Warning all BIMOTA Tesi 3D owners/riders !!!!!

[daotoys1]

I want to report a disturbing motorcycle magazine article about a saftey issue with the BIMOTA Tesi 3D.

Danger of possible accident, injury and or death ( anytime you loos contol of a motorcycle while driving it, you are putting your life at risk).

In September PERFORMANCE BIKES ( PBs) from the UK/ Great Britten;

There is a review and test drive of the new BIMOTA Tesi 3D; What happens is during the test driving of the bike on what they call "B" roads, the tester apparently bottomed out the front suspension only to have the front fender hit the airbox intake, and cracking off the front fender. The bad part as a result of this is that the 2 aluminum front fender mounting brackets locked the hub centric steering and in this case made the bike impossible to steer correctly.

The rider barely avoids a severe crash. He was only able to turn to the left just enough to slow to a stop and prevent crashing the bike and possibly severely injuring himself and/or others.

Once at a stop he had to pick up the broken front fender out of the middle of the road as it was in the line of automobile traffic. The front fender mounts were locking up the hub centered steering as they were severely bent when the front fender hit the underside of the front of the bike.

There are a few issues I want to point out here however; The BIMOTA Tesi 3D that was tested had a Ducati DS 1100 HyperMotard engine in it ( with dry clutch, magnesium colored engine covers), plus had conventional hand controls with plastic suspended hydraulic reservoirs so it makes me wonder if this might have been an earlier preproduction bike, or a later model standard Tesi 3D , as all of the Tesi 3D LEs ( Limited Editions) have the Ducati DS 1100 Multistrada wet clutch engine and the billet hydraulic reservoirs mounted onto of the clip on handlebar mounts.

Another thing to note is that the rider was testing out the Tesi 3D front suspension on less that perfect roads on purpose to see what the limits of its function was. So he was riding over bumps and road imperfections on purpose. He was also pulling some wheeles and had just dropped the front end down hard from a long wheelie when the front fender hit the airbox intake breaking off the fender and locking the steering.

Ill will continue with more about this later as I want to post this ASAP.

Doug

[froryde]

I read that article too, but apparently the front fender broke AFTER landing from a wheelie (and a pretty big one at that judging by the photo on the cover).

Having said that, I am surprised that Bimota did not check clearance issues at the limits of suspension travel...

[daotoys1]

Originally Posted by daotoys1

I want to report a disturbing motorcycle magazine article about a saftey issue with the BIMOTA Tesi 3D.

Danger of possible accident, injury and or death ( anytime you loos contol of a motorcycle while driving it, you are putting your life at risk).

In September PERFORMANCE BIKES ( PBs) from the UK/ Great Britten;

There is a review and test drive of the new BIMOTA Tesi 3D; What happens is during the test driving of the bike on what they call "B" roads, the tester apparently bottomed out the front suspension only to have the front fender hit the airbox intake, and cracking off the front fender. The bad part as a result of this is that the 2 aluminum front fender mounting brackets locked the hub centric steering and in this case made the bike impossible to steer correctly.

The rider barely avoids a severe crash. He was only able to turn to the left just enough to slow to a stop and prevent crashing the bike and possibly severely injuring himself and/or others.

Once at a stop he had to pick up the broken front fender out of the middle of the road as it was in the line of automobile traffic. The front fender mounts were locking up the hub centered steering as they were severely bent when the front fender hit the underside of the front of the bike.

There are a few issues I want to point out here however; The BIMOTA Tesi 3D that was tested had a Ducati DS 1100 HyperMotard engine in it ( with dry clutch, magnesium colored engine covers), plus had conventional hand controls with plastic suspended hydraulic reservoirs so it makes me wonder if this might have been an earlier preproduction bike, or a later model standard Tesi 3D , as all of the Tesi 3D LEs ( Limited Editions) have the Ducati DS 1100 Multistrada wet clutch engine and the billet hydraulic reservoirs mounted onto of the clip on handlebar mounts.

