A 500cc World Championship can do a lot for a place, even a dump like
Wollongong, New South Wales. Gardner was not in but his spirit hung around the
place like an air freshener around a dung heap. "Bet Wayne's bike is quicker
that that mate," said the fist of the freckly kids down by the docks. "He's got
an 'Onda - yours is only a Yamaha". "Bimota" I corrected him. "They are world
champions too". The kid, weaned on xenophobic ossie overkill, looked betrayed,
as though I had told him Santa was a child molester. I felt a bit confused too.
My most sensitive parts could not understand why I was defending the Bimota to
anyone, let alone an eight-year-old kid. The bloody thing was not doing much to
defend me. Which was why I was walking, as the locals say a bit crook.
The YB5
had spent much of that morning evoking youthful memories of life with my first
Ducati - an 860 GTS. That was the model, you are lucky if you cannot recall it,
on which the factory responded to complaints of a too lofty seat height by
stripping an inch out of the padding of an already under upholstered bum perch.
YB5's start life with the MK2 seat padding. When Bimota launched the model at the
1986 Cologne Show, they billed it as the Bimota designed for people who like too
high profile in pairs - a two up street racer, if there is such a thing. The
theory presumably went that there is little point wearing full mating plumage
without somewhere to perch your love lorn hen if the display works. I suppose it
follows from this avian analogy that their sit upon must be half hatched. Seat
padding half an inch thick coupled with suspenders of the hard gives handling
persuasion had not endeared me to the YB5 in contriving an escape from the
overheated clutches of the Sydney traffic that morning. The boy racer, unnatural
bends in every limb riding position coupled with tight borrowed leathers and a
serious dose of sun struck Pom burn had not helped either.
Then we found a bit of interesting road. Sydney's sprawling suburbs dropped
behind like a virgin's veil and the real stuff arrived. Miles of sinuous freeway
followed by the twists and turns of the high country inland of Wollongong.
Bimota's do not have a "bit", (in fact they have a great deal) but if the YB5
had had one, it would have champed right through it. On with the gas, push the
torquiest motor in creation through the revs - quite needlessly, but who can
resist a dancing tacho? - And aim at speed for nowhere in particular.
Thus I
learnt that this Bimota, like most of the others, has a classy chassis. By
comparison Yamaha's interpretation of the FJ is a bus Final Final Final Driven by a menopausal
bore on Mogadon. Dial in 200 Kph, aim for the vein in the fallen leaf - you've
got it. Encounter an idiot lane changing 200 yards ahead of his indicators - no
problem, instantly, with yards to spare. In effect the YB5 simply doubles your
reaction time. In fact the bike harbours a quite uncanny combination of
high-speed stability with gibbon like agility. At an indicated 240 kph (150 mph)
it felt as solid and sure-footed as anything I have ever ridden.
But the truly
impressive thing was the feather light ease with which it chopped line at speed
- the merest hint to the bars and you were two lanes away from where you started. According top popular theory these characteristics in this combination
are common as gills on horse. Indeed the effect was so rare for a machine of
this size that I suspected a surfeit of Mr. Tuohey's excellent brew the night
before had addled my judgment, a quick swap onto a CBR1000 followed by a
vigorous spin on a GSX-R1100 convinced me the effects were real. Not that the
YB5 is a lightweight. Although the chassis and cycle parts are light as an 11K
price tag permits, Yamaha's air-cooled mill is a massive lump by any standards.
By the use of thin walled Chrome moly tubing, lightweight alloy fabrications and
lighter wheels and accessories, Bimota claimed to have shaved off around 55 lbs
from the FJ's weight of 540 with a gallon of gas.
That still makes for 475 lbs
dry, every one of which tells me when pushing the lump around a car park. That
the Bimota can be so massive and yet still hustle the way it does is a credit to
its frame rigidity, geometry and weight distribution. Wheelbase is a fairly
conservative 57.3 inches - about par for current 750's - which goes some way to
explaining the bikes stability, rake and trail on the other hand are a mere 23.5
degrees and 90 mm respectively, which puts the plot right in the cut and thrust
250 cc league and accounts in full for its agility. (The '88 FJ12, by
comparison, has far more indolent figures of 27.5 degrees and 112 mm).
That the
YB5 tolerates these figures without slapping itself into apoplexy testifies to
the rigidity of the frame, swinging-fork assembly and those beefy 41.7 mm
Marzocchi M1R forks. Weaving just is not in this bikes curriculum.On the face of
it 18-inch wheels at each end contradict this analysis.
The rolling diameter of
these ultra low profile 60 series Michelins radials, however, is about two
inches less than that of a conventional tyre with an 80 percent aspect ratio, so
in effect the YB5 has 16 inch wheels at each end. Actually despite what you may
have read elsewhere, it is not quite that simple, the rim being further from the
spindle and one of it heaviest bits, makes for a comparatively large gyroscopic
effect. For the sake of argument, let us say the set up equates in practice to a
pair of 17 inchers. Weight distribution is something you will hear Bimota
designers talk about more than most. In a world where most of the Japanese
quasi-racers seem to favour pronounced front end bias - and shag front slicks
accordingly -
Bimota put great store by a 50:50 weight distribution ideal. The
result, when you get it right is a superbly balanced neutral feel to the
steering. Yamaha's FJ12 plot probably denied them some of the design scope they
would have liked (and this bike was derived from the Suzuki engined SB4/5
anyway) but the YB5 still has impeccable road manners. This neutrality is
particularly inviting out of corners, where the bike all but demands early and
energetic handfuls of throttle yet sneers at rear wheel slides with unruffled
aplomb. Where it does fall down is in its woefully over sprung suspension. What
might work over Imola's smooth curves is sheer purgatory over back road bumps.
The Bimota kicks, judders and rattles, tormenting wrists and bum and last nights
Tandoori with every painful leap.
The rear end is worst and completely beyond
rehabilitation despite theoretical multitude of adjustments. Sitting on the bike
depressed the rear shock scarcely at all, whereas rule of thumb suggest one and
a half inches might be the norm. If I'd just paid the best part of a years wages
for one I'd expect something to be done about it, free of charge. The engine
deserves more than the passing mentions it has received so far. Almost any
tester you care to mention has placed the FJ1200 motor close to, if not actually
at the very top of his all time list of Careless Torque Generators, even in the
stock chassis. In Bimota's lighter, slippier guise it almost defies description.
Despite a mild ignition glitch which saw it misfire above 150 mph. Even in this
trim pitting it against a GSX-R1100 and a CBR1000 in a 70 mph roll on turned out
to be the non-event of the decade.
The Suzuki was left for dead and the Honda
relegated to not even born. It is conceivable that with an on song propulsion
the YB5 could be the world's fastest production bike. The one negative value in
the new equation was a slight increase of vibes above 3000 rpm. Probably a
function of the lighter chassis's inability to soak them up or the previously
mentioned glitch. In real terms this defined the YB5 as the most schizoid street
racer since Freud discovered fun, street race handling with Mack truck
locomotion - a special combination indeed.
But I cannot help feeling that anyone who considers changing gear too plebian
for his dainty little Gucci's might also rebel at the lack of creature comforts
elsewhere. For the price you get exquisite detailing, the finest workmanship
money can buy and more ground clearance than you know what to do with, you are
also entitled to expect some the very best of something functional. But in
choosing to shoehorn an FJ12 engine into a previous generation trellis frame,
all Bimota has done is produce an eye catching compromise.
Source: Bike magazine, May 1988
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