Four stroke, transverse four
cylinder, DOHC, 5 valves per cylinder.
Capacity
1002 cc / 61.1 cub. in.
Bore x Stroke
75.5 x 76 mm
Compression Ratio
12.0:1
Cooling System
LIquid cooled
Induction
2x 38mm Mikuni BSDT38 carbs
Ignition
Digita CDI
Starting
Electric
Max Power
108.1 kW / 145 hp @ 10500 rpm
Max Power Rear Tyre
94.9 kW / 127.3
hp @ 10600 rpm
Max Torque
94.1 Nm / 9.6 kgf-m / 69.4 lb-ft. @ 9000 rpm
Transmission
5 Speed
Final Drive
Chain
Frame
Two diagonal beams in section bar made of
aluminium with internal ribbing. The cylinders are supported by plates
bolted to the beams and the swing arm is made of aluminium
Front Suspension
42mm Upside-down Marzocchi forks, preload,
compression and rebound damping adjustable.
Rear Suspension
Öhlins, preload, compression and rebound
damping adjustable.
The YB10 Dieci represents
the evolution of the series YB6 and YB8, with the four cylinder 1000 cc
Yamaha engine. Compared with previous models, the riding position has been
slightly improved, the handlebars are 2 cm higher and footrests are 1.5 cm
higher. The rear suspension has another 10 mm of range, but the biggest
change is the new upside down front Marzocchi forks.
Remember the film Ten? Cuddly
Dudley Moore as a middle aged composer, lusting after bouncing Bo Derek, whose
briefly glimpsed gorgeousness persuaded sex thimble Dud to award her a perfect
score of Ten, then abandon everything to give chase? Bimota's curvaceous
creation might provoke a similar response from a few desperate bike fanciers,
but in truth is more down to earth. In naming their latest Yamaha powered
model the "dieci" (the word means ten in Italian) the Rimini crew are not
claiming perfection but merely making a logical addition to their YB series,
which had previously reached the YB9.The film title fits the bike nicely,
though, and not just because the Bimota relates all to easily to all the
clichéd comments about classy bodies and designer clothes.
The YB blend of FZ/FZR engines and
alloy twin spar frames has been a round a long time in terms of State of the
Art motorcycle designs, and if a motorcycle has gradually been honed and
refined towards the absolute, ten out of ten limit of its potential then this
is it. Movie star level s of opulence and flawless beauty are taken for granted
on any £15,000 motorcycle, especially one from Rimini. What Bimota have done
with the Dieci is selected from the components that have gone before, tweaked
some of them a bit added a new look, then presented the finished motorcycle as
the last in the line of beam framed bikes stretching back to the FZ 750
engined YB4. Mind you I remember they said last year's Bellaria would be the
final one in the series too…
The Dieci is a replacement for the YB8, which
just to confuse matters was originally released as the YB6 Exup. As its
moniker suggests, that original hunk of a motorcycle was produced by dangling
Yamaha's EXUP equipped FZR 1000 mill beneath Bimota's satiny-sleek and
stupendously strong pair of aluminium beams. The Tuatara that followed last
year progressed to upside down forks and fuel injection, but reverted to the
older 989cc FZR motor because Bimota did not want to use the newer engine
without its EXUP exhaust power valve system.
They have stuck to that decision
with the Dieci, which basically consists of a carbureted YB8 power plant in a
modified Tuatara chassis. Instead of hiding expensive fuel injection, the YB8
fairing has been redesigned to improve the intake system to the 38mm
downdraught Mikuni's a modification that chief engineer Pierluigi Marconi
reckons removes the old models slight power dip at 6000 rpm, can't say I ever
noticed it, but no doubt he is right. Peak power is unchanged at 149bhp, but
the new shape is also claimed to add a few mph to give a top speed that one
foreign magazine has tested at 172 mph. The upside down forks, too, have been
borrowed from the Tuatara and grafted on with the aim of giving the Bimota
extra performance through increased chassis strength and cornering power.
But it is in the comfort as much
as the handling that the Dieci is intended to have the edge over its
predecessor, for the bike has a subtly modified riding position and revised
suspension aimed at giving move travel without reducing ground clearance. The
upside downers have a 15mm greater stroke than the YB8's conventional
Marzocchi and can be adjusted for compression and rebound by twiddling the
knobs at their tops - left leg rebound, right for compression.
