Difference between revisions of "Bimota HB2"

There are no superfluous features on a bimota. The gulf is now wider than it was a decade ago when Hailwood and Agostini were locked in a titanic battle for 500 cc honours in racing. Even then the contrast between the approach of the Honda and MV factory could not have been more apparent. In order to combat the evidently superbly handling Italian machine, Honda's solution was an engine with even more power. The theory was logical enough. If it went fast enough down the straights it ought to be far enough ahead by the turns. Unfortunately the end result was a bike that went slower through the corners because it handled so badly. So it lost all the advantage it gained on the straights. How satisfying for Hailwood when a supposedly outdated Ducati in the Isle of Man more than ten years later, he could remind the Honda team that they still had not learnt the lesson? Perhaps the final comment worth considering is from someone whom had never seen a bimota before, and knew nothing about them. Mick Whitlock has never been to a road race and barely ridden a road bike, though he has spent all of his working life involved with motorcycles. He works in the equally precise world of trials, building what is generally reckoned to be the finest chassis kits for one of the most demanding sports. I took the KB2 round to show him, and let him look it over. He did not look at the tank or the fairing or the paintwork. He studied the engineering, and the quality, and knew the hours spent. Then I told him the price. "Yes" he said "I can see why".

There are no superfluous features on a bimota. The gulf is now wider than it was a decade ago when Hailwood and Agostini were locked in a titanic battle for 500 cc honours in racing. Even then the contrast between the approach of the Honda and MV factory could not have been more apparent. In order to combat the evidently superbly handling Italian machine, Honda's solution was an engine with even more power. The theory was logical enough. If it went fast enough down the straights it ought to be far enough ahead by the turns. Unfortunately the end result was a bike that went slower through the corners because it handled so badly. So it lost all the advantage it gained on the straights. How satisfying for Hailwood when a supposedly outdated Ducati in the Isle of Man more than ten years later, he could remind the Honda team that they still had not learnt the lesson? Perhaps the final comment worth considering is from someone whom had never seen a bimota before, and knew nothing about them. Mick Whitlock has never been to a road race and barely ridden a road bike, though he has spent all of his working life involved with motorcycles. He works in the equally precise world of trials, building what is generally reckoned to be the finest chassis kits for one of the most demanding sports. I took the KB2 round to show him, and let him look it over. He did not look at the tank or the fairing or the paintwork. He studied the engineering, and the quality, and knew the hours spent. Then I told him the price. "Yes" he said "I can see why".

--[[Bike magazine]] from November 1982

--[[Bike magazine]] from November 1982

[[Category:Bimota motorcycles]]

[[Category:Bimota motorcycles]]