BIMOTA REBIRTH
But it was for exotic, technically advanced roadgoing superbikes that Bimota became famous. Ironically the first, the CB750-engined HB1, came after Tamburini had wrecked his standard Honda at Misano, and rebuilt it with a new, much more advanced chassis of his own design. The SB2 that followed in 1977, powered by the engine from Suzuki’s GS750 four, was years ahead of its time.
It featured a swoopy full fairing, one-piece tank/seat unit, adjustable steering geometry, and rising-rate monoshock instead of twin shocks. Other Tamburini creations included the KB1 and KB2, powered by Kawasaki’s four-cylinder Z900 and Z500 engines respectively. Bimota’s first financial crash came in 1984 after Tamburini had quit but the firm was rescued by the success of the
stylish, Ducati-powered DB1 V-twin designed by his successor, Federico Martini. Another Martini design, the alloy beam-framed, Yamaha FZ750engined YB4, led to successful streetbikes and Virginio Ferrari’s 1987 World Formula One championship. Sales peaked in the mid-Nineties with new chief engineer Pierluigi Marconi’s SB6, which held Suzuki’s GSX-R1100 engine in a huge twin-spar
