Bimota shows off supercharged Tesi H2 on track

Wednesday, 15 July 2020

Last year, Italian bikemaker Bimota was acquired by Kawasaki and promptly announced a new superbike based on Kwaka’s H2 – the Tesi H2. No doubt a creative and original name.

Given the DNA, it might not surprise you to learn the machine itself is shaping up to be a bit of a beast.

The H2 platform means the new Tesi is powered by a 170kW supercharged 1000cc inline-four, which can produce a fairly astonishing 228kW when completely unrestricted. That’s the same output as a Honda Civic Type R with an engine half the size.

Bimota’s supercharged Tesi H2 is nearing completion. Notice anything weird about it?

However, where the rest of the Kawasaki H2 is somewhat traditional, with upside-down forks and a trellis-frame chassis, the Tesi H2 branches out.

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The Italian has a hub-mounted steering system and a front-end swingarm which, judging by the video Bimota uploaded to its Facebook page, works quite well.

Images on Bimota’s social media show the bike in a state of near-production, with details like the wing mirrors and headlights on full display. Check out those neat little fang-like DRLs too.

Bimota originally made its mark by taking capable Japanese engines and putting them into much lighter chassis, though higher sticker prices hurt profits and resulted in the company changing owners a few times before Kawasaki’s tenure.

As such, the Tesi H2 is said to weigh 214kg fully fuelled, some 24kg less than the Japanese H2.

However, in keeping with tradition, Bimota will allegedly charge more than US$65k (NZ$99.3k) for its machine, which is a lot of money for a bike. It’s a lot of money for a car too, considering that gets you a brand-new Toyota GR Supra.

But if you do have that sort of cash burning a hole in your pocket, you’d be getting a rare, unique two-wheeler capable of embarrassing most other things on the road.