Last chance to bid on a barely-used Bimota SB3 time-warp superbike
Preserved in untouched, unrestored condition, this Bimota SB3-D offers a last-minute chance to own one of the rarest Suzuki-powered Italian superbikes ever made.
With just hours left on the clock, one of the rarest and least-used Bimotas ever built is still sitting there waiting for a final bid — and if that doesn’t quicken the pulse of classic bike collectors, very little will.
The bike is a Bimota SB3, chassis number 27 of just 402 built between 1979 and 1982, and it’s a machine that neatly captures a moment when Italian chassis obsession collided head-on with Japanese engine-building know-how. Except this one goes a step further. Rather than being sold as a kit, it’s one of fewer than 50 bikes hand-assembled and sold complete by Suzuki Germany as the SB3-D, complete with a full factory warranty when new. That factor alone makes it quite a unicorn in the two-wheeled world.
Then there’s the mileage - or lack of it. The odometer reads just 1.3 miles - and that is since new, meaning it is still effectively on delivery mileage. Since then it’s lived a pampered life in climate-controlled storage, emerging now as close to a brand-new 1979 superbike as you’re ever likely to see.
Everything about it is as Bimota intended. Original silver metallic paint, red frame, gold cast wheels, unused red seat pad, untouched clocks and even its period-correct Michelin M45/M48 tyres still fitted. The Brembo discs retain their original yellow zinc plating, the rubber parts haven’t perished, and nothing has been restored, refreshed or “improved”.
Power comes from Suzuki’s bombproof 987cc GS1000 motor, making a claimed 90hp and breathing through Mikuni carbs and a Termignoni 4-1 exhaust stamped specifically for the German-market SB3-D. Suspension is pure late-’70s exotica too, with Marzocchi forks up front and a mono-shock at the rear, backed up by gold-line Brembo P08s.
It’s located in Portugal, supplied with its original German title, manuals, tool kit, brochures and rare dealer press material. It’s not road registered, but with a bike like this, that almost feels beside the point.
Opportunities like this don’t hang around. With bidding nearly done, and the price sitting at a seemingly too-cheap €8,800 (at the time of writing), this is very much last orders for a barely used Bimota legend — and once the hammer falls, there probably won’t be another like it.
You can check out the auction for yourself on the official website.
Images: Car and Classic
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Simon (AKA Toad) has been working within the motorcycle industry for more than twelve years, and a member of the motorcyclist family since birth. Growing up around British-built single and twins, it was inevitable that a life on two wheels was on the cards, from a very early age!