CarBrandLogos archive · Bimota · 2014

BimotaBB3

A BMW-engined superbike that arrived exactly as the money ran out.

Photo: https://www.flickr.com/photos/klausnahr/ · CC BY-SA 2.0

The story

A defining chapter in Bimota history.

Explore the ideas, engineering and context that shaped the Bimota BB3, then continue into its specifications and place in the marque's lineage.

Origins

Shown in 2013, the BB3 put the BMW S1000RR's inline four into a Bimota chassis built from machined aluminium plates and tubular sections, and was intended to take the company into World Superbike racing.

2014 Bimota BB3 · https://www.flickr.com/photos/klausnahr/ · CC BY-SA 2.0

Design and engineering

The class requires a minimum number of road bikes to be built for homologation, and Bimota could not fund them. The racing entry collapsed, and only 26 machines were completed by 2015 before the company changed hands again. The idea returned a decade later in the form of the Kawasaki-engined KB998, this time with a manufacturer's backing behind it. Like most Bimotas, its rarity was immediate and its desirability retrospective — the house pattern since 1973. Collectors have already begun the retrospective phase.

At a glance