VOL. 50 ISSUE 30 JULY 30, 2013
P55
BIKE
The Bimota Tesi
3D Naked is
Bimota's streetfighter version of
the Tesi 3D.
BY ALAN CATHCART
PHOTOGRAPHY BY KEL EDGE
A
dversity is the first path
to truth, said Lord Byron,
and often it can lead to improvement. So if not for the cervical hernia that Bimota's chief
engineer, Andrea Acquaviva, suffered some years ago in a bicycle
racing crash, the new Tesi 3D
Naked streetfighter version of the
Italian boutique brand's family of
hub-center models might never
have been built. But after creating the new-generation Tesi 3D,
which Bimota launched in 2008,
thanks to its clip-on handlebars
and sportbike stance, Acquaviva
found it impossible to ride his latest and greatest for more than a
handful of miles without it becoming – literally – a pain in the neck.
"So I did the obvious thing and
bolted on a one-piece handlebar,
and that delivered a much more
upright and more comfortable
riding position," says Andrea.
"Paradoxically, it also made the
bike considerably more controllable, and agile and, while I'm
not an exceptional rider, I found
myself beating my friends with it
on Sunday morning rides over
the mountain passes inland from
here, like the Passo del Muraglione. So although we've built
more than 100 examples of the
Tesi 3D since production began
in 2008, and it's been very well
received, we decided to launch
a streetfighter version based on
my own bike. I've been riding it
for four years, so it ought to be
properly developed."
The Bimota Tesi followed in the
tire tracks of the Honda-supported ELF GP racers of the previous
decade, in seeking to break the
established mold of two-wheeled
chassis design – but this time
for the street, not (only) for the
racetrack. Around 290 Ducati
desmoquattro-engined
V-twin
Tesi 1D hub-center streetbikes
were built up to 1994, when the
company opted to focus on the
more conventional four-cylinder
models that were its meal ticket
to survival.
Back when I raced the Tesi 1D
for Bimota, Acquaviva was my
factory race engineer, a youthful
apostle of two-wheeled alternative thought who personally built
both my Tesi racebikes. Twenty
years later, now aged 44, he's the
born-again Bimota company's
technical boss, having rejoined
them in 2005 after seven years
away. One of his first tasks was to
design a modern reinterpretation
of the Tesi.
"I wanted to make something