Four stroke, transverse four cylinder, DOHC,
5 valves per cylinder.
Capacity
1002 cc / 61.1 cub. in.
Bore x Stroke
75.5 x 65 mm
Compression Ratio
12.0:1
Cooling System
Liquid cooled
Induction
4X 38mm Mikuni carbs
Ignition
-
Starting
Electric
Max Power
111
kW / 149 hp @ 10500 rpm
Max Torque
117 Nm / 11.9 kgf-m / 86.3 lb-ft. @ 9250 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 Marzocchi forks, anti dive system in the
left tube of the fork leg and a hydraulic brake in the right. compression
and rebound damping adjustable. adjustable by four positions
Rear Suspension
Marzocchi single shock, compression and rebound
damping adjustable.
The Bimota YB8 was powered by the 1002cc engine from the
Yamaha FZR1000 EXUP capable of just under 150 bhp – this was a significant
power figure in the early 1990s, The engineers at Bimota took this engine
and installed it into their own twin spar aluminum perimeter frame, a frame
that had originally been designed for the Bimota YB4EI, a bike that won the
first ever World Superbike race in 1988 at Donington, then claimed a number
of other wins that year and very nearly won the championship.
The body design is pure Bimota with a signature livery,
suspension is fully adjustable Marzocchi front and back, and there are
race-derived Brembo brakes fitted, and lightweight alloy wheels.
Bimota produced three variations on the YB8 between 1990 and 1994, using
basically the same chassis as the previous YB6 range. The first used a Yamaha
FZR1000 EXUP engine in the traditional Bimota chassis, with extremely
high-quality suspension and braking components. This base model was updated in
1993 as the YB8 E. But it was a special edition of the YB8, the Furano, which
most impressed. This was fitted with fuel-injection, replacing the YB8's carbs.
Complete with a lighter chassis and a power increase to 123kW (165bhp), the
Furano was the fastest sportsbike available when it was launched. Luckily for
the owners of the 152 bikes produced, the stiff chassis provides sure handling
at the huge speeds it can attain.
Road TEST
It was a good
job that the YB8 Follett, Bimota's new UK importer, lent us had a speedometer
that only read KPH, because if I had known the speed at which I negotiated that
last set of bends, I would surely have backed off rather than merely grinning
inanely from ear to ear. The YB8 is that sort of bike, not one for the faint
hearted. Its appearance shouts performance without compromise, and it exudes a
quality that only comes with a hand built motorcycle, crafted with dedication to
an ideal. Its paintwork is deep and lustrous and its fibreglass of the finest
quality, whilst the alloy frame is a work of art. Its thin racing seat is a
single lump of foam set into the fibreglass bodywork and declares the single
mindedness with which this motorcycle was conceived. Many parts of course are
borrowed straight from the FZR1000, not only do Bimota use the engine, but they
also borrow the instruments,
switchgear
and brake and clutch fluid reservoirs. The brake calipers are Brembo however,
and operate two massive floating discs at the front, with the fluid ducted
through high quality stainless steel pipes. Sadly for a machine costing nearly
£14,000, Bimota use all of Yamaha's wiring looms, which are far from as neat as
you find on say a BMW, but at least they do work well. The exhaust system is
also borrowed from the FZR, no doubt due to the EXUP exhaust valve system.T
he
real quality shows however in the superb alloy frame, which is a real work of
art, and which no doubt, contributes to the loss of 24 kg off the dry weight of
an FZR. Touches of real quality also show up in such items as their machined
alloy top yoke and rear set foot pegs. These pegs I found to be ideally placed
for the crouched forward riding position and the gear lever and brake pedals
were at an ideal angle to the foot. Needless to say there is no provision for a
passenger, and the fibreglass hump is provided with foam padding so that you can
rest your backside comfortably against it to resist the forces of acceleration.
This means
that you are very nicely held in place for fast riding. The seat, although
minimally appointed, is comfortable thanks to its generous breadth, such that it
amply supports your buttocks and does not cut into your thighs after a long days
riding. Only if you venture over 300 miles will it start to get
uncomfortable. The fairing is again a rather minimal affair, yet yields a better
level of protection from windblast than one would imagine. It is certainly as
good, or should I say as adequate, as that on a standard FZR, and very much
better than say a ZZR1100 Kawasaki. As all the controls are straight from an
FZR, those used to a Japanese machine will find that everything falls instantly
to hand. The real problem comes when you try to start it. Finding the starter is
a doddle, but where is the choke? I searched high and low, inside the fairing
panels, on the frame members, deep inside the fairing, but where did I find it -
literally under my nose on the head yoke. It is a car type push pull knob which
being made from aluminium, is beautifully camouflaged. I felt such a fool!
