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Bimota DB9 Brivido – The Best Looking Diavel Yet

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Astute readers this week would have noticed our coverage of the Bimota DB10 Bimotard, and wondered how the boutique Italian firm jumped from the DB8 to the DB10 designation. Well yes Virginia, there is a DB9. The Bimota DB9 Brivido arrived to the 2011 EICMA show with slightly less fanfare, but its still a classic example of the motorcycle company’s current design and ethos. Based around the 162hp Testastretta 11° motor from the Ducati Diavel, the DB9 Brivido continues the aesthetics that began with the Ducati Superbike 1198-powered DB8, and works in the more streetable maintenance-friendly Diavel motor.

Like every Bimota, the real masterpiece is the chassis that the Italian company builds around the production motors of other companies. In the case of the Bimota DB9 Brivido, the frame is made from both aluminum and a chromoly alloy, while the forks are 43mm Marzocchi units with the rear shock being from Extreme Tech. Brakes are of course Brembos, while the race exhaust is by Arrow. Bimota quotes the dry weight of the Bimota DB9 Brivido as 177kg (390 lbs), though true to the Italian company’s form, that weight can get further reduced with other premium options.

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Bikes

Up-Close with the Bimota DB10 Bimotard

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Making its debut at the 2011 EICMA show, the Bimota DB10 Bimotard is the boutique Italian motorcycle firm’s latest creation. Borrowing from the Bimota DB6’s frame design, the DB 10 Bimotard takes the same 1,078cc air-cooled two-valve Hypermotard 1100 EVO motor, with its 95hp peak power output, and builds around this platform a compelling maxi-motard design. Perhaps better labelled as Bimota’s take on building a better Hypermotard, the Bimota DB10 Bimotard also promises the usual Bimota design and exclusivity, and helps bridge the gap to the Italian company’s latest off-road offerings, which are amazingly less-compelling, vanilla, and not going to grace the pages of A&R.

Carbon fiber, Marzocchi suspension, Marchesini wheels, Brembo brakes, and Zard exhaust…all the usual suspects are present on this cleverly portmanteau-named Bimotard. The fit and finish in person is what you’d expect from Bimota: flawless. A part of me says that you have to praise the small Italian company for breaking from its recent tradition of glorified street-naked motorcycles a bit, and offering a motorcycle with a slightly different ethos. That being said, the Bimota DB10 Bimotard isn’t really that huge of a departure from the DB5, DB6, and DB8s that came before it. A Bimota DB6 with different clothes on, the DB10 is really more evolution than revolution, but it still manages to please us…just not wow us. No price yet, but “cheap” is a four-letter word here.

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Racing

Concept: Bimota TB-2 675 by Oberdan Bezzi

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Last week Oberdan Bezzi inked his concept for a Triumph-powered Bimota, dubbed the Bimota TB-1. That fully-faired alternative to the MV Agusta F3 naturally needs a naked streetfighter variant, and accordingly Bezzi has penned today’s latest concept sketch, which he calls the Bimota TB-2 675. Featuring the Triumph 675cc three-cylinder motor, the Bimota TB-2 675 competes against its donor the Triumph Street Triple, and goes head-to-head with the heavily anticipated MV Agusta Brutale 675 B3.

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Concept: Bimota TB-1 by Oberdan Bezzi

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For his latest work, Oberdan Bezzi imagines a three-cylinder Bimota that uses Triumph’s 675cc three-cylinder motor. Dubbed the Bimota TB-1 by the Italian designer, Bezzi brings up an interesting point with his sketch, namely that when the MV Agusta F3 comes it will, for all intents and purposes, be in a class of its own. You can’t really argue the point that there is yet-to-exist a premium well-designed supersport triple on the market right now (sorry Daytona owners), and Bezzi says that Bimota could easily come into this space with such a bike as seen here.

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Oberdan Bezzi’s Second-Take on a Bimota/Moto Morini – MMB2 FighterMotard

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Just a couple days after Oberdan Bezzi inked this incarnation of a Bimota MMB1 (Bimota Moto Morini), he brings us this drawing of a streetfighter/hypermotard version of his imaginative cross-pollination of the two Italian brands. The drawing of course looks great, but we have our same criticism from his previous render…it looks more of the same.

We were pretty tough on Bezzi for his prior design, and the problem is we take these drawings as compared to each other, whereas in the real world there would be only one iteration of these designs, which no doubt would look fantastic on its own. We especially appreciate how Obiboi has channeled Bimota’s genius in the frame design. So with that, we still hope for a change of inspiration from the Italian designer, but we’d gladly welcome any of these bikes in the A&R garage.

