Bimota at the Shop

I was heading past after getting Chinese for lunch, what I saw was what looked like a late model Ducati engined Bimota. I was slowing for the intersection of The Pacific Hwy so I didn't get a good look, head-on view as it was parked out the front it was Black and Red with white lettering and that distinctive fairing and belly pan. It got a definite second look. My bad picking the model.
 
I have rarely seen a special framed bike that came with well set up suspension. Maybe Phil got his right, but I never encountered one in Australia back then.
 
Common guys is there ever a bike that comes from any factory with the suspension set up correctly for your specific size and weight. Even with 26 clicker settings for all 4 types of damping the spring rates for me always miss by a mile. Now painful bodywork removal is so dumb. My Pantah seat is easy, but 7 bolts is stupid. At least it doest snap coming off. It would be fun trying to civilise one of these, more comfy eros, compliant suspension, O yer just what I did to my Laverda,
 
Exmoor beast said:
I used to do loads of these , horrid one piece bodywork that you had to flex off ( 🥵) nightmare to work on and set up for a smooth race track so would have non existent suspension . One of those great let downs in life I’m afraid.
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As an owner of YB6 and YB8, I can confirm all of this! :D

But like all things Italian and beautiful, the pain can be alleviated with familiarity and care (mixed with just the right amount of malice).
The fairing is a MASSIVE pain in the arse, but you can do most things on the bike without removing it, most things with fuel, carbs etc is easily reached with seat/tank unit removed and even oil changes can be done with the fairing just dropped forward. Actually removing the fairing is indeed an excruciating experience, it's easiest done by removing the front wheel and forks first (but you need to remove the fairing to reach the fork bolts...). I made a sort of an I-beam shaped front wheel stool and lift the front of the bike with a race stand and place the front wheel on that, and then the fairing needs a lot less flexing to get past the front wheel. Extremely painful, and a 3-piece fairing modification is high on my wish list. They were never designed to be practical.

Hard to work on - absolutely! Everything is so closely packaged, but again the pain adds to the charm in a sort of a Stockholm-syndrome kind of way. My favourite oddity was that to remove the LH handlebar I had to remove seat unit, fuel tank, airbox, ignition coils & carburettors! Bimotas have always been like that, Dad had a DB1 in the 90's and to check the valve clearance you had to remove bellypan, nosecone, body unit, fuel tank, oil cooler, battery carrier, rear shock and left hand footpeg plate. :D

Suspension, yep. I've had mine totally respuing/damped and it's great now. But in fairness all old bikes are much the same.

So yeah, they're painful but every so often you get a day and a road and you hit a sweet spot and they work like nothing else on the planet (of the period). They're hard to work on because they're packaged tightly, but in comparison to a contemporary FZR1000 it feels like a 250 on the road. And as an engineerey sort of person and former machinist, I just love the artistry that has gone into the production of every single little piece, just beautiful. Good jiggers, very Italian despite the Jap engine.

By the way although the YB11 Marty had in the shop shares much the same engine and frame as all the YB4/6/8/10 since 1984, they had at least given it a multi-piece fairing. Makes that part easier at least!
 
The Sock said:
One of the ILOC Members has one of these
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Great bike! Pleasure and pain again. Looking at that shot I remember the sidestand was actually welded to the exhaust system (which in typical Bimota fashion is like 1mm wall thickness). Predictably, the thin tube eventually cracks and the whole thing tears out of the pipe and the bike falls over. Character. :D
I rode Dad's a fair bit back then, even rode it down to Melbourne and down the Ocean Road for one of the Vicco's Gellibrand runs one time. Would have been late 90's because Harold was on his Formula 650. Riding with H through the hills North of Melbs on the Monday heading home I came cross some gravel coming into a town and went straight off the road, between a give way sign and white post, down a small embankment and came to rest still upright on a tangential road. Happy days! o_O
That's a bike I wish he didn't sell, sold when they still were not worth much. But he hardly ever rode it and the sale funded his first trip to the Isle of Man and around the UK, from which he has many happy memories, so all good in the end. (y)
 
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Interesting comments on the Bimota.
Had only recently seen a 1997 YB11 with less than 3000ks advertised for sale and was curious how its value stacked up. Adv price $22,500.
Obviously beauty & value are very subjective as evidenced on here with diff Lav models:eek:
Also hard to compare values, for example, if you want Italian, in same publication there is a 2016 Ducati Panigale with less than 5,000kms for $16,500!
 
