Making its debut at the 2011 EICMA show, the Bimota DB10 Bimotard is the boutique Italian motorcycle firm’s latest creation. Borrowing from the Bimota DB6′s frame design, the DB 10 Bimotard takes the same 1,078cc air-cooled two-valve Hypermotard 1100 EVO motor, with its 95hp peak power output, and builds around this platform a compelling maxi-motard design. Perhaps better labelled as Bimota’s take on building a better Hypermotard, the Bimota DB10 Bimotard also promises the usual Bimota design and exclusivity, and helps bridge the gap to the Italian company’s latest off-road offerings, which are amazingly less-compelling, vanilla, and not going to grace the pages of A&R.
Carbon fiber, Marzocchi suspension, Marchesini wheels, Brembo brakes, and Zard exhaust…all the usual suspects are present on this cleverly portmanteau-named Bimotard. The fit and finish in person is what you’d expect from Bimota: flawless. A part of me says that you have to praise the small Italian company for breaking from its recent tradition of glorified street-naked motorcycles a bit, and offering a motorcycle with a slightly different ethos. That being said, the Bimota DB10 Bimotard isn’t really that huge of a departure from the DB5, DB6, and DB8s that came before it. A Bimota DB6 with different clothes on, the DB10 is really more evolution than revolution, but it still manages to please us…just not wow us. No price yet, but “cheap” is a four-letter word here.
Leaving the Ducati lump relatively unchanged, sans some cosmetic pieces, the Bimota DB10 drops 8 lbs off the Ducati Hypermotard 1100 EVO’s bulk, making for a 168kg (370 lbs) dry weight motorcycles. Adding an extra liter of fuel to the hypermotard equation, the Bimota DB10 Bimotard has a 3.56 gallon fuel tank which should please the more road-warrior orientated motard riders. Lastly, in what will surely please the vertically-challenged riders in the crowd, the Bimotard’s seat is a whole inch shorter than the Hypermotard’s, with a seat height of 820mm (32.3 inches).
Photos: Jensen Beeler / Asphalt & Rubber – Creative Commons – Attribution 3.0
Beautiful but the plastic (non carbon) belt covers look out of place on an otherwise ‘bling’ bike.
They’ll sell at least 3 or 4 of those bad boys. Very neat, but didn’t Ducati already do basically the same thing with the Hym1100? hmmm..
The red frame thing is becoming a bit of a cliché, no?
Not another try hard wannebe motard! whats with that!
if you want a real Bimota Motard, buy a BBX300 and put some marchesini wheels on it.d
just like the hypermotard, this thing is for posers, I didnt know Asphalt and rubber was into that kind of thing?
“and helps bridge the gap to the Italian company’s latest off-road offerings, which are amazingly less-compelling, vanilla, and not going to grace the pages of A&R.”
I wouldnt exactly call bimotas first attempt (in a long time) at making their own motors “less compelling”…
what planet are you from?
also, not even a wisper about the Fuel injected OSSA300i, such a shame that this magazine only appreciates SQUID/Poser bikes and not true motorcycle advances in technology.
Its a nice looking bike. Not sure that it really offers much that an Evo SP doesn’t though. As for the poseur comments, maybe I’m missing something but I find these make fantastic street bikes. They are of course not supermoto race bikes, but they don’t even pretend to be, they are just really good city and tight-road street bikes.
The Ossa has absolutely nothing to do with asphalt. Why should it be here? That’d be a bit weird. Maybe we need Dirt and Rubber :D
Very nice as long as there’s a material difference that would distance it from the Hypermotard, for what will likely be a sizeable price gap.
I never did understand the whole “poser” motard mud slinging silliness.
They’re just bikes. And most recognize that this isn’t a dirt bike-turned-road-racer.
It, like the Duc, KTM, and Aprilia are just inspired by them.
In the end, a beautifully crafted bike is a beautifully crafted bike is a beautifully crafted bike.
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I have to laugh though, as this Bimota certainly looks a hell of a lot more advanced than my first race only, Husky 610smr.
Assuming someone can afford one, at least it has, an oil filter, counter balancer, and electric start. It probably wouldn’t make someone’s dog’s dangles numb after 10 minutes in the saddle like the old husky did. Nor snap its header from vibration, or melt its plastic bits from the flames shooting out the exhaust on overrun. Not to mention, it’ll have the range to get you to your fave set of twisty bits. And you can probably get it tagged and registered on the street unlike those early motos (not that that stopped any of us from riding them there a decade ago). Seems pretty advanced to me. =)
FWIW no counter balancer. A CB is only really useful on motors that are not primarily balanced and 90-degree things are nicely balanced as they sit (and all duc twins are 90 deg motors). But it is smooth so the broader point is well taken :) Its range is still an issue, but CA cycle works sells a big tank for the duc hyper. The extra liter here is nice, but still not enough to make me happy.
The 610 Smr, was/is a thumper…with no counter balancer, which made/makes it feel like your riding a chainsaw with wheels. which it kind of was. My point was that it (the husky) was rather crude. =)
@bikepilot…
the BBX and OSSA have nothing to do with apshalt… yet if you look over the few weeks prior to this article there is KTM freeride this and that and other things dirt related including even the zero dirt motorcycles.
they are both only a set of wheels and brakes away from being asphalt terrorists