Bimota, an Italian motorcycle maker known for building outrageous motorcycles and outsourcing an engine, usually from the big three from Japan, was rescued by Kawasaki from the brink of collapse way back in 2019. This rescue gave rise to Bimota Tesi H2, Tesi H2 Terra, KB4, KB4RC, and BX450, all powered by Kawasaki engines.
But nothing could surpass Kawasaki’s decision to restructure their World Super Bike team and ditch their championship-winning Kawasaki ZX-10RR for the new Bimota KB998, exclusively developed to race in the WSBK series and take the fight to the all-conquering Ducati Panigale’s and BMW S1000 RRs for championship glory.
The Bimota KB998 Rimini marks the manufacturer’s comeback into the top class of production superbike racing while paying tribute to the town of “Rimini” in Italy, where the manufacturer is based.
In the 2024 EICMA, Italy, Bimota publicly unveiled the production version of the KB998 race machine to meet the mandatory FIM regulation to compete in the WSBK in the 2025 season. Although Bimota isn’t planning to go all out on the production and will only build enough units to guarantee a spot on the WSBK grid from the 2025 season – some 125 units shall be produced before the season starts next year and another 125 units between February till December 2025, following the same suite for till the end of 2026 to complete the 500 units required to satisfy the FIM homologation rules.
The decision not to produce a road-legal version more than required by the regulation goes on to show how serious both Bimota and Kawasaki are about keeping this a serious race machine rather than focusing on production models that might detract them from finding a few tenths on the track.
Specifications
The Bimota KB988 Rimini is based on the legendary Kawasaki ZX 10RR and its long history in motor racing. The KB988 incorporates purpose-built billet aluminium alloy side plates and an oval section trellis frame suspended off Showa USD balance-free forks at the front and Showa mono-shock connected to a billet aluminium swingarm.
The Bimota KB988 borrows the engine from the Kawasaki ZX10RR—a 998cc DOHC 4-valve inline four known to produce 200hp at 13,600 RPM and 111 Nm of torque at 11,700 RPM. The road-going Kawasaki ZX10RR is capable of doing 0-60 mph in 3.3 seconds and has a top speed of 186 mph. The Bimota KB988 should match the same figures with the same engine or perhaps do even better, citing that the bike only has a dry weight of 195kg.
The Bimota KB988 was an intriguing machine even before it hit the track due to the unique collaboration between the two different motorcycle manufacturers coming together to achieve a common goal of going extremely fast on the race track and as for the road going KB988 Rimini to shall register itself in the history of unique homologation vehicles that were made only because someone decides to go racing. The limited nature of the bike will make it a revered collector’s item.
