Bimota Sb7

Bimota SB7

CW RIDING IMPRESSION

A SUZUKI SUPERBIKE BY WAY OF RIMINI

LIFE IS HARD IN THE NICHE-BIKE MARKET, AND NOBODY knows that better than Bimota. But like other specialist builders, it still manages to come up with stunning equipment that competes, as the Brook Henry Alchemy does, for the exotic-bike dollar.

At first sight, the SB7 appears to be just a smallerengined version of the Suzuki GSXR1100-powered SB6. But it is a very different motorcycle, even though it uses the same chassis, bodywork and running gear. Where the SB6 is a mellow Open-class streetburner, the SB7 is a highly strung streetlegal roadracer.

The key to this is the SP-R version of Suzuki’s GSX-R750 motor. As a major manufacturer, Suzuki would need to build 1000 GSX-R750SP-Rs to obtain World Superbike eligibility. But a smaller producer like Bimota needs to build just 200 units to achieve homologation. So the Suzuki-Bimota marriage not only allows the potential of the SP-R package to be tested in Superbike trim, but adds the ingredient of Bimota’s fuel-injection system. Thanks in part to that system, Bimota claims 134 horses at 10,000 rpm for the SB7.

This is not a motorcycle you will enjoy riding to work, unless your commute takes you over Racer Road. The engine is very cammy, so not much happens below 5000 rpm, where the engine’s power starts to get your attention. The six-speed gearbox really earns its keep, because you have to use it to keep the engine boiling. You can’t just cog down a gear and crack the throttle wide open to pass a truck. Three gears, maybe. But then the rev-hungry, fuel-injected motor delivers serious performance that rockets you forward like someone lit a fuse.

Bimota’s superb new Straight Line Connector chassis harnesses all that power. This innovative design achieves increased torsional stiffness while actually reducing overall width because of the distinctive slimline design of the spars. Its lower center of gravity (partly achieved by a lower riding position), reduced polar moment and accentuated frontal weight bias deliver a level of handling and chuckability that exceeds almost anything else on two wheels with a license plate. At a claimed 401 pounds dry, the SB7 is 18 pounds lighter than the SB6, and it seems to change direction more easily.

The Bimota’s steering geometry-with a stock head angle of 24 degrees, adjustable by 1.5 degrees in either direction in half-degree increments-combines with the exceptional 53/47 percent frontal weight bias to endow the SB7 with the sharp handling you expect a racer to deliver. Equally up to race-spec are the 12.6-inch Brembo front brakes, which delivered magical stopping power even after repeated hard braking descending a junior Alp; they have terrific bite and feel compared to other streetbike brake systems.

Yet even using the brakes to their fullest going into a turn on a frost-ravaged mountain road doesn’t upset the response of the 46mm Paioli fork, which refuses to bind under ultrahard braking because of a floating bush between slider and stanchion, said to dramatically reduce fork stiction.

It would be nice to say that the SB7’s rear suspension response matched the quality of the front end, but this was not the case on the well-used factory development bike I rode. The rising-rate linkage, with offset Öhlins shock, needs to be quite a bit more supple for road use. The first part of suspension travel is quite soft, but then it suddenly stiffens up and becomes very hard. This may not be a problem on the racetracks the SB6 was developed for, but on the open road it means a harsh ride over surface irregularities that can lead to the back end chattering or even stepping out.

The fact that Bimota is offering an aftermarket kit that includes a diagnostic unit and a programmer that permits the customer to remap both fuel and ignition functions on the

engine-management system shows what a hard-nosed piece of equipment the SB7 is. Bimota has developed this bike, with Suzuki’s help, as a contender for the 1995 Superbike arena. If it finds sponsorship, Bimota will return to the World Superbike series it last dabbled in three seasons ago. The beneficiaries of this policy are Bimota’s customers, who for the equivalent of about $22,500 can buy this street-legal racebike and go play or race with it; fans of the Superbike racing scene, who have the prospect of another manufacturer joining the fray; and, of course,

Suzuki. Teaming up with Bimota may prove to be a pretty smart way of developing an injected GSX-R750.

-Alan Cathcart