1990 Bimota YB8 (Not a YB11)

Description

This is my 1990 Bimota YB8. This is not a YB11, hat is one of my other Bimota''s listed here. Anyway It was a very limited bike produced form 1990 to 1992. The Bimota factory only made about 250 of them for the world market and it is believed that only 65 of them made it to the United States. I was about $24,000 when it was new, aking it one of the most expensive bikes produced at the time. This particular bike has just over 11000 miles on it. It is a totally stock two owner bike that was completely restored in 2014. This included carb rebuild, eals and sync, nbsp;new tires, hain, prockets, rakes, tainless brake lines, ull fluid refresh, ody work detailing (paint was perfect so NO paintwork other than the rear mud guard).
This YB8 is powered by a 1990 Yamaha FZR1000 145 hp genesis 5 valve motor, rapped in a beautifully handcrafted aluminum frame suspended by top quality Marzoochi suspension front and Ohlins rear Shock, t has been stored in a climate controlled museum and need to be recommissioned (new battery) prior to operation. I rode it about 25 miles after I finished the restoration . Then it was drained of fuel and put on display on a shelf in one of my offices as a piece of art. It's that pretty. The gorgeous one piece body work in the Red,White and Green Italian flag colors really make this a special piece. The craftmanship of the frame, achined triple clamps and foot rests is really amazing. If you are just starting a Bimota collection or you are missing one of these you will be extremely happy adding this one to the mix, t is one of my favorites.It is coming out of my large bike collection which includes over 150 museum quality bikes, ncluding 18 Bimota's. I am only selling these Bimota's because i have decided to reduce the collection to a more managable quantity and I really don't want to sell just a few Bimota's and not have a complete collection...so they will all go. I can move the bike to any location in the country for $500 or less using Daily Direct because I have special deal with them, o the winner of the auction can either ship it themselves or I will ship it to you and you will be responsible for the shipping fees. I will assist overseas bidders with shipping but the expense will be all yours. I have 14 other Biota's that will be listed in the next few days so if you are serious collector stay tuned. These bikes don't come up for sale often and when they do its pretty special.
Here's a little back story on what the road testers said about the Bimota YB8 back in its debut year:
It was a good job that the YB8 Follett, imota's new UK importer, ent us had a speedometer that only read KPH, ecause if I had known the speed at which I negotiated that last set of bends, would surely have backed off rather than merely grinning inanely from ear to ear. The YB8 is that sort of bike, ot one for the faint hearted. Its appearance shouts performance without compromise, nd it exudes a quality that only comes with a hand built motorcycle, rafted with dedication to an ideal. Its paintwork is deep and lustrous and its fibreglass of the finest quality, hilst the alloy frame is a work of art. Its thin racing seat is a single lump of foam set into the fibreglass bodywork and declares the single mindedness with which this motorcycle was conceived. Many parts of course are borrowed straight from the FZR1000, ot only do Bimota use the engine, ut they also borrow the instruments,

switchgear and brake and clutch fluid reservoirs. The brake calipers are Brembo however, nd operate two massive floating discs at the front, ith the fluid ducted through high quality stainless steel pipes. Sadly for a machine costing nearly ?14,000, imota use all of Yamaha's wiring looms, hich are far from as neat as you find on say a BMW, ut at least they do work well. The exhaust system is also borrowed from the FZR, o doubt due to the EXUP exhaust valve system.T

he real quality shows however in the superb alloy frame, hich is a real work of art, nd which no doubt, ontributes to the loss of 24 kg off the dry weight of an FZR. Touches of real quality also show up in such items as their machined alloy top yoke and rear set foot pegs. These pegs I found to be ideally placed for the crouched forward riding position and the gear lever and brake pedals were at an ideal angle to the foot. Needless to say there is no provision for a passenger, nd the fibreglass hump is provided with foam padding so that you can rest your backside comfortably against it to resist the forces of acceleration.

This means that you are very nicely held in place for fast riding. The seat, lthough minimally appointed, s comfortable thanks to its generous breadth, uch that it amply supports your buttocks and does not cut into your thighs after a long days riding. Only if you venture over 300 miles will it start to get uncomfortable. The fairing is again a rather minimal affair, et yields a better level of protection from windblast than one would imagine. It is certainly as good, r should I say as adequate, s that on a standard FZR, nd very much better than say a ZZR1100 Kawasaki. As all the controls are straight from an FZR, hose used to a Japanese machine will find that everything falls instantly to hand. The real problem comes when you try to start it. Finding the starter is a doddle, ut where is the choke? I searched high and low, nside the fairing panels, n the frame members, eep inside the fairing, ut where did I find it - literally under my nose on the head yoke. It is a car type push pull knob which being made from aluminium, s beautifully camouflaged. I felt such a fool!

