Bringing Back Bimota

BRINGINGBACKBIMOTA

Hot-lapping the DB5

THINK OF THE DB5 AS A NEW BEGINNING, NOT JUST another chapter in the Bimota saga. Building this bike required immense enthusiasm on the part of those involved. How else could anyone find the motivation to sign up with the eternally limping (from a financial standpoint) specialty Italian bike-maker?

There are new partners, including one from Switzerland, and chief engineer Alberto Strada has been given the goahead to create a line of top-class sportbikes. Long-term, the goal is to forge a place in the market in the tradition set forth by original company co-founder Massimo Tamburini.

As in the past, Ducati is the engine supplier. This is logical. In the world of sporting motorcycle engines, there is nothing more Italian than a Ducati V-Twin. The air-cooled, sohc, two-valve-per-cylinder 992cc Dual Spark engine is wrapped in a steel trellis frame, painted red, and in true Bimota-style, bejeweled with aluminum components machined from billet. Styling is by Sergio Robbiano.

Because Bimota planned to develop its own exhaust system, Ducati supplied the engines without electronics. Rather than follow conventional practice and approach MagnetiMarelli for fuel-injection and ignition mapping, which would have cost a small fortune, Bimota re-established ties with small electronic specialist Pegaso. Strada thought that mapping the Ducati engine would be a walk in the park for Pegaso, which had tuned the Suzuki TLlOOOR-powered SB8. Not so: I rode two DB5s and both had EFI and ignition glitches.

Bimota claims 92 horsepower at 8000 rpm and 68 footpounds of torque at 5500 rpm, up 8 hp and 6.5 ft.-lbs. from what Ducati claims for the standard DS engine.

Most of the engine-camshafts, compression and 45mm throttle bodies-went untouched. A larger, 18-liter airbox and the aforementioned freer-breathing exhaust system account for the improvements in power.

BIMOTA

DB5

The TIG-welded frame is elegantly triangulated, forming an attractive and rigid structure. The tubular design clamps the engine only at the front mounting boss, between the cylinder Vee. The rear upper and swingarm spindle bosses are located by two massive, beautifully machined high-tensile aluminum plates, with stainless-steel bushings acting as dowels to precisely and solidly mate the frame to the plates. At the uppermost point, a single bolt, assisted by aluminum spacers, also acts as the top mount for the cantilevered Öhlins shock. Complex, but nicely done.

The swingarm is similar to the frame, with a triangulated tubular structure fitted with machined-aluminum plates at each end. The plates include chain adjusters, a very neat and efficient design. Wheelbase is 56.1 inches, ironically more than an inch longer than the identically powered Ducati Supersport 1000.

Front suspension action is entrusted to a 43mm Ohlins inverted fork. Triple-clamps with typical Bimota 35mm offset are mated to a steering axis set at 24 degrees. That works with a standard 120/70 17 front radial tire to produce 3.9 inches of trail. It's worth noting that the clamps are machined from the same hightensile aluminum alloy as the frame plates. Same goes for the fork lowers, which double as mounts for the radial-style Brembo front brake calipers. Claimed dry weight is 364 pounds. Weight savings was achieved through superb craftsmanship and by sensible tech nical choices. The 4.5-gallon aluminum fuel tank, for exam ple, is lightweight and has sufficient capacity for a long ride. Paired with the aforementioned radial calipers, the smallish, 298mm Brembo front brake rotors produce all the stopping power needed to haul the DB5 down from speed, yet save more than 2 pounds in unsprung mass. Throw a leg over the DB5 and you will fall in love. This motorcycle is not only the epitome of a pure Italian sportbike, it is art, the realization of a dream. The DB5 achieves this performance through its friendly, tractable engine and supreme handling. Experienced riders won't be overwhelmed with the amount of power, but the excellent power-to-weight ratio allows the bike to slingshot quickly out of corners. The engine is a willing mill, but at the track, harnessed to an all-out race-quality chassis, it shows its limits. On more than one occasion, I hit the rev-limiter in the search for that last bit of power. On the street, however, the engine per forms beautifully. Acceleration is furious and I regularly saw speedometer readings of 110 mph while accelerating hard out of third-gear corners. Top speed should be in excess of 140 mph.

Ergonomically, the DB5 stretches out the rider like in the old days. Of the two DB5s I rode, one had firmer suspension settings and Pirelli Diablo Corsas, while the other had some what softer settings and Dunlop Sportmax D2O8RRs. The first combination was the best, mainly in terms of steering response and neutrality, especially around slow-to-mediumspeed corners. Lean angles were staggering with both setups, but the Pirellis have a rounder, more progressive profile that helps get the best out of the front end-even with a 220pound rider aboard! The cantilever rear suspension is effective and well-sorted, which contributed to the bike's impressive traction quali ties. I could snatch the throttle wide open and feel the power being transmitted to the ground while my knee was still on the tarmac. Under brisk acceleration, the bike remains perfectly level, with little weight transfer and no front-end vagueness. At $28,500, the DB5 is expensive. That said, there is much to love: the tradition of Italian sportbikes, Bimota's impec cable design and the use of exclusive components normally fitted only to racebikes. With the DB5, the pleasure extends beyond the riding. -Bruno de Prato

Bruno de Prato