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Bimota BB3

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Bimota has a history of providing do-it-yourself kits to customers, allowing racers and owners the ability to use their own engines with Bimota chassis. And now, you can do that with the Bimota BB3, as the boutique brand is offering its BMW S1000RR powered superbike in kit form.

All you need to provide is the 1,000cc inline-four engine from the S1000RR, as well as its wiring and electronics, and the Bimota BB3 kit provides the rest.

While the package should be an affordable way for collectors, enthusiasts, and racers to come about owning a Bimota BB3, the kits genesis is very much grounded from adversity in the business realm.

We already know that Bimota plans to go racing at the 2015 Isle of Man TT (and other road races) with Brit Ben Wylie and American Brandon Cretu — the duo riding on a pair of Bimota BB3 superbikes.

What we didn’t know is that Bimota will make 60 replicas of these race bikes available to consumers, calling the machines the Bimota BB3 TTrofeo.

The BB3 TTrofeo bikes will have the same race livery as the road racing superbikes, along with “select performance upgrades” which we take to mean bolt-on goodies, not engine work.

Italy’s favorite boutique brand will be back at the Isle of Man TT races this year, with a two rider team that includes American Brandon Cretu.

Cretu and his teammate Ben Wylie will campaign for Bimota at the big four road races (North West 200, Isle of Man TT, Ulster Grand Prix, and Macau GP) on-board the Bimota BB3 superbike.

This is not the first time that Cretu and Wylie have raced together, having shared a pit while at the Wylie Racing team during the 2011 and 2012 Isle of Man TT races.

Though the Bimota BB3 was ruled ineligible for FIM events, the international road racing scene has no hang-ups letting the S1000RR-powered superbikes lineup on the starting grid.

Are you still racking your brain over what to get that special motorcyclist in your life for Christmas (or Chanukah, for our Jewish readers)? Was the Paul Bird Motorsports MotoGP race bikes that are for sale a bit too spendy for your holiday budget?

Then we have a more budget friend proposition for you: the Bimota BB3 WSBK-Spec race bikes that were raced by Team Alstare in the 2014 World Superbike Championship.

Despite the small size of the company, Bimota has shown itself to be a strong contender in the EVO class of the World Superbike Championship. And though none of the company’s results have counted to date, as the Italian brand had failed to meet the initial 125 quota by the start of the 2014 season, Bimota has kept forging ahead.

This is because Bimota got a special dispensation to race the first part of the 2014 WSBK season, as the FIM allowed the company four months from its first race day to meet World Superbike’s initial homologation standards, which is 125 street bikes.

Unfortunately however, even with that extra time, Bimota has been unable to meet the 125 unit volume (only 40 or so machines have been built), and thus is not expected to continue racing the rest of the season.

When Alstare split from Ducati Corse in World Superbike, there was some speculation as to where the Belgian-based racing team would land, and it would seem the trip hasn’t been a far one.

Linking up with the recently acquired Bimota brand, Alstare has signed a five-year agreement to collaborate with the Italian brand, and will serve as the worldwide racing department for Bimota — with a key focus on developing Bimota’s Moto2 and WSBK racing platforms, the latter centering around the recently launched Bimota BB3.

Alstare’s technical expertise will also be responsible for developing Bimota’s future sports and supersport models, while the firm’s communications and marketing experience will serve as Bimota’s race marketing department.

In total, the essence of the deal sees Alstare playing a vital role in Bimota’s business plans, from developing new models, honing race bikes, finding sponsors, and working with the press. With so much of Bimota’s business being outsourced to the Belgian racing firm, one has to wonder what duties are left for the brand’s Italian base.

Today marks a formal new beginning for Bimota, as the boutique Italian firm has recently been acquired by Daniele Longoni and Marco Chiancianesi. Helping to commemortate that event, Bimota debuted at the 2013 EICMA show its new S1000RR-powered Bimota BB3 sport bike.

Using the 999cc four-cylinder superbike motor found on the BMW, the Italians quote 190hp for the Bimota BB3, the same as what the Germans have been able to coax from the S1000RR. Weight is 394 lbs dry, also the same as the BMW S1000RR, so on paper the two bikes appear to be quite similar. In person though, they are anything but.

Last year we were wowed by the Bimota BB2, and not necessarily in a good way. The boutique Italian brand has a reputation for making rolling pieces of art that feature production motors with Bimota’s own chassis genius. While the BB2 was powered by the venerable BMW S1000RR’s inline-four engine, Bimota failed to live up to its end of the bargain, which made the Bimota BB2 an interesting, although rather unappealing, effort.

From what our sources have told us, that project has since been taken out behind the woodshed, and to help make up for things, a clean-slate Bimota BB3 will debut at this year’s EICMA show. The first machine to debut under Bimota’s new owners, Marco Chiancianesi and Daniele Longoni, the BB3 again features an S1000RR power plant, and from what our sources have been telling us, the BB3 swaps the BB2’s throwback retro look for a 21st century racing aesthetic.