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Obiboi Does a Bimota Moto Morini MMB-1

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Topically Moto Morini has been in the news lately with its rumored saving from the dustbin by Paolo Berlusconi, and as such Oberdan Bezzi has inked another sketch that sees the Italian manufacturer linking up with Bimota to create the MMB1, the first Moto Morini powered Bimota motorcycle. The pairing seems a bit odd, as Moto Morini isn’t exactly known for its amazing motor design, although we are a sucker for a good v-twin here at A&R. Additionally, Bezzi’s design reminds of sketches of his that we’ve seen before, surely in his imaginary world Bimota would find a new vein of motorcycle design to explore Moto Morini with?

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For Sale: 2010 Bimota HB4 Race Bike

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Our friends from over at RareSportBikesForSale.com have tipped us off that Motorrad Hertrampf in Northern Germany, a Bimota, MV Agusta, and Cagiva dealer, has just posted a for sale ad on Jameslist (yes, the German rip-off of Craigslist), where they are offering a 2010 Bimota HB4 for sale. That’s right for €169,000 (without VAT), you too can own your very own Moto2 race bike complete with 145hp Honda 600cc power plant, and all the Italian goodness you’d expect from Bimota. You’ll just have to wait 10 weeks for the Italian firm to build it from the time you pay your deposit.

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Racing

The Bimota HB4 Finds Life Outside of FB Corse

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When we first heard the news about the upcoming Moto2 series, we were excited about the rumors of Bimota coming back into the racing scene; after all the 600cc prototype class seemed like the perfect place for the Italian company to show off its amazing chassis designs. So understandably it saddened us to see Bimota not taking a dominant role as teams and the series itself matured. As the situation would have it, only FB Corse signed on to use the HB4 race bike. This however seems to be no longer the case, as another team has shown interest in what we believe is the best looking bike in the Moto2 paddock.

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2010 Bimota DB6 Superlight – The Carbon Fiber Trellis Frame Dream Bike

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Debuting at the Rome Motodays event this week, Bimota unveiled a very special bike: the 2010 Bimota DB6 Superlight. Unfortunately we weren’t there to witness this wonderful piece of carbon fiber mastery, but the good folks at OmniMoto were, and have a gallery full of delicious photographs that are sure to become your next desktop wallpaper. Why is the Bimota DB6 Superlight so special? It could be it’s carbon trellis frame, or it’s carbon trellis swingarm, or its feather light weight, or it could just be a combination of all of the above. Find out more about the DB6 Superlight after the jump.

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Rumors

Bimota HB4 Left off of the Moto2 Entry List – FB Corse Vaporware? Bimota to Go It Alone?

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This article takes a doubly interesting turn of events. You may remember that a week ago we brought to you the unveiling of the Bimota HB4 Moto2 race bike. The HB4, the first time a Honda motor has been in a Bimota in 25 years, was to be campaigned by FB Corse in the first running of the 250GP replacement series, Moto2, but has mysteriously been left out of the Moto2 Provisional race list.

Equally unnerving was the postponement of the FB Corse MotoGP & Moto2 press launch, which was allegedly due to FB Corse boss, Andrea Ferrari, undergoing hand surgery. The timing of that postponement drew some skeptical attention since it was right in the middle of the Hoppergate saga, which saw American rider John Hopkins teetering back and forth between riding the FB Corse MotoGP machine or taking a seat in the AMA Pro Superbike series.

Now with Hopkins making his intent to ride in the AMA clear, the FB Corse MotoGP bike yet to be unveiled, and the Bimota HB4 absentee from the Provisional Moto2 racing list, there are rumors circulating in the American and Italian racing camps that this entire thing is a charade and done for publicity.

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Bimota HB4 Moto2 Race Bike Officially Revealed

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Alongside the release of the Bimota DB8, the company from Rimini has also taken the wraps off its Bimota HB4 Moto2 race bike. We caught the HB4 out testing a couple weeks ago, and were under-impressed with the looks of the matte black bike (the name Bimota sets such a high standard after all).

Moto2 is supposed to be the perfect fit Bimota and its jaw-dropping chassis designs, where were the exercises of Italian sex appeal in the metal work? Now with some better lighting and some higher quality shots, we can see that the Bimota HB4 is a stunner after all. Photos and more after the jump.

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