Four stroke, 90°“L”twin cylinder, DOHC, desmodromic 4 valves
per cylinder
Capacity
904 cc / 55.2 cub. in.
Bore x Stroke
92 x 68 mm
Compression Ratio
10.4:1
Cooling System
Liquid cooled
Induction
Weber fuel injection
Ignition
Digital CDI
Ignition
Electric
Max Power
84.3 kW/ 113 hp @ 7500 rpm
Max Torque
92 Nm / 9.4 kgf-m / 67.9 lb-ft. @ 7000 rpm
Transmission
6 Speed
Final Drive
Chain
Frame
Pair of upside down
boomerang shaped plates that envelope the engine on either side. They are
made of aluminium alloy and are machined not cast. The engine, unlike the
preceding series, has no load bearing functions. At the far ends of the
engine are the hinged swing arms, made of anticordal alloy.
Front Suspension
Swinging arm with Marzocchi single shock
stepless preload 10-way compression and 25-way preload damping adjustment
Rear Suspension
Marzocchi single shock stepless preload
10-way compression and 25-way preload damping adjustment
The second version of the
Tesi was actually presented only a few weeks after the first. The only
modification was engine displacement which was increased from 851 to 904. It was
absolutely identical to the 1D 851 and was later to become known as the "SR".
This was to cause confusion as the later "SR", which was different in both
appearance and chassis.
The Bimota Tesi is one of the most radical, m
extraordinary and most interesting superbikes ever built. With the Tesi, the
small Italian factory took a giant leap forward in motorcycle design, one
that only Yamaha (and to a lesser extent BMW) have dared to follow, although
'specials' builders such as Nico Bakker have produced similar machines in
very' small numbers. What Bimota did was put into production a superbike
that featured hub-centre steering rather than traditional telescopic front
forks.
The problem with conventional telescopic forks is that they flex
under braking and cornering, and because they compress under braking, the
steering geometry of the bike is altered. In an ideal world the suspension
and steering of a motorcycle should be separate and independent to each
other. With telescopic forks this isn't possible, no matter how good the
forks are, but with hub-centre steering the suspension can be separated from
the steering. So instead of wrapping the motorcycle's engine in a
conventional frame and then bolting a pair of forks to the headstock and a
rear swingarm to the back, Bimota have wrapped their chassis around the
sides of the engine and then bolted a swingarm on at the front and at the
back. The rear swingarm pivots in the traditional way and actuates the rear
shock, while the front shock is bolted to the left-hand spar of the front
swingarm and to the chassis. A complicated system of linkages joins the
steering column to the front wheel to allow almost 30 degrees of steering
movement. One of the advantages of using a twin-sided front swingarm (as
opposed to a single-sided one like the Yamaha GTS 1000) is that it allows
two brake discs to be used. And with twin 320mm front discs gripped by
four-piston Brembo calipers, the Tesi has one of the best brake set-ups of
any superbike.
The engine itself is a modified version of the Ducati 904cc
water-cooled eight-valve dcsmo-dromic V-twin engine which uses a development
of the Weber-Marelli fuel-injection system to produce a hefty 117bhp. If all
this doesn't sound exotic enough, the whole bike is clad in carbon-fibre
bodywork and equipped with a pair of Kevlar silencers. The finished result
is a bike that scales a featherweight 4071bs dry and which has a whcelbasc
more akin to a 400cc machine than a litre bike. On the road the Tcsi is
quite unlike anything else. The lack of dive when slowing, and the fact that
the suspension continues to work during hard braking, means that the Tesi
can be braked later and cornered harder than anything else on the road. The
fire-breathing Ducati engine means that top speeds of 160mph are a breeze
and that in terms of performance the Tcsi will stay with the very best that
Japan has to offer. The down side is that the Tesi is a solo machine, with
no accommodation for pillion passengers, and it costs twice as much as a
Yamaha GTS 1000. In fact, except for the Honda NR750, the Tesi is the most
expensive production bike in the world. But then it is also arguably the
best production bike in the world.