First Bimota KB998 Rimini Orders Confirmed
Bimota has confirmed the first orders for its KB998 Rimini superbike are already underway, just one day after sales began
The new Bimota KB998 Rimini superbike went on sale yesterday (9 April), but customers are already making orders including a personal sponsor of the brand’s WorldSBK rider Alex Lowes, who requested a “low number” model for his collection.
Simon Thorpe is a businessman who has supported Lowes for several years, according to Bimota, and he requested one of the first KB998 machines to add to a private collection that already features another machine from the Bimota stable, a rare 500cc two-stroke V-due.
Thorpe has been assigned the number 22 machine to mirror the racing number used by Lowes, and he recently attended the Portimao WorldSBK race and a Bimota brand presentation hosted by Kawasaki Portugal.
The KB998 Rimini is the road-legal sibling to the BbKRT (Bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team) bike and it was unveiled last November at the EICMA bike show in Milan.
The bike features the same inline-four cylinder engine found in the Kawasaki ZX-10R, however, its frame is worlds apart from that of the Japanese brand’s superbike. Featuring a hybrid design, the KB998 is fitted with a CNC machined billet rear section that mounts the swingarm to the engine and rear suspension.
From there we find a tubular frame running up to the headstock. That headstock carries some very nice billet aluminium triple clamps, which in turn hold onto a Showa fully adjustable fork which is matched by a Showa fully adjustable rear shock at the back.
Speaking about his new investment, Thorpe said: “I was as excited as everyone else when I heard about the BbKRT project in WorldSBK; it’s a new and interesting journey for Alex and myself plus a significant step for the Bimota brand. Collecting iconic motorcycles is my hobby so I was keen to secure one of the very first production KB998 Rimini machines.
“What an amazing piece of workmanship this bike is, exquisite form and race functionality in one unique package. It looked good in pictures but in real life it's incredible.”
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After graduating with a sports journalism degree, Robert joined Crash.net to lead the WorldSBK coverage in 2021, while also providing MotoGP coverage. Fulfilling that role for over three years, Robert was able to put his knowledge about all things racing to the test.
