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Driving report: Bimota
The new Bimota DB7 Oronero
It is so expensive that you could almost weigh it in gold. And it is the first road machine with a carbon frame. Michael Pfeiffer drove the Bimota DB7 Oronero.
I wouldn’t be surprised if the tires were also made of carbon. Frame, swing arm, cladding, tank hood, fender – the expensive high-grade plastic sprawls over the entire machine. "We raised new Michelins for you", says Bimota boss Piero Canale and pushes the 40,000-euro lightweight dream into my hands.
"Thank you!" Normal tires that help. It’s drizzling, it’s March in Rimini and it’s very cold. Exactly the right weather to test a 164 HP strong and dry 164 kilogram machine with brand new rubber. Anyone who has ever had the pleasure of riding a motorcycle down there at this time of year will learn to love German asphalt mixers. There is no such thing as slippery as these streets here.
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Driving report: Bimota
The new Bimota DB7 Oronero
Bimota is doing great. Driven by Ducati’s 1098-V2 masterpiece, the ultra-light beauty plays with the world of curves. The Bimota technicians made some changes to the four-valve Desmo. A new air filter box, exhaust system with front silencer and an own tuning of the injection from the automotive supplier Walbro allow the steam hammer from Bologna to get going at low speeds. Together with the really comfortable seating position for a super sports car, you are in control of the situation even in scooter-soaked city traffic. One turn of the handle and Giovanni on the maxi scooter with racing exhaust becomes a tiny dot in the rearview mirror. That’s the way it has to be.
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The carbon frame comes from the bicycle manufacturer – the technology has long been mass produced there.
Just as important: spring elements that are easy to swallow. Because in the hinterland of the Teutonengrill lurk after the winter at least as bad pothole sizes as here. Bimota equips the DB7 Oronero with a clean, appealing and not too soft sprung Marzocchi fork. It only comes through in very wild maneuvers. The carbon swing arm is supported by an extreme-tech shock absorber with separately adjustable high and low-speed damping. Here, too, no eye remains dry, or the driver is spared from bad things. That feels better than a Ducati 1098, which doesn’t act quite as cleanly with a hard spring at the rear and a soft spring at the front.
The crucial question with the Oronero is: How does the carbon frame work? And does it last? He holds. Almost certainly. Airplanes fly with carbon fuselages and tail units, Formula 1 cars put 200 items in the tire piles without injuring the driver, carbon frames have long been mass produced in bicycle construction. And that’s exactly where the Bimota frame comes from.
Typically Italy: Bimota chief technician Andrea Acquaviva also likes to ride a racing bike, meets racing bike builder Giancarlo Biondi from Cesena on the road, who also likes to ride a motorcycle, and the idea of building the first street-legal carbon frame was born. Bike Research is the name of the manufacturer of the expensive frame, which is said to be eight kilograms lighter than the steel construction of the DB7 and 30 percent stiffer. The axle mounts and bearing seats are made from expensive aircraft aluminum and laminated into the carbon structures. The knock test promises stable wall thicknesses of the noble carbon fabric. So don’t worry, only the tough come into the garden. Gas on, speed up, front wheel too. Only in third gear does the front sink back onto the asphalt. A serpentine route comes in handy. Up here, full pot! Wow, how the Bimota pounds. How it dangles playfully through alternating curves. How she is fed up on the brakes. How the gears can be slammed down before the bends thanks to the Bimota slip clutch. My God, why can’t a 1098 drive like this?
The Bimota folks found something that makes the Oronero a lot easier to ride than a standard Ducati. I think it’s the relaxed seating position together with the more harmoniously coordinated suspension elements and the higher torque of the engine. And then there are the brakes that can be adjusted perfectly. Speak as soft as butter, don’t let up.
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The road may be slippery and the tires new, but that doesn’t stop the Bimota from sticking perfectly to the road.
It is a real pleasure to turn corners on the brakes. And it is precisely in this situation that the carbon chassis also seems to have its advantages. You have to rummage pretty deep in the main memory to find a bike that is just as easy to turn. Maybe Jochen Schmidt’s Yamaha TZ 250 Production Racer from 1992. Long ago and half as strong. Driving out the possible disadvantages of this stiff frame construction, i.e. hitting the handlebars or high-speed commuting, is not possible. In Italy, you simply cannot get there fast enough on public roads.
It is enough to astonish the Carabinieri controlling in the next village. Let’s go and get back to the factory. Where, despite the new owners and largely new team, time seems to have stood still. The company looks the same as it did 20 years ago. "We don’t want to grow up at all", Piero Canali tells me, pleased that I am bringing his sweetheart back in one piece, but with the tires clearly damaged. "500 to 800 machines a year are enough for us." How many oroneros? "We plan to build 25 of them. So far there are 16 machines." Whether you could still earn money with the price of 39,900 euros with all the effort and expensive materials? "Yes, we are a small team that produces almost everything by hand, then it works." A smile crosses Piero’s face.
With the DB7 Oronero, the new team from Bimota shows what they can do. At least when it comes to the choice of materials, Rimini is back at the forefront of the movement. Good news, and so the noble black woman is perhaps really worth gold for Piero and his men.
Technical specifications
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Fine carbon swingarm with laminated axle mounts, beautifully processed.
Engine:
Water-cooled two-cylinder four-stroke 90 degree V-engine, two overhead, toothed belt-driven camshafts, four desmodromic valves per cylinder, injection, regulated catalytic converter, hydraulically operated multi-plate dry clutch, six-speed gearbox, chain.
Bore x stroke 104.0 x 64.7 mm
Displacement 1099 cc
rated capacity 121 kW (164 hp) at 9750 rpm
Max. Torque 120 Nm at 8000 rpm
Landing gear:
Carbon-aluminum composite frame, upside-down fork, Ø 43 mm, carbon swing arm, central spring strut, adjustable high and low-speed damping, spring base, rear height, wave double disc brake at the front, Ø 320 mm, radially attached four-piston fixed calipers, rear disc brake, Ø 230 mm, two-piston fixed caliper.
Forged alloy wheels, 3.50 x 17; 6.00 x 17
Tires 120/70 ZR 17; 190/55 ZR 17
Mass and weight:
Wheelbase 1435 mm, seat height 800 mm, dry weight 164 kg, tank capacity 16 liters.
Guarantee two years
Price including additional costs 39,900 euros
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