I don't think we've ever seen a Bimota and thought, "Ah, that's nothing special." Hate or love them, Bimotas snap necks as they pass with their wild, almost custom, seemingly one-off designs. Each bike is hand-assembled and painted by Italian craftsmen.
Now, streets around the world are set to welcome another Bimota: the KB4RC.
Bimota wanted to make the KB4RC an easy-to-ride machine and summarized its inspiration with one word: "freedom." It's designed around the lightweight body of the KB4, with plentiful torque provided by Kawasaki's 1,043cc in-line 4-cylinder engine, which normally powers the Ninja 1000SX and puts out 140 hp and 81 lb-ft of torque.
The model expands on the KB4 that launched as a Japan-only model in 2019. For all intents and purposes, the KB4RC is a Kawasaki Z1000, but with a chassis manufactured by Bimota. So think luxury naked, verging on hyper naked.
What the RC aims to achieve over the standard KB4 is to be easily adjustable to suit the rider's physique, riding preferences, and style. Bimota used an eccentric adjuster that allows the step position and vehicle height to be easily adjusted. But the feature that's sure to turn the most heads is the 3-piece aluminum swingarm connected to the engine via a machined aluminum pivot plate. This swingarm wouldn't have looked out of place on a MotoGP machine a few years ago.
Once you stop drooling over the swingarm, there are plenty of other trick parts to hold your attention, like the Öhlins suspension and Brembo brake setup. For those more interested in the engineering behind the bike, check out the chrome-molybdenum steel front trellis frame mounted directly to the engine and under-seat radiator that realizes ideal front-rear weight distribution.
The KB4RC has a suggested retail price of 4,7300,000 yen ($31,798 USD) and comes with a 2-year warranty. The question is, once it goes on sale on March 25th, how ready will you be to empty your bank account? Let us know if it's up your alley in the comments.
