Bimota’s hub-center-steered Tesi has been in intermittent production in various guises for 30 years and despite never catching on the firm is still convinced that there’s merit to the concept – and for 2016 it’s got another derivative to offer.
While it’s a stretch to call the new model a café racer – there’s little traditional about its suspension and chassis – the RaceCafe does nod in that direction, with its brown leather seat and round headlight.
Impressively, the new bike uses carbon-fibre rather than steel for the trellis sections of its front and rear swingarms, although Bimota says that metal will also be an option, adding 3kg to the overall weight.
Eccentric adjusters for the front and rear shocks mean that the bike’s ride height is adjustable, and the suspension should offer the usual Tesi benefits of separating the cornering and braking forces more effectively than conventional forks can.
Perhaps thanks to the fact that Ducati has phased out its larger air-cooled engines – the ones that the Tesi frame is designed around – the new model uses the 803cc unit from the Scrambler. At 162kg – or 165kg with steel swingarms – it’s certainly light, but performance isn’t going to be anything like as stunning as its appearance.