Another thing to note is that the rider was testing out the Tesi 3D front suspension on less that perfect roads on purpose to see what the limits of its function was. So he was riding over bumps and road imperfections on purpose. He was also pulling some wheeles and had just dropped the front end down hard from a long wheelie when the front fender hit the airbox intake breaking off the fender and locking the steering.

Ill will continue with more about this later as I want to post this ASAP.

Doug

More info; The magazine article is fromt this year; September 2010. There is a picture of a BIMOTA Tesi 3D doing a high speed wheelie on the front cover so you can not miss the magazine. Also note that the Tesi 3D on the front cover has no front fender.

After the near death wet the pants near accident, the Tesi 3D rider called for transport because he was "unable" to ride the bike. It turns out that the aluminum front fender mounting brackets are very thin and they, the magazine guys, were able to bend the front fender mounts out of the way to free up the hub to regain the steering control.

They continued to ride the bike without replacing the front fender. They wanted to ride the bike more because it was brilliant, and without flaw ( except for this danger of the front fender).

If you read and look through the Tesi 3D article you will find that at least half of the pictures in the magazine of the Tesi is without the front fender.

THey actually loved the bike except for the "funny" front end feel. The front suspension and braking was excellent, and actually amazed them. So after the broken fender they call the bike "flawed genius".

Here are some of my thoughts on the matter;

When I first got my Tesi 3D LE along with doing tons of mods on the bike ( its a project show piece for me), one of the things I did was to completely disconnect the front suspension from the front swinging arm. When I did this, the front wheel was at maximum elevation and the front end was " bottomed out" until I hooked the linkage back up.

When I had the front end "bottomed out" the front swingarm arc of travel was stopped as part of it actually was in contact with the under side of the bike and yet the front tire and front wheel were both free to move with a small amount of room left before the front fender would contact anything under the front of the bike. The front fender was not hitting the air box intake, nor was it hitting the bottom of the front fairing.

So why did Performance Bike have this problem with their test bike?????

I intensionally bottomed out the full ROM ( Range of Motion) of the front swinging arm and this never showed on my bike.

Im wondering if they, PB, were riding a preproduction Tesi 3D, and BIMOTA had already fixed this potential danger, on the production bikes. Or is this a real problem with the standard Tesi 3Ds ( and not the first Production Tesi 3Ds that are the LE Limited Edition model)?

I plan to "bottom out" my front suspension with it set up to see what my bike does. Just to double check my bike. Maybe I did missed something when I did this earlier.

If needed the front fender could be lowered on its mounts by up to 1/4 to 1/2 of an inch at the most ( unless you put a 120 x 60 x 17 tire on and that would allow an even lower front fender), or all BIMOTA Tesi 3D owners can remove our front fenders.......the bike looks good without it, by the way.

If you look at pictures of the very first BIMOTA Tesi prototype bikes, all most all of them do not have a front fender. The bike still looks good without one.

Another 2 possible fixes; Leave just the back half of the front fender on the bike to help the front tire control water spray, and protect the bike from small road debris off the front wheel, and remove the top and front half of the fender to get more clearance, or instead change the front air intake by cutting back the front air intake "Scoop" where the front fender might hit.

I would suggest that all Tesi 3D owners/riders look into this safety problem and we can all share our findings.

Has anyone ever had or heard of this issue with the Tesi 3D ?????

I would think that if this problem existed on production bikes we would all know it by now.....I mean how many Tesi 3Ds are out there???? And how many miles has the model been ridden?

Wouldnt BIMOTA know of this????? You would think than any motorcycle manufacturer who check out their wheel clearances with full range of motion of all moving parts.

This is why I think that this test bike was a preproduction unit?????

Id like to hear peoples comments on this issue. It needs to be addressed.

We all want to ride safe !!!!!!!!

[desmocourtney]

Clearances change (slightly) from bike to bike and under heavy dynamic load.

Seems like a recall to fit redesigned fender brackets or just to remove the front fender would be in order unless the test bike was unique.

[tonered]

+1 There will be a bit of elastic deflection under a heavy load compared to a static check in a garage. Just like flexing a ruler. Some structures allow for a lot of deflection.

