Video: Bimota shows off KB4’s progress

Bimota teases the upcoming 2021 Bimota KB4. Official launch projected for next year, 2021.

Back in Septemeber, Bimota officially unveiled the much anticipated Bimota Tesi H2. With the Tesi H2 out in the wild, Bimota is busy at work with their next bike, the Bimota KB4. Just like the Kawasaki Ninja H2 based Tesi H2, the retro-inspired KB4 is based on the Kawasaki Z1000. The Bimota KB4 makes use of the same 1043cc inline-4 mill used in the Z1000 and the Ninja 1000SX.

Back in 2019, Bimota released a few renderings showcasing how the upcoming retro-inspired KB4 could look like. Following this, in May this year, Bimota posted a few blurry photos of the KB4 to tease fans.

Soon after, a few weeks later a camouflaged KB4 prototype was spotted undergoing through road test in Italy. In case you missed it, here are the pictures:

This is what the latest teaser hints

Fast-forwarding to December 2020, the latest social media teaser post on Bimota’s Facebook page suggests the Bimota KB4 is almost ready for its official debut. Speaking of the teaser video, the short clip showcases the Bimota KB4 undergoing through brake test. In fact, this is the very first time we get to see the KB4 in flesh.

Earlier in July, Gianluca Galasso, spokesman for Bimota told the press that the Bimota KB4 wouldn’t be ready until Spring 2021 with the forecasted COVID-19 delay.  Judging from the latest video, we think things are just going according to plan. This is because Bimota posted a similar teaser with the Tesi H2 three months prior to the official launch, so we think the KB4 would officially break cover as promised around March or April 2021.

Looking at the photos that Bimota posted, the KB4 stays true to the official rendering that Bimota released earlier in 2019. Upfront, it features retro-style round headlight that mimics Bimota’s YB3 retro racer. As for the fairing, the KB4 gets a full retro racer-inspired bodywork with intakes and fins. If you look closely, the vents are divided into two parts, one for the radiator and one for the airbox. Since the front fork is slightly narrow, the radiator appears to be placed under the seat. Pierluigi Marconi, the engineering who was in charge of the development of Tesi H2, followed the same concept with the Tesi and a few other bikes like the Benelli Tornado 900 so it’s no doubt Pierluigi Marconi would do the same with the KB4.

What to expect

As the KB4 is still under the development phase, details on the specifications are scarce. However, in the case of the suspension and brakes; we believe the KB4 would feature a high-end Brembo braking system as well as an Öhlins suspension set up.

As for the power figures, since the Bimota KB4 is powered by Kawasaki’s 1043cc inline-4 mill, we can expect the KB4 to push around 135hp + and 110 Nm + of peak torque. Besides this, judging from the photo of the KB4 instrument cluster that Bimota recently posted on Facebook, it looks like the KB4 would make use of Ninja 1000SX’s electronic package as well.

Source: Bimota