First fruit after the Rimini, Italy based firm’s
acquisition by Japanese motorcycle maker Kawasaki is the Bimota Tesi H2 concept
motorcycle. Taking the underpinnings of Kawasaki’s hyperbike, the Kawasaki H2,
Bimota added it’s trademark hub centre steering to create, well, opinions are
somewhat divided on the matter.
Hub centre steering is not new and has been tried in
one form or another across the decades, including the Yamaha GTS1000 with Radd
front steering, the Vyrus 985 C3 and the Bimota Tesi of the early 90s. Kawasaki
itself was somewhat involved in the periphery of hub-centre steering in the
70s, when a four-cylinder Kawasaki inline-four mill was used in the Mead and
Tomkinson “Nessie” race bike.
In the case of the Tesi H2 – Tesi meaning “thesis”
in Italian – Bimota’s formula of taking a production street bike and adding
it’s own design touches to it holds true. Keeping the frame and supercharger
from the Kawasaki H2, the front end now sports a massive aluminium alloy
swingarm with hub centre steering activated by Heim joints.
The single-sided swingarm of the H2 is gone,
replaced with a conventional swingarm though the massive dual-canister exhaust
from the hyperbike is retained. Also missing is the Kawasaki trellis frame,
with what appears to be a beam frame in its place.
Carbon-fibre is liberally used throughout the Tesi
H2, including two massive wings on either side of the front cowl and the
supercharger intake runner. Via wholly-owned Kawasaki Motors Europe and
subsidiary investment company Italian Motorcycle Investment, Kawasaki will be
selling high-end motorcycles, probably built as a boutique brand and in limited
numbers, under the revived Bimota brand name.
