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http://www.motorcycledaily.com/2011/...d-db9-brivido/ If you are old enough (I am), you will remember decades ago lusting after Bimota motorcycles pictured in magazines, when Bimota routinely took Japanese engines out of their flexi, low-grade steel tube frames and put them into light weight, billet aluminum masterpieces lovingly shaped by CNC machinery. Bimota would then tune the motor for higher output, and add exotic suspension and brake pieces to the package. There was nothing more drool-worthy, or expensive, at the time.
Bimota then fell on hard times . . . more than once. Among other hurdles it faced was the increasingly difficult task of improving on stock sport bikes. The stock machinery gradually became lighter, stiffer, and more powerful. More state-of-the-art. These days, Bimota receives far less attention, and frequently sources its engines from Ducati rather than the Japanese.
In Milan earlier this week, Bimota displayed two new models, including the DB10 Bimotard and DB9 Brivido.
The Bimotard features a 1078 cc, air-cooled, v-twin rated at 98 hp (at 7500 rpm). In a package weighing a claimed 369 pounds dry, Bimota includes a frame that combines a steel trellis with machined aluminum pieces, and a massive Marzocchi 50 mm fork and an Extreme Tech shock, both fully adjustable. The DB10 Bimotard also sports the current braking standard, i.e., radial-mounted, four piston Brembos in front squeezing 320 mm discs.
The DB9 Brivido, on the other hand, gets the big gun 1198 cc, liquid cooled, v-twin delivering a claimed 162 hp at 9500 rpm. It is treated to the same, top-drawer Brembo brake package and weighs a claimed 389 pounds dry. The DB9 also has Marzocchi forks, but this time the 43 mm versions. The fully adjustable shock is again by Extreme Tech.
No word yet on pricing or availability of these low volume exotics, and you cannot inquire at a dealer near you (because there likely is none)!
