i'm curious as to why bimota puts the aircooled motors over the watercooled in such a high tech and state of the art bikes,it seems to be backward thinking to me.
Other makes typically tout their products as "State of the Art". With Bimota, this claim is normally avoided (and let's be adult about our usage of "normally" when talking about such an unusual product). With Bimota, it seems to be that they are touting the "State of the Artist".
They know that they are appealing to an individual sensibility. One that appreciates an individual approach. Many on this site favor a lightweight package that can be tossed far easier than other OEM packages. To my mind,
the current aircooled Duc package for the Bimota seems to be a match made in heaven. It is the bike that Ducati should have made, but doesn't for several sensible, but very unfortunate business reasons.
Fast and unique is what Bimota is all about. The current Bimota is very fast. ( Faster than your 749 ?) Ducatis are fast , but Ducati is anything but unique by any normal standard.
Lastly, I like the name itself. Bimota. It has a nice ring about it. The company says that it is an acronym based on the names of the 3 founders. I disagree. I think it derives from something like "two motorcycles" in Italian. And all that that infers.
b450 Bimota DB2 Wannabe
ors over the watercooled in such a high tech and state of the art bikes,it seems to be backward thinking to me.[/QUOTE]
If you ever get to ride a new one or even a DB2 or DB 4 you will understand why. It is one of the most amazing bikes you can ever ride. You don't need watercooling and 4 valves per cylinder when you have light weight and great suspension
I thought Bimota meant several inferrences.
As in Bi-cylinder as well.
And while you might consider the air cooled motor as "backwards" thinking, but we haven't had flaking rockers, dealers leaving out coolant, and we do motors with 60K miles. And IMHO the two cylinders SOUND better.
sorry ,wasn't meaning air cooled motors were backwards thinking,more like a 100 hp motor in a "fairining"superbike running against similar would be at a huge disadvantage,now the naked bimota (delirio) makes sense to me.
Nah, it's the DB 2 that has my heart. Missed several of them over the years and the regret never dies....soooo beautiful.
BTW, if I get one the offer still stands Sharyn. You know....putting them all in the garage, ya know ? Of course the Bimotas would be the princes of the party. Real divas sitting over there by the lubricants and looking down their beautiful noses at all of the Dago riff raff to their left.
Or...do I have it wrong ? These things really do have a sex don't they ? Is the DB 1 male or female ? Blush...I never looked on the DB2. If they are the same sex then there will be a real power trip going on. But if one is a boy and the other, ya know, a girl.....would we have a DB 1.5 in the future ?
You've got to help me with this. We could re-write motorcycle history....LOL, b450
RagazzaDGatta said:
oops. a little late posting this.. you too could have had a beautiful DB1 just like mine for only $16,500 K !!
Or...do I have it wrong ? These things really do have a sex don't they ? Is the DB 1 male or female ? Blush...I never looked on the DB2. If they are the same sex then there will be a real power trip going on. But if one is a boy and the other, ya know, a girl.....would we have a DB 1.5 in the future ?
You've got to help me with this. We could re-write motorcycle history....LOL, b450
You know Bev, I never really thought of my bikes as having a sex. To me, they're aggressive little machines that I ride the tires off of and have the greatest time doing it...
I like the DB2 just fine, but with my height, it was just too tall for comfort. The DB1 is so teeny it fits me perfectly
Yeah, I don't have that problem but I understand. It gets me thinking about the best small Bimota....the Vdue. Man, do I ever love that bike. Actually quite a few of them got out and there is, I have heard, a very agressive group of Brits that own them and who have sorted out all of the (various) engine problems.
Wow, what a machine that would be to have ! One of these days I just might chase that down and see what a near GP machine on the street would be like.
Certainly wouldn't see yourself on the road !
BTW, let me know if you know anything about any such bikes over here.
best, b.
RagazzaDGatta said:
You know Bev, I never really thought of my bikes as having a sex. To me, they're aggressive little machines that I ride the tires off of and have the greatest time doing it...
I like the DB2 just fine, but with my height, it was just too tall for comfort. The DB1 is so teeny it fits me perfectly
I recently heard one of the newly sorted ones run, and it's pretty impressive! A bit of Ducati type rumble underneath the two-stroke crackle. And it is tiny; feels more like a 250!
I recently heard one of the newly sorted ones run, and it's pretty impressive! A bit of Ducati type rumble underneath the two-stroke crackle. And it is tiny; feels more like a 250!
i'm curious as to why bimota puts the aircooled motors over the watercooled in such a high tech and state of the art bikes,it seems to be backward thinking to me.
Just so you know...I've way way more hands on experience with the DB1 and 749S than I ever wanted to so this is my opinion on the original question.
The DB1 Ducati 750 motor is shoe horned in. That is no exaggeration. The tolerances at some hard points are probably 1/8 inch. There is absolutely zero place for radiators on that particular bike. That said, I think the reason for Bimota choosing the Ducati aircooled engines is they are simpler to design around. If you take a look under the skin of the 749 you will see considerable effort and innovative packaging, a result of fitting the guts to the design and decades of innovaton. I think Bimota's early decision was an aesthetic/design decision back in 1986 when the DB1 was made. There's not a spare inch (literally) for anything on that bike and in '86 that motor was THE motor.
The current aircooled Ducati motors are perfectly capable for most street riding. I had a 750s, a Monster 900 and currently ride around on a Multistrada 1000S and both make enough power to keep me in touch with my riding pals and in most cases right with them regardless of bike or engine. It's just not about raw HP for everyone these days. I'll take a 851 SP2 anyday!! You want to hear the "real" Ducati sound? That's it to me.
When I look at a Bimota there's so much more to it than the motor. Back in the day you had some great bits everywhere. Just plain fun to find all the wacky stuff and cool ways of solving problems. When we visited the factory in Rimini you could see all the effort made to design and the cool stuff they were making. This was back when the Tesi 1D and Britton were blasting the Isle of Mann. Heady days!
Not to mention anti-freeze is sticky, icky crap to wash off the lift too...(sharyn you owe me big time for the bleeding your 749 did!)
If someone wants to give me a DB5, I will ride it for 12 months and give you a comparision of the engine compared to my liquid cooled ST3 engine..... purely in the name of science of course,.....
I had the opportunity to buy an SB8R,(TLR motor) an SB6R(1100 Suz Watercooled I4) or the DB4 (904 Duc Aircooled). I chose the DB4 for the following reasons.
Weight: The DB is over 6o lbs lighter than either of the others. (The specs say 48-52, but they were drinking too much vino).
Size: 2-3 inches shorter wheelbase than either, 4 inches shorter overall than the SB8. Almost 1 1/2 inches narrower than the SB8, over 2 inches narrower than the SB6, and its down low, where it counts.
Weight Distribution: Because the Duc motor is aircooled, the weight that there is, is down lower. The bike feels even lighter and more nimble, although, with a wet weight 5 lbs less than an RD350 Yami's, who's complaining? As a matter of fact, that's what it feels like...a small, low, fully faired four stroke RD350......
I have a 93 DB2 SR and the computer is a dinosaur that might die at the next gas station. So now that there are many many different systems out there I thought to ask if anyone had opinions on them?
Thanks
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