Guilty Pleasures

[Hugh]

Greetings,

Snowy day in the Peak District circa 1978/79.

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TTFN

Hugh.

[Stebbelaner]

Respect!
Brushfield was a challenge on a modern Enduro bike let alone a Commando

[daveuprite]

Some more pics I just dug out from an old chest of prints. Nothing guilty about owning these beauts. I absolutely loved them, especially the YB8e, which was Number 198 out of 240 ever made. But a bit guilty about how much money and time I lavished on them, but so what...










Selling that YB8 was the biggest biking mistake I ever made.

[macvisual]

wOw that's utter Bimota LUST just there Dave -- respect my friend......!!!

[dodursley]

Best I can do is a 1980 SB3,, 20 years ago?

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[Richard Simpson Mark II]

It's a good job it's right at the other end of the country


https://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C1224818

You can get a sensible, reliable KTM single in decent condition for less

[daveuprite]

Best I can do is a 1980 SB3,, 20 years ago?

That's a rare thing. Did you like it? Some of the few remaining early SB bikes are now being raced in classic events, putting in some pretty good lap times.

As Bimota always believed, it's all about the frame, and bikes like the SB3 demonstrated how good Japanese bikes could be if only they had decent frames and suspension. The SB3 was 80 pounds (!) lighter than the GS1000 and went round corners properly, unlike the jelly-framed donor.

[daveuprite]

wOw that's utter Bimota LUST just there Dave -- respect my friend......!!!

No respect deserved on my part. I just bought them and rode them. It's Valerio Bianchi, Giuseppe Morri, and Massimo Tamburini (Bi, Mo, Ta) that deserve the respect for creating such an innovative company.

I always lusted after them as a kid, reading bike mags, during a period when Japanese bikes were mechanically very good but didn't handle.

The styling was often experimental, and they didn't always get it right (the Mantra was just hideous). But you always got a hand-made bike, made from the most exotic and lightweight materials, machined to tolerances you never found in mass production, with tuned or blue-printed engines.

Sure they have had a very checkered history. At one point the business was run by a couple of barking mad scientologists. Now Kawasaki own 49% and they are knocking out crazy powerful bikes again.

If I won the lottery tomorrow, I'd buy a Tesi H2 like a shot. (It might help if I actually entered though !)

[frenchy3]

Best I can do is a 1980 SB3,, 20 years ago?

That's a rare thing. Did you like it? Some of the few remaining early SB bikes are now being raced in classic events, putting in some pretty good lap times.

As Bimota always believed, it's all about the frame, and bikes like the SB3 demonstrated how good Japanese bikes could be if only they had decent frames and suspension. The SB3 was 80 pounds (!) lighter than the GS1000 and went round corners properly, unlike the jelly-framed donor.

I had a Harris Magnum 2 framed GSX1170 Yoshimura Suzuki and the handling was superb. It went really quick............by which i mean it was stolen after owning it five weeks

[daveuprite]

Best I can do is a 1980 SB3,, 20 years ago?

That's a rare thing. Did you like it? Some of the few remaining early SB bikes are now being raced in classic events, putting in some pretty good lap times.

As Bimota always believed, it's all about the frame, and bikes like the SB3 demonstrated how good Japanese bikes could be if only they had decent frames and suspension. The SB3 was 80 pounds (!) lighter than the GS1000 and went round corners properly, unlike the jelly-framed donor.

I had a Harris Magnum 2 framed GSX1170 Yoshimura Suzuki and the handling was superb. It went really quick............by which i mean it was stolen after owning it five weeks

Gutting to have it nicked. I like all those specials. Martek, Moto Martin, Harris Magnum, Pierobon etc. It's not until you ride them that you realise quite how lardy and bendy the donor bikes were (well except Pierobon Ducatis of course).