Bimota Forum

[Nito]

Hello folks,

Thought I’d officially say hello. I have been registered on here for a couple of years from when I came close to taking the plunge on an SB6 and received some friendly advice at the time.

Long story short, I’m a huge Tamburini fan and the SB2 has always held a special place for me, today after dreaming of one for a long time and never thinking I’d actually ever own one, I’ve gone and placed a deposit down; gulp. I’m excited, anxious, buzzing with nervous energy and bricking it all at the same time. It’s not a purchase that can be logically explained and I can’t help but feel guilty and somewhat undeserving because it’s no small undertaking, disgustingly self indulgent and because I appreciate just how special these are. It will be the star of the garage and will be keeping a couple of other Tamburini masterpieces company in the form of the controversial 907ie and the beautiful F4, all of which can trace their lineage and so many of their features and typical Tamburini hallmarks right back to the SB2.

Thanks to all those for keeping these forums going,
Cheers
Nito

[brian]

Congratulations on the purchase of your SB2 Nito! Looking forward to seeing some photos
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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

[Nito]

Thanks Brian,

For the moment here are a couple of the advertised pics...








and a walkaround vid;
https://youtu.be/U7U-H251BMk

It was registered in the UK as an 850cc so presumably is fitted with the Yoshi upgrade and it's a factory bike #94. It's not been taxed since 6 months after it was imported and UK registered in 1993 so clearly hasn't been out on the road. The Logbook has it down as 1979 which may or may not be accurate but I'm happy with that as it qualifies for classic bike status in the UK at 40 years old. There may be some further re-commissioning work to do but that's all part of the fun, it's all up and running at least. It'll come with new tyres and an MOT (our annual safety test).

Cheers
Nito

[TVRRICH]

Well done Nito. I went over to Lusso Veloce just to look at that bike last year, absolutely stunning. Im afraid i dont have the finances to buy an SB2 but like you have always lusted after one. Chris at Lusso did his best to persuade me to buy it but no. Its great that the bike is staying in the UK as Chris said there was interest from S.Africa last year.

[brian]

Wow, it looks fantastic mate! Jealous much!
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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

[Nito]

Thank you Gents,

Rich, yes he's quite persuasive lol, he also had a very strong interest from Japan just recently. I think I took the view that it's really a case of now or never, it's a stretch but there can't be many UK bikes here and anything now bought from Europe will subsequently incur an additional 20% vat that it wouldn't have previously which would forever push it beyond my means.

Now is the wait...it's a bit weird because it's the dearest bike I've ever bought and that has been done unseen courtesy of Covid relying on pics and vids so I hope it's as the pics suggest. I've never even sat on one or ever seen one in the flesh for that matter!

Cheers
Nito

[TVRRICH]

Hi Nito, I have always found Chris a great chap, i bought my DB2 FE from him when they were still North Leicester Motorcycles back in 2016. The bike always goes back to him for work and he has always been very fair. The reason i went over to see it was that i also had never seen one in the flesh either. I was not disappointed as i found it more stunning than in photo's, there are shapes and intricacies on the bike only apparent by seeing it in the flesh. I nearly considered part ex-ing all my bikes and cashing in savings etc but just couldn't do it. Its a pity you couldn't get down to Lusso, they have many other fantastic bikes there in the show rooms. Hope all goes well with the purchase you lucky chap!!. Will it get out and about when you eventually get it or will it mainly get looked at in the garage

[Nito]

Thanks Rich, it's reassuring to know that you weren't disappointed in the flesh and that it was nice enough to even make you consider chopping everything in! I don't take it for granted at all, I'm sure there are so many like us that have a genuine appreciation for the ingenuity behind the SB2 and everything it stood for.

I'm not one for static display, as nice as it would be to have a proper display area! I love to get them out in the light of day and stretch their legs. I'd anticipate I probably would only do a couple of hundred miles if that or a couple of tanks of fuel a year with it but it's enough to keep it all running and moving, would be a shame to lock something like that away but it'll only come out on the occasional high day. Not having to tax it is a bonus but I will be getting MOT's annually.

