Quote:
Originally Posted by mbevans
Gentlemen,
While I fingerprinted a new SB8R back in 2000-01, remember sitting on it and drooling back then. I liked it much.
Yet recently I found a "used" one and wanted to know what past/present owners thought/think of it today.
While for years I've enjoyed a very strong Ducati 996sps with a very high level of tune, and was wonering if the handling of this Bimota would equal a fully tuned/suspension done Ducati?
Thoughts?
Thanks,
M
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I own 3 BIMOTA SB8RS "Special"s.......they are all 3 set up differently, but all three are superb bikes.
Im guessing you want info about a stock SB8R/SB8RS bike; they are great bikes for aggressive riding/racing. The fueling is not very clean below 5000 rpm.....so if you ride it like a little old lady you may not like it much.
You need to remember that the SB8R/SB8RS model was built as a street legal race bike. The 59mm throttle bodies and the state of tune on the bike works well for aggressive riding/racing when you keep the engine in the mid to upper rpm range. It works great for this. But the fueling is difficult to clean up below the 5000/5500 rpm range.
So IMHO it boils down to how you ride. If you want a mild mannered street bike, then do not buy a SB8R/SB8RS or Gobert Replica ( these have the 59mm TBs and race spec tuning). You might consider a SB8K Santa Monica which uses a detuned system with 52mm TBs and tilting shower injectors. This set up runs much cleaner/smoother at lower and mid rpms.
Personally I would go with an SB8RS....and ride it aggressively. You can put light weight wheels, upgraded brakes, and race exhaust on it, and go from there......
If possible try to find a dealer that will let you test ride one. Or a friend if you know someone with a SB8R/SB8RS and will let you try it out for size.
BIMOTA developed the SB8R/SB8RS on the road race and endurance racing circuits of Europe. It truely is a race bike set up for street use, not a street bike made into a racer. If you look everything about the bike is made with this in mind. The bike is light weight even in present company. The Suzuki TLR engine is a great mill and bulletproof in stock condition. BIMOTA has already upgraded the fuel and ignition systems. An open exhaust and fuel trimmer helps bring more power out of it. You can keep it stock or upgrade the entire bike, either way you will most likely enjoy it and grow old with it too. Plus its a BIMOTA.....exclusive....rare and ultra exotic.....
There is some info on this bike here and on other sites. If you can get your hands on some of the old bike magazines that did reviews and/or tested the bike you can learn alot.
Basically people that try to ride one like a Honda street bike will not like the SB8R/SB8RS.....those use to riding Ducati superbikes and/or who have racers blood, will tend to love the bike.
All 3 of my bikes work great. Even the fueling is good on all 3 of my bikes. I have the fuel trimmer and open/race exhausts one them. This is how BIMOTA built the bike. Taking the trimmer off and putting on OEM stock street exhaust helped the bike make street legal status. If you ride one without the trimmer and with muffled/baffled street exhaust, the lower rpm fueling is at its worst. Going to open/race exhaust and putting on the trimmer helps the bike alot.
I live a 6000 feet above sea level and do 99% of my riding in the paved mountain canyons of our Colorado Rocky Mountains ( all the way up to 14000 feet above sea level +....the highest paved road in North America is 14260+ feet at the summit, and its only a 60 mile ride from my back door. I can leave my home and in 5 minutes Im into the mountains......
I bring up the altitude issue simply because it may or may not effect the bikes fueling. A bike looses around 3% power for each 1000 feet elevation above sea level......so the fueling is going to be different at lower elevations.
Many SB8R/SB8RS owners will put on a fuel/ignition computer and dyno tune the system.
It is also possible that a few of the earlier bikes might have had more fueling troubles than later ones. I remember discussing this at length with Bob Smith the old BIMOTA USA importer.
If you do enough research you will see that a number of people have raced the SB8R/SB8RS models with good results even with stock or near stock bikes. But this is a topic for later ( I got my first SB8RS in 1999, and within a year or 2 I had purchased 2 more with the intent of racing them. I talked with people all over the world about racing these bikes, and after setting up 2 of the 3 SB8RS bikes with $20K+ USD in upgrades each; I decide not to race them, but to use them to play in the mountains instead ( I was a hard core racer most of my young adult years so basically I decided that I did not need or want to race when canyon riding is/was more fun for me.)>
I hope this has been of some help....good luck, and post pictures if you do buy one
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