This Bimota Superbike Puts Ducati and Aprilia on Notice

Over the past few decades, Bimota has reached an almost mythical status in the motorcycle community. The tiny Italian firm, with 14 employees from the secretary to the C.E.O., makes high-performance bikes based on Ducati, Yamaha, BMW, Honda, and more recently, Kawasaki platforms. With clever swingarm designs, hand-built components, and unlikely engineering solutions, every Bimota manages to redefine models from larger OEMs that ostensibly served as the underpinnings.

After folding into Kawasaki, Bimota has returned to the upper echelons of motorsport as well, taking over the factory WorldSBK team in 2025. This year, a new motorcycle has been revealed. The bike is dubbed the KB998 Rimini—the “KB” nomenclature indicates a Kawasaki engine and Bimota chassis, with the “Rimini” moniker taken for Bimota’s hometown. The model arrived in the U.S. right as riders Alex Lowes and Axel Bassani earned early podium success this season. Ahead of the official American launch, Bimota invited Robb Report for an exclusive test ride at Northern California’s WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca to prove how much the manufacturer’s racing provenance translates to a road-legal superbike.

Seeing it in person, we’re taken by how the KB998 Rimini stands out as far more striking than in photos. Capturing the angular yet flowing form requires the right perspective and lighting. The ubiquitous carbon fiber looks amazing, of course, from the wide front intake to the active-aero winglets, fairings, the seat subframe, and even the license plate holder hanging off the tail. A closer look reveals the rest of Bimota’s artisan engineering: there’s the TIG-welded oval chromium-molybdenum trellis frame, as well as the billet aluminum used throughout, including for the swingarm. The spectacular attention to detail extends to saving precious weight via titanium bolt tuning, right down to the rear axle bolt and nut.

Beneath the sculptural skin, the 998 cc inline-four engine from Kawasaki’s ZX-10RR lacks some of the supercharged brute nature of an H2, but as befitting a homologated racing engine, rewards high revs and full throttle. The power plant features titanium headers and an Akrapovič silencer for the exhaust, and is allowed to breathe through a massive front intake that required reworking the steering head. Firing up in Laguna Seca’s trackside garages pricked many ears, even among dedicated Ducati and Aprilia devotees gathered for a day with the Volant Vivere track-ride organization.

Pulling out onto Laguna’s long pit lane, I feel an immediate sense of the KB998’s nimble handling, despite the bike’s wide front end. Preheated Pirelli Diablo Superbike SC2 tires help us push harder from the first lap, but first impressions absolutely belied a 456-pound wet weight. The front end simply carves into turns with the slightest shift of body position, leaning over willingly enough to eliminate conscious thought and hesitation right out of the gate.

The flat seat design—with minimal padding—serves as a constant reminder of the KB998 Rimini’s racing heritage, and may not feel great for longer rides, but provides a perfectly stable platform to slide across on track. The carbon subframe helps absorb bumps and rattles, only enhancing a sense of perfect balance as the Showa suspension—derived directly from Kawasaki’s seven WorldSBK titles, including six consecutive ones between 2015 and 2020—smoothed out any rougher patches of Laguna Seca’s recently repaved tarmac. Bimota retunes the Balance Free Fork with a low spring rate, firmer compression damping, and softer rebound, while the rear damper can adjust up to 30 millimeters with an eccentric bolt. This means no removing the seat or shimming required to dial in the perfect track geometry.

The magic that Bimota manages with the KB998 shines through in just how small the relatively sizable bike feels. Larger riders will fit on the raised footpegs and high seat easily, without tiring due to aggressively low handlebars. Unlocking all 197 hp on the way up to a 13,750 rpm redline becomes a joy, rather than a workout. The power band builds and swells—though lacking some of the low-end gut punch common to top-spec examples from Honda, Ducati, or Aprilia—truly only hitting what I consider “lightspeed” at above about 11,000 rpm.

At Laguna Seca, that kind of acceleration makes glancing down at the speedometer while cresting Turn 1 nearly impossible. This tricky false flat unloads the suspension before a hard dive into Turn 2’s double apex lefthander, where the Bimota’s active-aero winglets require serious commitment to truly appreciate. Counterintuitively, they actuate with the brake lever by flattening out under hard braking and thereby reducing nose dive—the exact opposite of DRS in Formula 1, for example.

Then, a series of smooth dragging-knee transitions through the long arcs of Turn 3, 4, and 5 before ripping full throttle uphill toward Turn 6 only further builds confidence. Even the compression through Turn 6’s apex, which always reveals improperly tuned suspension for motorbikes and race cars alike, can’t upset the Rimini. Preparing for the infamous Corkscrew, I find that the quick and flickable center of mass makes the right-left-right over and down into the splash zone almost completely effortless, setting bike and rider up for easy success through the last few corners and back out onto the front straight again.

A motorcycle that rides so spectacularly on the first few laps also builds a relationship with its rider, rewarding more time in the saddle as I’m trying to explore the finer limits of performance. Hooking a knee into the squared-off tank and leaning further, deeper, and longer can only go so far in a single session. And yet, as the day at Laguna Seca stretched on, the prospect of needing multiple track days to approach anywhere near the limit of the KB998 Rimini seemed more and more likely.

A track such as Laguna Seca challenges motorcycles as much as rider fitness, though. Braking performance for the KB998 Rimini began to fade after multiple 20- to 30-minute sessions, something of a surprise given the Brembo 330-millimeter rotors and M50 monobloc calipers. Maybe our nearly brand-new example needed a brake bleed following early track time. And a few carryovers from Kawasaki stood out, including lurchy upshifts from the up/down quickshifter. Smoother downshifts while braking matter more, but trying to step up a gear at full throttle anywhere near redline seemed to challenge the clutch-free system.

By switching to Full power and setting Kawasaki’s traction control to 1—the most aggressive mode without going completely aid free—I found that some of the lurching for both on/off throttle modulation and the quickshifter smoothed out. But similarly, the fact that a Bimota priced at $65,399 and limited to just 250 units per year lacks electronically adjustable suspension comes as a surprise. Not that the forks or rear damper lacked a stupendous level of tuning out of the box, but more experienced riders accustomed to the easy adjustments made possible by far more refined electronic suites from Ducati and Aprilia may wish for a bit more modernity from the KB998 Rimini.

On the other hand, only the Ducati Panigale V4R or Aprilia RSV4 Xtrenta serve as this Bimota’s true direct competitors—and both of those track stars also only come equipped with manually adjustable suspension. But even comparing an overhaul of Kawasaki’s “base” ZX-10RR bike to the upper end of Italian machinery reveals just how far Bimota pushes the chassis tuning, all as the confidence of Japanese reliability eliminates any fears about pushing such a valuable motorcycle to the limit on track.

We left Laguna Seca wishing for a chance to test the KB998 Rimini on public roads, if only to explore whether rougher road surfaces and lower average speeds detract from or enhance the exotic appeal. On road, the KB998 Rimini’s rarity factor should only bolster Bimota’s already rarefied status. And for those dedicated fans who want even more, Bimota also built a seriously exclusive run of just five Elite variants, completely handmade by the WorldSBK racing team. The track-only Elite saves almost 10 percent weight while bumping power up by 7.5 percent. Only two will come stateside, and every allocation has already been sold.

After an incredible day exploring Bimota’s unique vision for the KB998 Rimini at Laguna Seca, trying to comprehend how well the Elite version rides on track takes some fantastic leaps of imagination. For now, the KB998 Rimini arrives to the United States this year, and order rolls are open at the sole American dealer, Bimota Spirit in Raleigh, N.C.

Click here for more photos of the Bimota KB998 Rimini superbike.