Bimota DB7 Oronero Superbike - Bimota's Black Mamba

I'm certain from having ridden so many Supersport bikes equipped with Braking's wave discs down the years that they are a key ingredient in the Bimota's improved agility compared to a Ducati. Lifting the Oronero from side to side to negotiate chicanes was easier than on the already good-handling standard DB7, and since steering geometry is unchanged, I'd have to credit it to the combo of that 15-pound weight savings, and the reduced gyroscopic effect of the wave discs. The two-pad radial-mount Brembos fitted to the Oronero are much less aggressive in response than the standard DB7's four-pad four-piston Brembo Monobloc radial calipers, thanks also to the slightly smaller swept area that the wave brake discs present. This results in more controllable braking, with the extra benefit of the slipper clutch allowing the use of a little engine braking to round off the edges, especially since you can alter the degree of slip by adjusting the spring rate settings on the ramps. Honestly, I've been riding and racing Ducati V-twins for the past 35 years, and short of a very few factory Superbikes (but by no means all), I never encountered a bike that stopped as well as the Bimota Oronero. Bologna could learn a thing or two from the braking package on this bike.

Another benefit of the slipper clutch is that you no longer need to blip the throttle on downshifts. I even tried doing a Troy Bayliss and kicked it down a couple of gears without using the clutch, and while the Oronero didn't protest, it didn't feel mechanically sympathetic without a variable idle-speed program in the Walbro ECU. But by the next time I ride a DB7, it'll apparently have one of those fitted too, says Acquaviva. "There are advantages to being small and doing everything ourselves by hand," he says, "and the Oronero is one consequence of that. But because we are so few, it takes a long time to incorporate new developments into our models, and especially electronics that take such a long time to map and program. But by installing the GET dash with inbuilt GPS, we've put the hardware in place for a series of electronic advances that will become available on all versions of the DB7 in the future, not only the Oronero. I must just ask our customers to be patient-but the benefits will follow, I promise!"

With the same ultra-distinctive DB7 styling by Enrico Borghesan, there's no mistaking the Bimota for anything ever built by Ducati-even if the stacked poly-ellipsoid projection headlamps in the nose of the bike still shout "999" at you when you first glance at the bike. Another aspect of the Oronero that's quite different from the equivalent Ducati is the riding position. On the Bimota, you feel a part of the bike, sitting lower and further forward within it, rather than perched on top as on the Ducati. This balanced and relatively spacious riding position is very comfortable, and gives a greater feeling of connection with the bike in spite of its more front-loaded 51/49 percent forward weight bias compared to the Ducati-there's little sense of excessive weight on your forearms and shoulders when riding the Oronero. Plus the Bimota has fully adjustable footrests, foot controls, handlebars and levers.