The only
other item, which needs explanation, is the reserve fuel tap. On the FZR there
is am electronic rocker switch on the left hand side of the fairing, but Bimota
have a better arrangement. They mount a small switch just between the speedo and
rev counter. When the bike stutters from fuel starvation you press this switch,
which electronically switches over to reserve. As you press the switch it also
lights up red, so that you have a visual indication of low fuel. Therefore you
can never forget that you are on reserve, and it reminds you to switch back once
you have filled up. The petrol tank on all Bimota's are plastic, and are hidden
beneath its all-enveloping fibreglass body cowling. You simply unlock the lovely
polished aluminum filler cap, and then unscrew the plastic fuel cap. I found
this very stiff and difficult to get at, and when I overfilled the tank it
spilled over into an overflow well which did not drain off immediately, but
allowed a pool of petrol to remain there. I did not like that so I mopped it up
with a tissue.
There does seem to be an overflow hole, which presumably leads to
a breather pipe, and I can only assume that this may have been blocked. The YB8
has an excellent twin headlamp set up, like the FZR, and at the rear it has two
rear lamps which are highly visible in the back of the seat hump. Like all true
race replicas, there is no built in centre stand, but the prop stand is a
beautiful polished steel item, which looks very strong. Sadly, it is a tad too
long, which means that the bike leans at a perilously shallow angle, looking for
the entire world as if it will fall over in the lightest breeze. How the
Italians manage when they Final Final Final Drive on the right-hand side of the road, with the
amber against them, I cannot imagine. Everywhere I parked the YB8 during the test
period, it drew the inevitable crowd of admirers. In that respect, this machine
is a poseur's delight. Its lustrous white paintwork, with red and green metallic
stripes (as in the Italian flag), exudes class from every crevice.
The wheels
are painted white, and apart from that everything is alloy. It looks a million
dollars. And those tyres are the business too: Michelin Hi-Sports, with a
massive 180/55-rear tyre. You could not ask for better. UK Importers Follett in
Euston road, London, could only spare the YB8 for a week, and so, with
photographs to be taken too, I wasted no time in leaping on the bike and headed
of for the wide-open roads of the West. The last time I rode a Bimota was in
Italy back in the Summer of '88, and I was looking forward to this opportunity
to re-acquaint myself with the prestigious marque. I can still remember my
impression of their old YB6, the one that used the non-Exup FZR1000 engine. I
had not liked it as much as the 750cc YB4, and had found it a little slow in
steering and intractable. Would the YB8 ape its behavior?
Well I am pleased to
say that the YB8 was altogether a nimbler machine than the old YB6. Running a
standard FZR1000 as I do for my own bike, going straight to the YB8 would be an
interesting comparison. Obviously being an Italian-spec machine, the YB8 has no
need to conform to the Japanese importers voluntary 125 bhp limit for the
engine, and the YB8 has a whacking 149 bhp lurking under its curvaceous body. You
may have read other Journo's who have said that one simply cannot use this sort
of power on the road. Of course, that is nonsense. And I am not referring to top
speed, Bimota quote a top speed of 173 mph if you are interested though, and I
can only say I have no reason to doubt that, even though I had no opportunity to
verify it myself. No the 149 bhp offered by the YB8 is completely usable on the
road, and it is in the region of overtakes especially that one notices the extra
poke. It was noticeable riding the BMW K1 recently, with its mere 100 bhp that
overtakes possible on a machine like the YB8 cannot even be contemplated on a
K1. It is that ability to get out and sprint effortlessly past a long line of
traffic, without having to drop three gears that separate the YB8 from lesser
machines, including all the hotshot 750's.
The YB8 soon
declares its colours to the rider, indeed as I rode it through London, with its
snarled up traffic and its badly repaired roads, it was clear that the YB8 was
not a machine to be ridden through town by choice. Its riding position is
uncompromisingly sporty, with the rider stretched out over the tank and his feet
on proper rear set footpegs. Its suspension too is hard. You feel every ripple,
every matchstick. Some call it feedback, but around town, at low speeds its
agony. What you will notice is a cacophony of irritating buzzes and rattles. You
will hear more than anything the floating discs.
Try it:
grad the discs and they are free to move- which is sound racing practice,
nothing wrong with that - but every time you brake I town you will hear them
clatter. I also felt the chain on the demo bike was too slack, and that
contributed its own merry tune to the general hubbub. Not what you would expect
from a bike costing nearly £14,000. The engine of course, being a de restricted
FZR1000 Exup engine, has boundless low down torque and pulls like a train in top
gear even from tick over. Indeed there are few engines, apart from Suzuki's
GSX-R1100 power plant, which can match it for sheer grunt, but the Exup engine
is undoubtedly smoother and more refined than Suzuki's oil cooled 1100. You will
also notice, as you negotiate the fist few roundabouts, that in common with many
race-orientated designs, the YB8 is rather slow steering. Its Michelins give
phenomenal grip and surefootedness, but it is something no doubt in the YB8#s
general steering geometry that makes it far slower to go down in a bend than a
Yamaha or Suzuki.
