Bimota Forum

[oily]

Anyone have any thoughts about why Bimota used the GSXR 1100 water cooled lump over the oil cooled lump.
I'm running two water cooled motors in my Bimota's and two oil cooled motors in two other bikes and to be honest I think the oil cooled motors are much better. More responsive, better performance much less complicated etc. and much eaiser to tune if that's your thing.
Been thinking for a while. I've got a spare oil cooled 1100 motor a spare SB6 frame, body work etc. I feel a project coming on (as if I haven't got enough projects on the go)
Your thoughts guys

[Pompey]

I think you should do it this week. Finish by Friday, love it and sell me the other SB6 with race fairing before I bugger off on the 7th of sept. mmmm?
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Pomps
Bimota's Db2, Db5 ,Ducati's 851' 92, 888' 93, Honda blade' 93, Triumph speed triple' 07, kawasaki zxr 750 k1

[oily]

Finish by Friday!!!!!!
Probably won't be able to get an MOT booked till next week so what's the point in hurrying

Missing your SB6 already

[Pompey]

I am... even though I will have no chance to ride for a year I am still sticking Bimota on ebay to see what comes up!
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Pomps
Bimota's Db2, Db5 ,Ducati's 851' 92, 888' 93, Honda blade' 93, Triumph speed triple' 07, kawasaki zxr 750 k1

[oily]

I've now disscused this project, in depth, with SWMBO and quite unbelivably, she has decided (we) I can't aford to do it, sooooooo she is now up for sale or swap and I need to source a modern, lightweight front end, pair of wheels and a swingarm of some description. If anyone's got any decent parts at sensible money get in touch
I'm thinking modern GSXR running gear unless someone can come up with a better suggestion

[Evilchicken0]

I think your only drawback will be the airflow over the engine, the SB6's bodywork doesn't allow much ventilation so you might find the engine running hot, especially if it's tuned.
I dare say an aftermarket oil cooler and/or uprated oil pump would be prundent
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Don't read everything you believe

[oily]

Yeah, I thought about that and there isn't much airflow over the water cooled engine just a radiator at the front so, like you say a big oil cooler at the front would probably do it.
The oil cooled engine likes to run hot anyway

[MARTIN]

Could be the reason Bimota chose to use the water cooled motor as opposed to the oil cooled on the SB6.

If the oil cooled motor ran hotter,then that heat may be enough to discolor the already close fitting bodywork. Any additional vents to cool the motor could spoil the smooth lines that exist.

If the motor run hotter,then I asume the exhaust would run hotter also.This extra heat may have damage potential for
the tail unit/exhaust exit.
Probably mean pipes would have exited similar to SB6R
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Marty
State of the art and leading edge of cocking things up

(00) SB6 (95) HD FXDWG STRETCH (01)GSXR1000K1

[GeeKay]

Bimota's quest is always to build lightweight bikes, so it seems strange they should opt for the added bulk of a water-cooled motor and it's attachments.
Unless it's all Suzuki would supply them with, or they wanted a quieter, more reliable engine that could be tuned in-house?
Not sure about excess heat affecting the bike, as my aircooled DB2 runs close-fitting bodywork and a full fairing with no problems. (unless you forgetfully put items of food in the underseat storage area )

[oily]

Good point Martain but I don't think the oil cooled motor runs that much hotter than the watercooled motor and if it does, It'll give me an exuse to make carbon fibre bodywork using high tempreture resin
The bodoy work is a long way off yet, probably the last thing to worry about as I'm sure I'll have a few problems to solve before I get there
GAZ, Exactly what I thought about the lightweight ethos of Bimota.
That era the watercooled motor was Suzuki's latest creation so perhaps that was the only engine Suzuki would supply.
The water cooled motor is definatly quieter but more reliable and easier to tune? Not in my experiance. The oil cooled is definatly cheaper and eaiser to get big BHP and torque

[GeeKay]

I didn't mean to infer that oil-cooled motors are inferior to water-cooled lumps, just that if Bimota wanted to attempt to extract 150-160bhp from a motor, then it would be best if it was water-cooled. The even running temperature allows closer manufacturing tolerances which results in less pumping losses. And the by-product of more power is more heat. But you already knew this.

[oily]

No I didn't......
I thought the by-product of more power was more squished flies on my teeth from grinning insanely

[Evilchicken0]

If you look at Bimota's history it's making the marginal handling bikes better by reframing and reducing the overall weight.The GSX-R1100W was one of the last sportbikes that handled like ... a fast milkfloat*. That's why it made sense to Bimota it up. It was a similar story with the Yamaha ThunderAce where it was up against the Fireblade.





*not literally, milkfloats are rarely blue and white.
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Don't read everything you believe

[husson73]

the reason why bimota used at this time the water-cooled engine is bimota used the last Suzuki engine from this period.
Anyway, Roland Brown when he tested the SB6 on the ninenties wrote the water-cooled engine was'nt so impressive than the oil-cooled engine.

[oily]

I certainly agree with Roland Brown hence contemplating this project

After making a comprehensive list of all the parts required I'm only struggling with finding a suitable swing arm that could be adapted to suite the frame. Any help in this area would be greatly appreciated