The deal has been done, the launch has been well received and now Kawasaki-invested Bimota is busily working hard on bringing the Bimota Tesi H2 into full scale production with talk engineers could be compelled to bolster its power figures to eye-watering amounts.
Photos of the bike’s development have surfaced on social media and reported on by Italian publication Motociclismo, which show Bimota is getting deep into the development phase of bringing the Tesi H2 to market.
It comes after the exclusive superbike was unexpectedly revealed during the 2019 EICMA show in Italy on the back of confirmation Kawasaki Heavy Industries (KHI) had secured a 49.9% stake in the iconic Italian manufacturer.
Indeed, though rumours of the buyout had been rife for some weeks, few expected the fruits of its boardroom labour to be borne on the show stand with what is expected to become known as the KB4 (Kawasaki-Bimota). The Bimota Tesi H2 marries Kawasaki’s meaty H2 engine with Bimota’s signature Tesi frame, which has a front swingarm and a front-wheel hub steering system.
It is this unusual layout that could allow engineers some leeway when it comes to developing the Bimota Tesi H2’s supercharged engine, with Motociclismo reporting there are considerations to hike up the power from 200HP to something nearer 300HP.
Kawasaki has dabbled in extracting as much power from its venerable 998cc engine as possible with the track-only H2R – which shows it can be done – so is the Bimota Tesi H2 a way to bring such a model to the road market, albeit no doubt with the price tag and in limited numbers?
Why has Kawasaki invested so heavily in Bimota?
Kawasaki has kept its official communications about Bimota limited to facts and figures, rather than giving a specific idea of what and why the deal is hoping to achieve.
On paper this is a fantastic opportunity for Bimota to revive its historic name following decades of financial issues, changes of ownerships and models that haven’t quite lived up to expectation. Indeed, despite these problems, Bimota’s brand value remains favourable and Kawasaki clearly sees an opportunity to play on that.
So, what would Kawasaki get in return? It’s conjecture at the moment, but where the H2 is probably as extreme as a public model will get for Kawasaki, Bimota is its attempt to push its technology further than ever before.
Indeed, Kawasaki seems particularly eager to harness the benefits of the Tesi technology, revealing in its deal confirmation ‘these completely new concept models [still to be announced] will combine for the first time TESI technology from BIMOTA and innovative technology from Kawasaki’s ultra-high performance Ninja H2 motorcycle’.
If you’re going to restart a much-loved motorcycle company, doing so with a 300HP, Tesi-technology hypersport is certainly the way to grab headlines!
