Throwback Thursday: Look Ma, No Forks!
Larry Lawrence | May 30, 2019
Throwback Thursday: Look Ma, No Forks!
Henny Ray Abrams photo
In this week’s Throwback we look back 27 years to the 1992 Daytona AMA SuperTwins event. The race featured some super-rare machines. One of those rarities was the Bimota Tesi 1D raced by Dale Quarterley. Only 30 of these motorcycles were ever built by the Italian maker. The motorcycle in stock form, had the steep price tag of $43,000.
One of the things that made the Tesi 1D so unique was instead of standard front forks, the front end of the race bike utilized hub center steering. In fact, the name Tesi was shortened from “thesis”, originating from a university thesis written on motorcycle hub center steering written by then Bimota Technical Director Pierluigi Marconi and fellow student Roberto Ugolini. The Tesi was powered by a Ducati 851 engine, punched out to 904cc.
Quarterley proved the raceworthiness of the Bimota when he qualified third for the SuperTwins race. This photo shows Quarterley leading the race ahead of Britten V1000 ridden by Andrew Stroud (No. 28) and the rest of the field. A broken chain took Quarterley and the Bimota out of the race, but while he was in the race, fans were pressed against the fences checking out the gorgeous machine.
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