Had to have it

Being a long-time Bimota fan, I've always lusted for their only BMW-based model, the BB1, fondly known as the "Supermono". This bike was made from 1995 to 1997, and only 371 of them were made. It was never imported to the US, so the rare few that are in the US are grey-market. The bike is extremely light, and is powered by the Rotax-built single-cylinder 650cc water-cooled engine that powered the early models of the BMW F-650. In stock form, the engine is rather unexciting, delivering a whopping 48hp at the crank. But I just love the look of this bike.

One of the more interesting features of the Supermono is that the fuel tank is not above the engine like on most bikes, but below it! Yep, what's normally the belly pan on other bikes is the fuel tank on this one. This keeps the center of gravity extremely low and makes the bike so flick-able it feels almost like a bicycle.

Back in August, I saw a post on a Bimota mail list I'm subscribed to by a guy down in the LA area who was selling his Supermono. This one caught my eye because not only was it in excellent condition, but also had a pumped-up engine built by Ron Wood (a well-known Rotax 650 engine guy) that delivered 60hp to the rear wheel. With dual Keihen FCR flatslide carbs, a ported head, high-compression piston, and custom exhaust, this one sounded like a dream. I emailed the seller and got a bunch of photos of the bike, and became pretty certain that I was going to buy it.

I couldn't get down to LA for a month or so but he said that was ok as long as I sent him a small deposit. Finally the weekend of September 7, I drove down to LA with my empty bike trailer behind my gas-guzzler Jeep (sorry, I only own it for towing bikes to the track and such). As soon as I saw the bike and heard it start up I was hooked. We loaded it up and I wrote a check for the balance and headed home.

I took this thing for a ride the next day and it was a total kick - vibrates like hell, sounds fantastic, and is surprisingly quick. It's so light that it's effortless to turn. My 800-mile round-trip drive to LA to pick up the bike was definitely worth it. No buyer's remorse on this deal!