Bimoto Impeto naked

Bimota, the tiny but influential Italian manufacturer based in Rimini, has embraced the “naked” sportbike for ages. The Impeto, shown at EICMA, is derived from the ultra-sporty DB7 and is quite a contrast to the Tesi 3D Race Café that was also shown.
As of late, Bimota has exclusively used Ducati engines to power its creations. The Impeto uses the previous generation 1198, twin spark Testastretta engine that pumps out a claimed 162 horsepower at the crankshaft. With a claimed dry weight of just 390 pounds, the Impeto should provide impressive acceleration.

But for those in need of Kawasaki H2-like power, Bimota is also developing a supercharger kit for the 1198 Testastretta engine. The vane type supercharger is made by Sprintex and is compact enough to fit inside the engine’s 90-degree Vee. Bimota has developed the manifold and fuel-injection system in house, which it claims works effectively without the addition of an intercooler. With the supercharger installed, horsepower jumps past 180, but more importantly, torque leaps to around 140 pound-feet of peak output.

Helping to paste the power to the road is a chassis derived from that of the DB7 sportbike. The frame is a hybrid design with oval steel tubing mated to CNC machined billet aluminum side plates. The swingarm mimics the frame and has the same steel tubing/billet aluminum combination. Suspension front and rear is from Öhlins with a 43mm fork and full-floating link-actuated shock; both fully adjustable. Wheelbase spans 56.3 inches, while front-end geometry includes 25 degrees of rake, but trail is as of yet undisclosed.

Braking is handled by Brembo front and rear with twin 320mm rotors and monoblock radial-mount four-piston calipers up front and a single-piston caliper out back. Seat height is a very accessible 31.5 in.

For those who want to up the ante even more, Bimota is working on a version with a carbon-fiber frame and swingarm that will reduce weight substantially and surely increase the price dramatically. But American buyers don’t need to worry about pricing, as Bimota hasn’t been distributed in the U.S. for a few years now. Hopefully its latest restructuring will prove successful for the company and we’ll see the ultra-exotic machines find their way stateside again in the near future.