Bimota Test 1d Es
BIMOTA TEST 1D ES
HUB-CENTER MOVES FORWARD
PHOTOS BY PHIL MASTERS
YAMAHA’S GTS1000 MAY HAVE the motorcycle world’s attention right now, but it was two years ago that Bimota launched the Tesi, the first alternate-front-suspension streetbike of the modern era.
However good the hub-center Tesi was in its original form-it did indeed balance excellence with some quirks-it has continued to evolve, and Bimota has just pulled the wraps off the second generation of the bike, known as the Tesi ID ES (standing for Edizione Speciale). Just 50 examples will be built for 1993, and sold alongside the existing ID model for 52,500,000 lira-the equivalent, at presstime, of about $38,600. That’s 6 million lire-about $4400-more than the standard Tesi will list for.
This new Tesi is easily one of the most beautiful motorcycles ever built, a notion confirmed when Bimota test rider Gianlucca Galasso and I stopped for a coffee in the town square of Morciano, a hill town above the Bimota factory in Rimini. The locals there are sufficiently used to Bimotas to scarcely give the old-style Tesi, ridden by Galasso, a second glance. But the ES was a different plate of pasta. Young kids stood there openmouthed, old men jabbed their fingers at the front wheel trying to explain to each other how it worked, people stood, arms crossed, staring at the bike with a mixture of lust, longing, and admiration.
The reaction of a guy who looked like the local mafioso summed it up best. Sharp-suited, dark-jawed, he studied the bike in silence before gesticulating abruptly with one hand in that trademark Latin style, with fingertips all pressed together, uttering a single word as he did so: “Italia! ”
The mafioso and his compatriots are right to be proud of the new Tesi’s
beauty. But while looks count, so does aerodynamic efficiency. The ES definitely is more slippery than the old-style bike, not only because the brick-like front end of the first Tesi has been replaced by a more streamlined appearance, but also because the steeply slanted screen offers less drag than the more upright version worn by the original. The bodywork doesn’t lift on the bike’s chassis at 125-mphplus speeds, either, as on the original bike. This lack of lift brings improved high-speed stability and increased downforce on the front wheel.
The riding position also is different. On the new bike, it feels as though you sit a little further forward and a little higher than on the older model. This helps load the front wheel during braking and turn-in. At the same time, you feel more part of the bike than on the older one.
Though the ES’s styling grabs most of the attention, under its skin there are some technical improvements deserving of attention. The Weber components of the fuel-injection package remain, with two injectors per cylinder on the bike’s eight-valve Ducati engine, which is now available only in Bimota-modified, long-stroke (92 x 68mm) 904cc form. But the Marelli computerized engine-management system has been replaced by a much lighter and more compact package from a Bologna-based company called TDD.
The TDD/Weber EFI system features one more sensor than used by the old system. This monitors exhaust-gas temperature in order to fine-tune carburation by automatically leaning or enrichening the mixture as appropriate, though swapping between the ES and the standard Tesi didn’t reveal any noticeable difference in throttle response or engine pickup.
One thing bike-swapping did reveal, however, is the ES’s softer and more sensitive front suspension. The action of the new bike’s suspension has been reworked to offer increased perception of what the front tire is doing. The ES’s shocks-Öhlins, in place of the Marzocchis used originally-have benefited from development, especially up front, with a different internal system of rebound damping that presumably is responsible for this effect. The front suspension also has received a different rising-rate linkage, and its swingarm now pivots on combined roller and ball bearings, for extra lateral support, rather than on just roller bearings as before.
This extra road feel, along with minimal chassis dive, enables you to approach the limits of the hub-center chassis’ outrageous late-braking capabilities. However, the latest-spec Brembo brakes fitted to the ES were disappointing. You couldn’t ask for greater stopping power, but these brakes don’t have the sensitivity of the brakes on the older model. The lever action is very short, so the brakes work very hard, very soon, with hardly any graduation. This makes heavy braking in the rain quite a gamble. The ES needs work here. Also, on a bike costing this much, the absence of an adjustable brake lever is unacceptable.
Though the big attraction of the Tesi ES over its predecessor is undoubtedly its voluptuous, sensuous styling, it also possesses significant technical improvements. The Tesi is not yet perfect-can any bike ever be?-but in its uprated form it represents the sort of improvement over the original model that designer Pierluigi Marconi promised. Now that Bimota has competition from Japan on the alternate-suspension front, can even more improvements be far behind?
Alan Cathcart
