An Apt Observation on the Tesi Design and Bimota's Role in the Marketplace

[dnovo]

In a realted post, I offered my thoughts on the pros and cons of the Tesi design and the future of the new Bimota company in relation to the re-introduction of the Tesi concept. While going through my stored materials, I found this comment in a test of the 2007 Tesi 2D which sums up the Tesi concept quite nicely and then finishes with a comment about Bimota and it place -- or what should be its place -- in the motorcyling world:

"The way the front end [of the Tesi 2D] works was actually most noticeable when I hopped on a DB5 Bimota for a session and tried to enter corners in the same way I had been on the Tesi. Feeling the forks compress, and then come back up at me as I got back on the gas was almost unsettling for the first couple of laps, and I had to re-adjust my riding style to smooth things out. Whether or not the Tesi's system will make for faster lap times I can't say, but it certainly isn't going to make you slower, and nothing on two wheels looks as wild.

A few other points came to my attention as I got back on the Tesi. The riding position is a lot more aggressive than the DB5, the gearing a tad lower as the bike has more acceleration, and I felt like I had been unfaithful. So, with the sun blazing across the sky and an empty racetrack in front of me, I decided to stay off the other bikes to better enjoy my sophisticated riding partner.

Ending the day with the shiny side up left me wandering round the pits like a love-struck Romeo. The chance to ride such a rare and exotic machine was the chance to finally accomplish a dream from my formative motorcycling years. Back in the early '80s, the word Bimota was always spoken with hushed reverence, as was the town of Rimini in Italy that seemed as far away as the prospect of ever owning such a machine. As the most unobtainable and arguably the finest hand-crafted pieces of motorcycle exotica in the world at that time, it is interesting to see 25 years have not changed what Bimota stands for one bit, and the Tesi is here to prove it."

Some comments as to the above: The latest iteration of the Tesi concept, the 3D, changes the above in an important manner: the riding position and focus. The 2D, as set out above, has a riding position that is "a lot more aggressive than the DB5." That was changed in the Tesi 3D, where the riding position is now much less aggressive, and you sit up higher, with less of a stretch to the bars and pegs set a bit lower. The riding position is now between the more aggressive DB5 that I own and the 'naked' and more upright DB6. IMHO, the newer Tesi 3D offers a nice compromise, aggressive enough for fast street use, but not 'racer rep' or full on attack such as its half brother DB5.

The comments on the differences in riding a Tesi and then switching back to a convential fork bike such as the DB5 are the best description of what is involved, as contrasted to my own poor efforts in an early thread. Again, he has nailed it with that description, and if you are thinking about a Tesi, and want to have someone tell you the differences in riding one of those and a convential bike, he has said it all.

The writer's closing comments above are also a mirror of my own feelings about the Tesi and about Bimota in general. It is worth repeating:

"The chance to ride such a rare and exotic machine was the chance to finally accomplish a dream from my formative motorcycling years. Back in the early '80s, the word Bimota was always spoken with hushed reverence, as was the town of Rimini in Italy that seemed as far away as the prospect of ever owning such a machine. As the most unobtainable and arguably the finest hand-crafted pieces of motorcycle exotica in the world at that time, it is interesting to see 25 years have not changed what Bimota stands for one bit, and the Tesi is here to prove it."

If the current company can stay with this concept in its model line and marketing, Bimota should and will survive. I fear that it may not if the current US distribution does not recognize this and stop its near-invisible presence and 'let them come to us' attitude.

Hope someone is listening out there. Dave