en version U.S.

[philippe-bimotaclubfrance 0]

Bimota is back. Thanks once again to the
largess of Italian ultra-entrepreneur Roberto Comini (who bankrolled
Bimota's last failed comeback), the Rimini-based boutique-bike
manufacturer now offers three new models. Two of them are
conventional--for Bimota, anyway--and powered by 996cc Suzuki V-twin
engines, the SB8K Gobert Replica and the Santa Monica. But as if to
highlight Bimota's phoenix-like revival from the ashes, there's also
the reborn Tesi 2D, a modern iteration of the Ducati 888-powered Tesi
1D I raced for Bimota more than a decade ago, winning the ProTwins
class twice at Daytona.

Previously, Bimota technician Ascanio Rodorigo
made a deal with the company to take the Tesi concept and re-engineer
it around Ducati's much less costly (and more modern) desmodue engine,
the 1000DS. Rodorigo named the resulting motorcycle the Vyrus. Comini's
revived Bimota motorcycle company, however, will market the Vyrus as
the more appropriately named Tesi 2D.

For me, the chance to ride a prototype street
version at Misano was a trip down memory lane. The newest version is
better than the original Tesi 1D, mainly because the air/oil-cooled
desmo engine is the right tool for the job, and the Double System air
shocks front and rear deliver more compliance and control than the 1D's
conventional Oehlins hardware. Free of the weight and bulk of the
previous eight-valve desmo V-twin, the new-generation 2D is smaller,
shorter, lighter and refreshingly agile. Propelling its 339 pounds
(dry) with 77 rear-wheel horsepower, the Bimota accelerates with
enthusiasm up to 9000 rpm with very little vibration. After remembering
you can trail-brake a Tesi hard into a turn without losing the front
end, I started enjoying myself more and more until I ran out of petrol.

At $47,868 in Italy, the Tesi 2D is hardly
inexpensive. But it's genuinely different from anything else, and
fittingly quite rare; only 30 will be built this year. Moreover, the
2D's lack of bodywork and its cheeky stance are an aesthetic
improvement over its slab-sided Tesi 1D predecessor. Sharing only its
overall architecture with the original, the Tesi 2D is a brilliantly
functional technological tour de force.