Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

At least the DB5 works. Responsive, if not quick handling, the DB5 g08s exactly where you point it. (controlled by a switch forward of the left clip-on) below it, separated by a row of five lights, including one for low fuel. Less satisfactory are the mirrors, self-evidently conceived as a styling feature in terms of where they're positioned, even if Robbiano apparently shares the same dismissive view of rearview appliances as his guru Massimo T. Far too close to the rider and completely wrongly angled, they are quite useless because they're incapable of adjustment, so you can't see anything behind you other than a fine view of your hips. The DBS really is a class act in terms of handling. Even if it's not especially faststeering, it's very responsive to rider input, and the way it flicks from side to side along a winding hillside road is really magical, as well as lots of fun; you get a sense that the Bimota is ready to do exactly what you ask of it. It's also a very forgiving bike, as I discovered once rounding a blind turn to find Italy's equivalent of "White-Van Man" setting himself up for the turn mostly on my side of the road. Grabbing rather more front brake in panic than I ought to have done while still cranked over, I brought a loud chirp from the tire as I locked the front wheel for a brief moment. But rather than ending in disaster, the Bimota took command and sorted the situation out. I was just a passenger, while the DBS righted itself, shrugged off the slight moment of instability, allowed me to steer it away from the grass bank we were headed toward, then continued normal service. The DBS is fun as well as safe to ride, even if the radial brakes are a little grabby at the best of times - and not just when WVM is aiming himself at you. I think the reason is that, at a claimed 364 pounds dry, the bike is so light there's less to stop, so it might benefit from the more progressive action of non radial calipers. Still, Bimota has rightly opted for smaller 300mm Brembo discs gripped by four-pad, four-piston calipers whose radial mountings exqUiSitely carved via CNC out of solid Ergal are incorporated in the bot- tom sliders of the 43mm, TIN-coated, fully adjustable Ohlins upSide-down fork. Not much to say about the engine that hasn't been said many times over in tests of the Ducati 55 1000DS. It's a worthy, grunty motor that's been progressively refined by Ducati chief engineer Gigi Mengoli and his men down the years, and in spite of the tingles you notice in the footrests above 6000 rpm, It's fun to ride, if not especially fast. Really, a bike like the DBS deserves more motor: 82 bhp for a fine-handling motorcycle like this is less than its excellent chassis package deserves. And since Bimota specifically says there's no room in the frame for a 749R Testastretta motor, that ineVitably makes you wonder why it didn't fit the ST3's desmotre engine, with three valves per cylinder instead of the 1000DS's two. In ST3 guise, this delivers 10 percent more horsepower than the 1000DS, plus a greater spread of power and a bigger appetite for revs. As is, however, acceleration is lively rather than impressive on the DBS, and you do get the feeling that the beautifully made, innovative chassis design could handle a lot more power - Robbiano says up to 120 bhp before he'd have to think about ways of stiffening it. But first Bimota needs to cure the single biggest downer in riding the DBS Mille: a strange and completely unpredictable momentary power hiCCUp I occasionally but not consistently - experienced under hard acceleration around the SSOO rpm mark, plus a splutter around 8000 rpm if I backed off the throttle a little in order to let a Greek truck pull out on the Brindisi autostrada. Doing so caused a fit of coughing in the Bimota's ECU, complaints about which had been so vociferous at the Valencia press launch that Alberto Strada had had to excuse himself to rush off to Pegaso HQ in Torino in order to get the EFI remapped in time for the bikes coming down the production line to be dialed in properly before they left the factory. But this begs the question of exactly why Bimota used the Pegaso system, rather than simply buying in Ducat;'s Magnet Marelli ECU as part of the engine supply deal and remapping it as needed for the DBS's dedicated airbox and exhaust system. Bimota should be spending time, money and energy better displaced toward in-house R&D on future models, rather than purchasing an alternative engine management system from a supplier without a fraction of Marelli's experience and expertise, which actually gives less performance and runs worse than the cheaper, better, Marelli package. Crazy. Concentrate on the chassis and the styling, guys - that's where Bimota's added value lies as far as the customer is concerned. Oh, that and build quality, which was was quite good on the bike I rode, even if it was a bit worrying that neither the headlamp nor horn worked all the time I had it! Okay, so is it all worth the extra cash, all 280 percent more of it compared to the donor Ducati model the engine came from' However many lovely CNC-carved parts there are on the DBS Mille, however many top-line bolt-on components, the diSpassionate answer on paper has to be that of course it isn't. But since when was purchas- ing any Bimota a cold, dispassionate decision taken in conjunction with your accountant and financial advisor? Instead, just ride the DBS Mille and form a passionate judgment on whether there are enough zeros at the end of your bank balance to justify adding your name to the waiting list. Either that, or wait for the naked version SergiO Robbiano is already working hard on, which will be unveiled at the Milan Show in November. eN Bet that will be snella, too. Left to right: Slim frontol profile is highlighted by the DBS's useless mirrors; birdcage swing~rm and CNC axle plate show of! ~imota's exotic construction methods; Brembo radial front brakes haul the DBS down from speed qUIckly; the seat loaks uncompromISIng, but the DBS is surprisingly comfortable. CYCLE NEWS • AUGUST 3,2005 53

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