Bimota Forum

[2bims]

Mrs DB1 hasnt been wanting to start since her winter snooze..........and I've time on my hands so its striptease time..........well the clocks going forward gives me more hours and rain seems to have abated......Also posting here for another on here that wants piccies of bodywork...as they are doing one up thats had its bodywork hacked by an axe murderer.....









Ally tank off...........





Ally crankcase breather tank off.........may just leave it off and put a vented cap on the hose........all its doing is acting as a crud catcher to keep the rear spring clean











right ...thats the clothes off so now nakedness...........must have been bored as I counted theres over 30 separate frame rails cradlling the engine in total........





Carbs off ready for a clean........no airfilters at all as its running Mikuni square bodied 40mm flatslides.......



Nice little details of predrilled holes and tabs to hold Coils, fuse box etc...thoughtful.....

[2bims]

And a few detail shots as I'm considering a full strip and ground up resto......will clean up first and decide whether an element of patina is liveable rather than it be off the road for a year..........and besides I;ve only just cleared the dining room out of bike bits.........













Not the best place for a relulator/rectifier...right under the tank...and the colouring matches no way no how the wires that go into it.........typical....bit like there being a fuse box...total 4...but no fuse box cover...........some things never change

Heres a lovely little detail that Bimota did ....just because they can....front brake hose is a single line from master down to a banjo bolt and pressure switch fro brake light onto the lower yoke........brake fluid flows through 2 predrilled channels in the lower yoke to then feed 2 banjo bolts and 2 lines, one to each caliper

[waggy]

Nice set of pics 2bims, always nice to see the inner workings of these beasts. I vote you should do a full strip down and resto, its what dinning rooms are built for

[bimotanige]

kb1 has the same front brake layout through the lower yoke - it does look tidy
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KB1x2, SB3 SB4 BB1 DB2 Vdue Evo YB11 RB1 Ducati MHR Suzi GS650

[SpikeC]

I love the "not for aircraft use"! I say do cleanup and ride the bike. It's kind of like Staffies in the show ring, some "honorable" scars are permissible!
It shows that you use it as intended, to be ridden!
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Spike C.
Portland, Oregon, USA
2008 Bimota DB5R
1965 Triumph T100SC

[Frank.61]

Hi Bims,

Was it yours at the Manchester motorshow or Bimotanige's?
Seems you have plenty of time for next years show ....
Could also do a paint job first and do the full strip restoration later on (keep the misses happy ).
DB1 has lots of similarities to HB, KB & SB's of mid 80-ties!
Did read an interview with new Bimota brand owners; said they wanted to focus more on services than in the frequent past as also taking care of parts availability for old models


Well let's wait and see ....

Frank

[waggy]

Have to say that bimotas customer service is practically non existant. They could do no worse than take a leaf out of suzukis book and copy their vintage parts programme.

[brian]

[CNC]

What can I say... bike pornography!
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Bimota DB7, Bimota DB5 Mille, Ducati 916, Ducati M900, Benelli Tornado Tre

[2bims]

Well it was a lovely sunny day yesterday so the clean up commenced further........A few touch-ups here on there with the rear shock





I've a spare NOS Marzocchi rear shock for the bike....but will keep existing for now but change the Knurled cabled remote adjuster as the other one has come disconnected from the shock to some extent...

Most of what I thought was either paint missing or corrosion turned out to be just muck...courtesy of the rear chain.......although there is a decent rubber "mudflap" that keeps most muck from the rear wheel at bay.......



Which is bolted to the rear swinger, and rivetted to a top frame mount....



The back of the tank is held in place by a captive bolt and a top nut....Bimota could have used one of these...



(bottle of superglue for scale purposes...)

But instead they made one of these out of alloy....and you only see it when the bodywork is off.........Detail...detail...always with the detail even if unseen.....No wonder they were so expensve to buy when new....



Hardly "weight saving" but I know what I prefer.....



The Crankcase expansion tank did have a "cobbled together" bolt fixing that had been silicon sealed into place....whereas it should have 3 No. rubber wellnuts....so where was the missing third one??? Rattling around inside...so I had to go fishing with my needle pliers to find it and yank it clear...like getting coins out of a money box when you've no key to open it...



Tank may have had a quick rub down with WD40 and a light polish........





Oh and maybe the crankcase breather box also..........

the rest of the bike is still pretty tidy. even the notorious Ducati Crankcase paint......





I've wrapped the headers in "titanium heat wrap" to safeguard at the temps that build up under the all enveloping body...

[2bims]

Fitted a spare steering damper I had lying around.....bracket was already on the bike for the frame mount and the lower yolk incorporates one already built in...just the damper that was missing........



I stripped out the carbs next for a full stripdown and clean.....as the low idle was not running right and kept fouling the plugs......separate carbs for each cylinder made it easy......note half moon cut out of aftermarket Mikuni square bodied flatslides to clear frame rail.......





Trying to disconnect the throttle cables was a nightmare........integral to the flat slide....with massive slinky spring....plastic cover and then two tiny screws to remove the catch for the nipple....I gather when you buy they come as a kit complete with the throttle assembly already attached.........Grrgghhhh...







The bodywork and paint is already about as good as you can get...a couple of gelcoat cracks appearing from the occassional ride that I should expect.....and the frame and engine werent as bad as I was expecting...so I reckon another season or two of riding before I consider a full strip........







And one final Arty B&W one to close for now..........Well...perhaps 2 piccies

[brian]

Definately one of those bikes that looks just as sexy with the bodywork off as it does with the bodywork on.

Who's the old man that was helping you in the photo's
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'99 DB4 #104, '96 SB6 #1165, '94 DB2 J #652, '99 DB4 #088, '08 VTX1800, '93 ZXR750R M1, '95 ZXR750, '95 ZXR750 Race Bike, '94 CBR400rr NC29 Race Bike, '94 CB250, '49 BSA C10 250, '61 BSA A10 650, '89 ZXR750, '91 Ducati 851

[2bims]

I was fresh out of latex gloves....checked the stock in the bedroom and they were all gone.........

Prefer the direct skin on grease/dirt/metal feel.........I have my dads hands (he wasnt using them)....we have crinkly fingers from birth for some reason.....runs in the family..........

[2bims]

[brian]

The bodywork looks to be in really good nick Steve. Lots of nice little bimota touches like you've mentioned. Things that bimota nuts can look at all day

Mmm very nice mate. Lovely fluid reservoirs atop the forks, beautiful frame and the very minimalist seat pad. I would only half fill the tank if going on a trip so that I had to stop regularly enough to get feeling back in my arse
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'99 DB4 #104, '96 SB6 #1165, '94 DB2 J #652, '99 DB4 #088, '08 VTX1800, '93 ZXR750R M1, '95 ZXR750, '95 ZXR750 Race Bike, '94 CBR400rr NC29 Race Bike, '94 CB250, '49 BSA C10 250, '61 BSA A10 650, '89 ZXR750, '91 Ducati 851