The only other item, hich needs explanation, s the reserve fuel tap. On the FZR there is am electronic rocker switch on the left hand side of the fairing, ut Bimota have a better arrangement. They mount a small switch just between the speedo and rev counter. When the bike stutters from fuel starvation you press this switch, hich electronically switches over to reserve. As you press the switch it also lights up red, o that you have a visual indication of low fuel. Therefore you can never forget that you are on reserve, nd it reminds you to switch back once you have filled up. The petrol tank on all Bimota's are plastic, nd are hidden beneath its all-enveloping fibreglass body cowling. You simply unlock the lovely polished aluminum filler cap, nd then unscrew the plastic fuel cap. I found this very stiff and difficult to get at, nd when I overfilled the tank it spilled over into an overflow well which did not drain off immediately, ut allowed a pool of petrol to remain there. I did not like that so I mopped it up with a tissue.

There does seem to be an overflow hole, hich presumably leads to a breather pipe, nd I can only assume that this may have been blocked. The YB8 has an excellent twin headlamp set up, ike the FZR, nd at the rear it has two rear lamps which are highly visible in the back of the seat hump. Like all true race replicas, here is no built in centre stand, ut the prop stand is a beautiful polished steel item, hich looks very strong. Sadly, t is a tad too long, hich means that the bike leans at a perilously shallow angle, ooking for the entire world as if it will fall over in the lightest breeze. How the Italians manage when they Final Final Final Drive on the right-hand side of the road, ith the amber against them, cannot imagine. Everywhere I parked the YB8 during the test period, t drew the inevitable crowd of admirers. In that respect, his machine is a poseur's delight. Its lustrous white paintwork, ith red and green metallic stripes (as in the Italian flag), xudes class from every crevice.

The wheels are painted white, nd apart from that everything is alloy. It looks a million dollars. And those tyres are the business too: Michelin Hi-Sports, ith a massive 180/55-rear tyre. You could not ask for better. UK Importers Follett in Euston road, ondon, ould only spare the YB8 for a week, nd so, ith photographs to be taken too, wasted no time in leaping on the bike and headed of for the wide-open roads of the West. The last time I rode a Bimota was in Italy back in the Summer of '88, nd I was looking forward to this opportunity to re-acquaint myself with the prestigious marque. I can still remember my impression of their old YB6, he one that used the non-Exup FZR1000 engine. I had not liked it as much as the 750cc YB4, nd had found it a little slow in steering and intractable. Would the YB8 ape its behavior?

Well I am pleased to say that the YB8 was altogether a nimbler machine than the old YB6. Running a standard FZR1000 as I do for my own bike, oing straight to the YB8 would be an interesting comparison. Obviously being an Italian-spec machine, he YB8 has no need to conform to the Japanese importers voluntary 125 bhp limit for the engine, nd the YB8 has a whacking 149 bhp lurking under its curvaceous body. You may have read other Journo's who have said that one simply cannot use this sort of power on the road. Of course, hat is nonsense. And I am not referring to top speed, imota quote a top speed of 173 mph if you are interested though, nd I can only say I have no reason to doubt that, ven though I had no opportunity to verify it myself. No the 149 bhp offered by the YB8 is completely usable on the road, nd it is in the region of overtakes especially that one notices the extra poke. It was noticeable riding the BMW K1 recently, ith its mere 100 bhp that overtakes possible on a machine like the YB8 cannot even be contemplated on a K1. It is that ability to get out and sprint effortlessly past a long line of traffic, ithout having to drop three gears that separate the YB8 from lesser machines, ncluding all the hotshot 750's.

The YB8 soon declares its colours to the rider, ndeed as I rode it through London, ith its snarled up traffic and its badly repaired roads, t was clear that the YB8 was not a machine to be ridden through town by choice. Its riding position is uncompromisingly sporty, ith the rider stretched out over the tank and his feet on proper rear set footpegs. Its suspension too is hard. You feel every ripple, very matchstick. Some call it feedback, ut around town, t low speeds its agony. What you will notice is a cacophony of irritating buzzes and rattles. You will hear more than anything the floating discs.

Try it: grad the discs and they are free to move- which is sound racing practice, othing wrong with that - but every time you brake I town you will hear them clatter. I also felt the chain on the demo bike was too slack, nd that contributed its own merry tune to the general hubbub. Not what you would expect from a bike costing nearly ?14,000. The engine of course, eing a de restricted FZR1000 Exup engine, as boundless low down torque and pulls like a train in top gear even from tick over. Indeed there are few engines, part from Suzuki's GSX-R1100 power plant, hich can match it for sheer grunt, ut the Exup engine is undoubtedly smoother and more refined than Suzuki's oil cooled 1100. You will also notice, s you negotiate the fist few roundabouts, hat in common with many race-orientated designs, he YB8 is rather slow steering. Its Michelins give phenomenal grip and surefootedness, ut it is something no doubt in the YB8#s general steering geometry that makes it far slower to go down in a bend than a Yamaha or Suzuki.