Town is no
environment in which to test a machine like this, and so it was off to the fast
roads of the South West, where I headed with the YB8. This is where I was to
discover what a remarkable machine this really was. No sooner had I hit the good
bit of the A4 past Newbury than the YB8 showed what it could do. Head it at a
fast open sweeper, wind the throttle up and this thing corners, as the cliché
goes "as if it was on rails". Now there is not many bikes I can think of the can
match the YB8's cornering prowess at high speeds, indeed I cannot think of one.
The FZR1000 definitely moves around and shakes it head at speed. The Suzuki
GSX-R1100 is a little closer to the YB8 in that respect but still not, I would
suggest in the same class. The roads after Hungerford where I turned off the A4
presented a different challenge to the Bimota and required a different sort of
handling finesse.
The A338 to Wantage is a road where bikes like the Suzuki
GSX-R750 and Honda RC30 reign supreme, due to their flick ability and flawless
suspension. These however, were in the two very areas where the YB8, in my
opinion, proved least capable, as a result I found that I was working hard to
maintain the speeds along these twisty and poorly surfaced roads that would have
been easy for a GSX-R750 or for that matter even the standard FZR1000. The
problem was that at anything other than very high speeds on open A roads, the
slow steering and choppy suspension of the YB8 really worked against you, and
where you need to be able to flick a bike through a series of bumpy esses, the
YB8 is a bit of a handful. Not that it ever truly misbehaved itself for it was
always composed, it is simply that one needed greater effort to put the bike
into a bend and the tighter and twistier the road becomes the harder the YB8 is
to ride. On more open A roads, such as certain sections of the A417 to
Cirencester which I then joined, and later on the A429 south from Stow towards
Cirencester, the amazing stability and well damped front end helped long bumpy
straights to be dispatched with disdainful ease, where some bikes would have
tied themselves I knots.
The FZR in
fact always had a tendency to shake its head over bumps when taken at speed,
whereas the YB8 no doubt thanks to its steering damper, sails through
unconcerned. One thing that the YB8 has in abundance is overtaking power, more so
even than the standard FZR. Rarely will you find it necessary to go any lower
than fourth, such is the power and torque spread of Yamaha's phenomenal
twenty-valve Exup. Lines of cars may be overtaken with incredible sprinting
power and such is the spread in fourth that you will not end up redlining it,
unless you really are at full tilt. That it can do all this with refinement and
ease is a bonus, although I will say that because Bimota mount the Yamaha engine
more solidly than Yamaha do, and the seat being as thinly padded as it is, you
feel more vibration through your backside than the FZR.
There is also an
annoying tingle through the bars, which can numb the fingers at certain revs.
Not that economy is a consideration foremost in your mind when you buy a bike
like this, but I have to report the despite my best efforts the machine turned
in quite stunning fuel consumption results compared to the standard FZR. Whereas
I come to expect something like 30 mpg average, 40 mpg at best. On the YB8 I was
getting worse case 45 and up to 50 mpg. Which I think is quite remarkable, and
before you suggest that I was not really trying I can assure you I was wringing
the poor things neck wherever I could, occasionally achieving velocities that we
should not even talk about. It would go onto reserve between 140-160 miles,
which should mean there is about 5 or 6 Litres left giving an impressive
200-mile range. And so, either Bimota has a more aerodynamic fairing, or it
economy improves when it is not restricted to 125 bhp. Who can say? Ultimately,
the person who buys a machine like the YB will not be affected by its lack of
practicality, its fuel consumption, lack of creature comforts or asking price
for that matter. For when you but a Bimota you buy a pure piece of hand crafted
one upmanship. True Exclusivity. To judge the YB8 by banal real world
considerations is therefore perhaps churlish, for its appeal is an emotional,
subjective one and thus defies the test of cold blooded logic.
Let us assume
therefore that the price is not a consideration, and one has to say the YB8 is
one of the finest machines around, and that, at high speed on open sweepers it
possesses the kind of stability that that I have experienced on no other
machine. Here it is without a peer. We do not however always ride on wide, fast,
well surfaced A roads and when the going gets tighter, and/or bumpier, its slow
steering and choppy ride quality make it hard work. Anyway you look at it the YB8
is one hell of a bike, and I thoroughly enjoyed riding it. Few of those who buy
it however, will ever fully exploit its awesome potential.