I would have a hard time believing that a person who paid for a 3D would try landing a wheelie in that manner. It's the difference between how you respect something that is given and something earned.

It would be more of an issue of hitting a bump that would do the same. But then, on a bike with standard forks, all bets would be off also.

Have a good one.

[froryde]

I think the Bimota UK forum would be in a better position to check with the UK importer on the bike, although they are on the UK forum as well, so we can check with them directly on this.

I'm game for a shortened front fender - just like the older Suzuki MotoGP ones!

[daotoys1]

Originally Posted by froryde

I think the Bimota UK forum would be in a better position to check with the UK importer on the bike, although they are on the UK forum as well, so we can check with them directly on this.

I'm game for a shortened front fender - just like the older Suzuki MotoGP ones!

Do you have any pictures of the early Suzuki Moto GP front fender you talk of??

Id like o see what you invision here.

Im thinking that something like the short front "half fender" that Ducati uses for its HyperMotard model.

Most bikes with conventional front forks, especially with USD forks, has the front fender also do double duty as front fork slider guards/protection to keep debris from damaging the lower front forks.

Since the BIMOTA Tesi 3D has no front forks, the front fender does not have to address this double duty task of protecting the fork sliders.

The BIMOTA Tesi 3D only needs a front fender to keep stuff off the bike. Especially the front of the engine and low mounted oil cooler ( however I dont think the front fender that comes on the Tesi 3D does much to protect the oil cooler which is just a few inches off the ground).

I think that the Tesi 3D fender is there more for looks, and to meet any DOT ( Department of Transportation) regulations to make the bike street legal ????

I took the front fender off the bike, and plan to keep it off until this potential "flaw" has been resolved and/or confirmed as a real issue on the production bikes.

i completely understand the whole added flex that aggressive stunt riding could put onto the front end of the bike, but even given this, I dont think that the front fender should hit anything under normal use. I consider the occassional stunt and/or wheelie as a fairly normal activity for sports bike riders, and unless something actually breaks or is damaged, this should not have happened.

Unfortunately Performance Bike does not address anything about this problem beyond reporting it in the test/review.

I wish that PB that the mentality to investigate and discuss this "problem" by talking to the UK importer and/or the manufacturer so that Tesi 3D owners/riders will know if this is an issue on the production versions of the bike.

If this is a real issue, then why doesnt BIMOTA Italy issue a recall to fix it. They would be liable for injuries and/or damages due to a fault in design and/or manufacturing????

If for no reason but to protect themselves and their customers , why has BIMOTA not responded to this test with some type of press statement???? Maybe its to soon and this will happen in the near future???

Id like to hear more from the BIMOTA guys in the UK and/or Europe as they have better access to the UK importer and/or BIMOTA who supplied them with the test bike that PB used.

Was the bike a preproduction item??? Was the bike modified or broken in any way that would have changed and/or effected the geometry and travel of the front wheel???

Id like to know whats at the bottom of this question??

Is the Tesi 3D safe to ride or not??? If not, then what needs to be done to make it safe?

For the amount of money the bike costs, there should not be any flaw like this in the first place. And if it is flawed why was not this issue addressed by BIMOTA???

Lots of questions.............

[polyesterpig]

Now I can stop kicking myself for not buying that Tesi 3d on EBAY for $20,500.00 Wonder who got it?

[froryde]

Originally Posted by polyesterpig

Now I can stop kicking myself for not buying that Tesi 3d on EBAY for $20,500.00 Wonder who got it?

Which one was that?

You know you still want one though!

[dnovo]

This is simply typical juvenile crap that some British bike mags think is cool. They rate bikes on "hooligan factor" i.e the ability to wheelie, which serves no purpose other than to impress someone watching with just how much of an idiot you can be. Yeah, I saw the picture too, put the Tesi vertical so it looks like a stunt bike. Then slam it down and hope nothing breaks. What was really informative here was how little damage the front suspension sustained.

I don't see the point of abusing a bike like this, but then I am no longer two years old. Dave