Town is no environment in which to test a machine like this, nd so it was off to the fast roads of the South West, here I headed with the YB8. This is where I was to discover what a remarkable machine this really was. No sooner had I hit the good bit of the A4 past Newbury than the YB8 showed what it could do. Head it at a fast open sweeper, ind the throttle up and this thing corners, s the clich? goes "as if it was on rails". Now there is not many bikes I can think of the can match the YB8's cornering prowess at high speeds, ndeed I cannot think of one. The FZR1000 definitely moves around and shakes it head at speed. The Suzuki GSX-R1100 is a little closer to the YB8 in that respect but still not, would suggest in the same class. The roads after Hungerford where I turned off the A4 presented a different challenge to the Bimota and required a different sort of handling finesse.

The A338 to Wantage is a road where bikes like the Suzuki GSX-R750 and Honda RC30 reign supreme, ue to their flick ability and flawless suspension. These however, ere in the two very areas where the YB8, n my opinion, roved least capable, s a result I found that I was working hard to maintain the speeds along these twisty and poorly surfaced roads that would have been easy for a GSX-R750 or for that matter even the standard FZR1000. The problem was that at anything other than very high speeds on open A roads, he slow steering and choppy suspension of the YB8 really worked against you, nd where you need to be able to flick a bike through a series of bumpy esses, he YB8 is a bit of a handful. Not that it ever truly misbehaved itself for it was always composed, t is simply that one needed greater effort to put the bike into a bend and the tighter and twistier the road becomes the harder the YB8 is to ride. On more open A roads, uch as certain sections of the A417 to Cirencester which I then joined, nd later on the A429 south from Stow towards Cirencester, he amazing stability and well damped front end helped long bumpy straights to be dispatched with disdainful ease, here some bikes would have tied themselves I knots.

The FZR in fact always had a tendency to shake its head over bumps when taken at speed, hereas the YB8 no doubt thanks to its steering damper, ails through unconcerned. One thing that the YB8 has in abundance is overtaking power, ore so even than the standard FZR. Rarely will you find it necessary to go any lower than fourth, uch is the power and torque spread of Yamaha's phenomenal twenty-valve Exup. Lines of cars may be overtaken with incredible sprinting power and such is the spread in fourth that you will not end up redlining it, nless you really are at full tilt. That it can do all this with refinement and ease is a bonus, lthough I will say that because Bimota mount the Yamaha engine more solidly than Yamaha do, nd the seat being as thinly padded as it is, ou feel more vibration through your backside than the FZR. There is also an annoying tingle through the bars, hich can numb the fingers at certain revs.

Not that economy is a consideration foremost in your mind when you buy a bike like this, ut I have to report the despite my best efforts the machine turned in quite stunning fuel consumption results compared to the standard FZR. Whereas I come to expect something like 30 mpg average, 0 mpg at best. On the YB8 I was getting worse case 45 and up to 50 mpg. Which I think is quite remarkable, nd before you suggest that I was not really trying I can assure you I was wringing the poor things neck wherever I could, ccasionally achieving velocities that we should not even talk about. It would go onto reserve between 140-160 miles, hich should mean there is about 5 or 6 Litres left giving an impressive 200-mile range. And so, ither Bimota has a more aerodynamic fairing, r it economy improves when it is not restricted to 125 bhp. Who can say? Ultimately, he person who buys a machine like the YB will not be affected by its lack of practicality, ts fuel consumption, ack of creature comforts or asking price for that matter. For when you but a Bimota you buy a pure piece of hand crafted one upmanship. True Exclusivity. To judge the YB8 by banal real world considerations is therefore perhaps churlish, or its appeal is an emotional, ubjective one and thus defies the test of cold blooded logic.

Let us assume therefore that the price is not a consideration, nd one has to say the YB8 is one of the finest machines around, nd that, t high speed on open sweepers it possesses the kind of stability that that I have experienced on no other machine. Here it is without a peer. We do not however always ride on wide, ast, ell surfaced A roads and when the going gets tighter, nd/or bumpier, ts slow steering and choppy ride quality make it hard work. Anyway you look at it the YB8 is one hell of a bike, nd I thoroughly enjoyed riding it. Few of those who buy it however, ill ever fully exploit its awesome potential.

Source Chris Frankland

Also published at eBay.com