is a
paradoxical one, they are just too well made. I feel subconsciously I should
be looking at them rather than riding them, admiring all the little bits and
bobs that original designer Massimo Tamburini and his successor Federico
Martini, stick on the bikes to make them work.
The chassis itself is a work
of art, on the SB5 you have the design first pioneered by Tamburini on the
Honda powered HB3 five years ago, now copied (but not emulated) by Yamaha on
their FJ1100, with the frame tubes triangulated around and in front of the
steering head to form an immensely rigid structure, and the rear engine
cradle formed by two Avional plates bonded and bolted to the top and bottom
frame tubes.
The well braced rear steel swing arm operates the rising rate de Carbon
rear suspension via a series of beautifully made rods and rocker arms, rose
joint and spherical bearings all abound - and look at the little touches
like the eccentrically mounted upper stop for the brake pedal - itself a
masterpiece of the alloy craftsman's trade. Riding such an exquisite
creation has always been for me the two-wheeled equivalent of siting in an
expensive restaurant and thinking how I would rather be tucking into a glass
of beer, just because I know I would feel more comfortable. Maybe if I could
afford to buy a Bimota myself I would not feel this way, and I suspect most
people who can and do probably think nothing of marching into a three star
Michelin noshery in their leathers (Bimota ones, of course) and ordering up.
Ah well - how the other half-lives. At least for a day on my last visit to
the factory I was able to borrow the factory SB5 test hack and spend a day
dreaming on it. It was a case of second time around in a way, because I had
already ridden the SB5 briefly at the Bimota test day, last November when I
tried to tame the Tesi. Bimota had had to take some stick from Pirelli after
that because of my disparaging comments on the radial tyres fitted to the
bike. So they were keen for me to try again for a longer stint. Oh well I
suppose if you insist….To be honest I felt more at home on the bike than on
any previous Bimota, and looking back on it afterwards, I think there are a
number of reasons. First of all yes Mr. Pirelli I think you tyres are OK on
a warm spring day on dry roads, but I remain to be convinced about how they
perform in the wet, cold weather and their wear rate.
Though the latter not first hand I admit. I have seen a Bimota go through
its rear Pirelli down to les than the British legal limit in a shocking
short time. And they do seem to wiggle a little in a straight line. I still
want to know what advantages these tyres have over the Michelins Bimota used
to use before, or indeed Pirelli's own excellent non-radial Phantoms. I
thought it was only the Japanese that if it was new it was better? Anyhow,
back to the bike itself. Maybe it was because it was well used - and
certainly had a tired engine, which sounded a bit rattley, and in need of a
tune up - but during the short time I spent on the Sb5 I got to feel very
comfortable with it. Sort of kike a comfy old boot that slips on and off
easily. I decided to forgo my usual blast down the autostrada to Pesaro and
beyond in favour of a slower ride through the hills and valleys of San
Marino - in which pocket sized country, incidentally resides the best
looking Police person in the world whom I stopped to ask directions,
but that is another story. It was a nice day, spring was in the
air, there was hardly any traffic - yes I know it is a 10,000 lira automatic
fine for crossing the white line even in San Marino, but I do not think they
have any traffic cops there and certainly not the kind that hide up the side
roads. Flipping the bike easily from one side to the other, up and down the
winding roads, squirting the big Suzuki "diesel" between corners in third
gear with even this well used engine offering gobs of torque and making gear
selection almost redundant, squeezing the outstanding Brembo brakes hard for
an effortless but instant stop when a hay laden cart pulled out in front of
me, or a blind corner revealed a snail like tractor creeping along in the
opposite direction in the middle of the road - it makes a nonsense of the
road signs . 50 Kph on a winding road on a Bimota? You must be joking add a
one in front and you still will not get into any trouble - well probably not
anyhow… Part of the bikes effortless behavior over less than ideal road
surfaces with frequent turns can be attributed to the experimental Marzocchi
M1 forks fitted to it for evaluation, which have in built hydraulic anti
dive (adjustable by means of a knob in front of the lower fork leg) and air
damping. They seemed to have really good suspension response, did not freeze
under heavy braking, and also did not make the bike sit up in corners as
much as I remember with the Forcelli's, even if they did not have any anti
dive at all. Strange.
Anyway Bimota plan to fit these new generation Marzocchi's to the DB1
Ducati engined model, and introduce them on the SB5 as well once development
is complete in the autumn. However, that presupposes an extended life for
the SB5, and I could not help wondering whether the tide has not swung away
from this type of bike. Bimota Boss Guiseppe Morri plans to build 300 such
machines this year, with the demand for the dual seat SB5 such that the SB4
has effectively been discontinued. But now that the Japanese have started
producing what amounts to an assembly line Bimota at half the price, the
Italian companies traditional market of well heeled connoisseurs is being
seriously eroded. Add to that the latter day emphasis on 750 sports machines
and suddenly the fact that Bimota have only ever produce one bike of less
than 900cc (the neat little GPz550 powered KB2) starts to look a bit of a
liability.
No wonder Morri and Martini are working on the DB1 and more importantly
the FZ750 powered machine (the YB4?). Somehow I think that will be my kind
of Bimota - well you can always dream can't you - now that my ride on the
Sb5 tester has cured my fear of falling for the seductive charms of the
Latin lovely. It will be interesting to see how Martini copes with the
design challenge of those down draft carbs, especially given the SB5's
safety orientated steel tank shrouded by the fibreglass seat / tank unit.
But I am sure it will look sensational. However if you want to share your
Bimota biking you will still have to go for the SB5, which for some time
will continue as the only dual seat option from Rimini. Just make sure she
holds on tight when you crank into that fast sweeper at 200 Kph plus