The back end is
softened a tad to match by the simple expedient of backing off the multiple
adjustable shocks pre load by 5mm, hardly a radical move but one guaranteed to
chip away further at the Bim's reserves of ground clearance. To counter that
the footrests have been raised by 15mm, the skimpy single seats height has
grown by a similar amount and the clip ons have moved from their normal spot
below the milled from solid top yoke to be bolted above it. Sitting on the
Dieci in the Misano pit lane first thing on a freezing December morning, my
first thought was that the bike felt low, despite its raised seat, and quite
wide, pushing my legs out to clear the fiberglass that runs past the fop of
the main spars. The bar, peg, seat relationship has hardly changed, so this is
still an ultra sports motorcycle, tight and tucked up.
The Dieci felt as
aggressive and hard edged as any Bimota as I aimed its blunt, twin head lamped
nose out onto the little Adriatic Coast circuit. Perhaps the greatest
compliment I can pay the bike is that for the next half a dozen laps, until my
first stint was over, I was barely aware of it. Taking seriously impressive
figures like 149bhp and a dry weight of 407 lb (65 lb down on a stock FZR)
mixing in a twisty, barely remembered and patchily resurfaced race track, then
adding a gusty wind that was trying to spatter my eyeballs over the inside of
my visor could have been a recipe for trouble. Instead the Dieci could barely
have been easier or much more civilized to ride - or much faster come to that.
Forcing myself to analyse
the bike in the pits afterwards, my notebooks shaky opening comments of
"smooth power everywhere" emphasizes that the most obvious characteristic is
the glorious seamless torrent of 20 valve torque that is always, just always,
available at the other end of the throttle wire.The Dieci may have
fractionally less instant low rev throttle response than the injected Tuatara,
any difference is very slight, but the bike pulls cleanly and so strongly from
idle to its 11500rpm redline that at least one of its five gears always feels
right.
The standard FZR engine is
exceptionally gutsy and strong, Bimota's mild tuning with induction
modifications and their less restrictive four into one-pipe makes it better
still. Misano has one superb left hand bend that goes on and on for ages,
opening out and getting slightly faster all the time. The Dieci could be short
shifted and then powered round and round, the rear Michelin Hi Sport radials
fat sticky foot digging its nails in determinedly all the way, until I was
hammering onto the back straight with my head behind the low screen, the
engine howling and the stylish red and black Speedo - no Tuatara digital
gimmicks here - unwinding towards an indicated 175mph.Then it was hard on the
big, drilled, hugely powerful front Brembo's into the following 180-degree
left-hander as hard as I dare.
The 17-inch front wheel, lightweight and steep
geometry made steering easy. Occasionally there would be a slight flutter as
the back went light, but the upside down Marzocchi always felt wonderfully
firm and unyielding. Later in the day the forkless Tesi would give a new
element of control when braking into the same bend, but the Dieci's forks felt
impressively strong and the chassis rigidity, the classy rear Marzocchi and
the grip of the chubby Hi Sport meant that the Dieci could be powered though
and out of the turns even harder than it went in. Ground clearance? I could
not find its limits I'm afraid, despite trying pretty hard and wearing out a
pair knee scraper in the process. Only downer was the occasional discovery of a
false neutral going into a bend - once when I'd coolly whisked past a Tesi
mounted rival hack on the brakes, only to find myself wallowing Final Final Final Driveless and
helpless ahead of him in mid corner. I wasn't the only rider to suffer the
problem but Yamaha's latest FZR gearbox is a lot better than the one the
Tuatara had to suffer.
So it is likely that adjusting the
gearlever position would have cured it. As for the comfort advantage that the
Dieci has bee designed to provide over its forebears, neither the smooth turns
of a racetrack nor the series of short sessions we had on the bike were likely
to provide much chance of assessing that. Logic suggests that softer
suspension should help, though. And it is hard to deny that piloting most
previous Bimota's on the road for any length of time has always been pretty
tough on wrists and bum. For a no compromise sportster the Dieci certainly
soaked up Misano's few surface irregularities without complaint, yet without
losing any of the instant feedback that made the bike so easy to ride fast.
The difference between this and the previous FZR based Bimota is just a few
percent, of course, a couple of mph on the clock, a new set of forks, a
remolded piece of fiberglass, a few thousand pounds
. They have all been exceptionally
fast and fine handling, supremely beautiful and depressingly expensive. The
Dieci too, is all of those things. For the fortunate few with the chance to
own one, the decision on whether it is the best big Bimota yet will depend as
much on their assessment of the colour scheme and shape as to the fractional
improvements in fork rigidity and ride. One thing is sure though, the Dieci get
ten out of ten from me.