I sold my nice car last year with no plans to replace it and have been very patient in not spending any of the proceeds until now, fortunately it means I have a large car size space in the garage! I'm considering one of those bike carcoon things to keep it perfect but no experience with them. The other bikes are just kept covered in the garage in the winter and they seem to be mostly ok but rather than cover this up, it would be nice for it to hibernate in its own special bubble !

Thanks
Nito

[2bims]

Very nice nito.....and what "special car" was chipped in?

Evidently I'm not after your postcode and house number...but what county or country do you herald?...like Scotland/Wales...>Kent...Newcastle....and hopefully we could meet up...and...it theres ever any bike shows around....we could have an SB2 on the stand.....we put some 38 Bimotas into a 2 day show in Manchester in 2017.....We had Sb4/6/6r/7/8 but no SB2......etc etc...

[2bims]

Oh...And I sure aint no expert here....as I've only ever seen one other in the flesh....but has the sidestand been modded....with spring relocation so that it stays open?....spring location looks odd...Early bimotas had suicide stands so you had to get off the bike before being able to put the bike on its sidestand...and the second you lifted the bike it auto retracted...I modded my DB2 for that reason....it does mean you have to remember to kick it back before riding off....as normally theres no safety cut out to stall the bike once you try putting into gear if the sidestand is still down....Lush bike by the way...and I never knew that "Lusso" was the old NLM....

[morebhp]

Beautiful - Enjoy!
_________________
Now - SB6R, GSX1400, KTM 990 SuperDuke
Then - H2A Trip, GSX1000R , EXC400, TZ250, R1, TL1000S, 1100 Kat, RG500, RD500, GPZ 900R GPZ1100 UniT, GSX1100, Z650
It was like that when I got here

[Anders]

Congratulations, Nito!

Old Bimotas are very rare here in Norway.
I'm not sure if I ever saw a SB2, but seem to remember one in the Nürburgring museum when I was at the ring with my bb1 back in 2001. Anyway, I am happy to hear that you plan to ride it.
_________________
Anders
bb1, Mille S2, Guzzi / Watsonian, Morini Corsaro 125, EC200, RD350YPVS etc

[Nito]

Thanks for the support chaps,

2bims, I'm based in Kent. I have no idea on the side stand until I see it in the flesh but thanks for the heads up. I also notice that this one has no spout on the fuel breather/overflow on the top of the tank which all the others appear to, so that may require some further investigation.

The car is a bit of a bitter tale really, I bought it to replace a Skyline track car which I struggled to drive due to a ruptured disc at the time and a lovely Merc 500CL thinking I could combine both cars in one, comfort and monster power, the result was a Mercedes CLS63S shooting brake.



It was a beast of a car but I use a pickup truck for work daily and it never really got used, being a black car and living in the country meant every journey would require it to be cleaned or put it away filthy which I'd struggle to do, invariably I weighed the merit of every journey on whether the juice was worth the squeeze. It was a large car and a pig to clean so inevitably it generally wasn't worth the effort, hence the low mileage and I lost an SB2 on it in depreciation alone! That's me done with cars, I'll stick to bikes, so I cut my loses. It even took about 2 years to sell losing a fortune every month in the interim and I was relieved to see the back of it tbh, not that there was anything wrong with the car, it was just the cost vs use, £580 per year to tax for 2k miles was also a big bugbear to swallow without adding insurance, servicing, AMG tax etc!

The funds will go towards two bikes, the SB2 and one of the more affordable other 'on the list' bikes that will round off the collection very nicely. That'll be it then for a while with me officially out of space and funds !!

[welshlamb]

Welcome Nito, fabulous looking bike. Paul Murphy last year restored an SB2 which I believe is on long term loan to a US museum. Check out his thread if you haven’t already. Also your final sentence begs a question....what else is on your remaining bike wish list.. another Bimota or some other longed for steed?
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Not as many bikes as I would like and already too many to keep up with!

[2bims]