Can't really compare, total production of YB11's - 650!
Panigales? 10,000 per year maybe?
Totally different performance, brand recognition, # of potential buyers, etc.

Bimotas have always been a niche with strange values. Expensive as hell when new but worth SFA once a few years old. Like all things, eventually gain value once old enough to become appreciated again.
 
Hi Steve.
Sorry, I didn't mean it as a direct comparison. (I know, I know, why not buy a Fireblade instead of a Jota?)
I have always been drawn to the Bimotas and fully agree with your comment "niche and strange values" !!
I had just mentioned the Panigale as it had popped up the same time and I thought it looked like a lot of (modern) bike for the money.
I had also mistakenly thought they were produced in (relatively) limited numbers, so my thinking was a bit skewed obviously.........
 
No worries Peter, just pointing out the totally different markets.
Several-year-old hyper-whatevers are pretty much always good buying because they're too old to be the latest and greatest anymore so have a lack of interest from those motivated by such things. But they're too new to be appreciated for what they once were yet. Add to that a relatively high production number (I don't know for sure, but it would be thousands per year, unless it's some special model) and it equals massive bang for buck for something like an early Panigale now.
You see it in all sorts of cars, bikes and other things too I suppose. No longer the latest thing, value goes way low, they get used, abused and crashed because they're cheap, eventually there aren't so many good ones around anymore and blokes start to age and wistfully look at that Panigale they could never afford when they were 20. Demand > supply = inflation.
Bimotas though, niche market, low supply but also (often) low demand. If they pique your interest I'd encourage grabbing one, they're a lot of fun as long as you know it won't all be plain sailing! A YB11 would be a cracker - evolved Thunderace donk, evolved suspension and a more sensible fairing. A bit more "common" (relative!) as they were directly imported and sold here in period, but still a rare bike. Much nicer than the contemporary SB6 type frame which is so wide and also the first thing to hit the ground if you fall over (= write-off).
This year the YB8 qualifies for NSW historic rego too. Not bad.
 
One of the Sydney Laverda blokes owned a xx6 I think, the one with the GSXR 1000 engine. It cost $11k from a major dealer and sat around for ages. The story I heard was the previous owner was the wife of the Chairman of the board of Qantas. He owned the one with the Yamaha Xup engine. Both were keen riders and probably why Qantas sponsored the Philip Island GP. The first time I saw his bike was at a petrol station heading to a bike show in Canberra, I passed it and didn't notice anything special at first glance, just another big-bore Jap bike, and ran into him paying for fuel inside. We chatted and I had a good look leaving, SO UNDERSTATEDLY BUETUFULL. Gunmetal grey from memory Steve, do you have a pic of MX Daves bike? The last I heard it went under some Armco on The Putty Rd trying hard to keep up with the hard-chargers on a Sydney Laverda Club ride. So sad, never heard of it again.
 
SB6 Vince. I looked thru my various Auto Italia photos but funny enough no snappy of it. Those years the Sunday was always pretty hard going after the big party at Richard's place the night before! I remember it though, looked great. I rode an SB6R (same frame, ugly lumpy bodywork) and although mental, I found the really wide frame splayed your legs out and made it feel huge. Had some giddyup though, GSXR11 oiler motor.

Was like this one:sb6.JPG
 
Such a sexy bike, I was well in love with it. I said I wanted first offer but that never happened. I haven't heard from Dave in years. He would turn up at club nights every so often. I wonder if his Zane ever got fixed as well. He had it at a shop in Bathurst for months back when it went BANG. Here is another owned by James Strong
www.justbikes.com.au

2000 BIMOTA DB4 NERO - JBFD4043112 - JUST BIKES

Click to find out more about this 2000 bimota db4 nero sold in coffs harbour nsw 2450. Stock Number: JBFD4043112 at JUST BIKES
www.justbikes.com.au www.justbikes.com.au
 
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