Rennie Scaysbrook | November 6, 2024
Bimota will be making another comeback into WorldSBK competition in 2025 and have released photos (but no official details) on their beautiful new racer in the KB998 Rimini.
The Italian chassis gurus, who have had more than just a tumultuous history with repeated bankruptcies, closures and reopening’s, now appear to have their financial future secured after Kawasaki purchased a controlling share of the company in early 2025.
The KB998 is certainly a stunner and has performed well in WorldSBK testing so far.
That merger has led to the creation of the KB998 that will run under the Bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team banner with riders Alex Lowes and Axel Bassani. Essentially, it is the former Spanish Motocard Kawasaki team gone full Italian.
The KB998 will be created with a limited production run of 500, the first 125 will be badged the Rimini and set to be completed by February 24, 2025, another 125 will be created by December 31, 2025 and the final 250 units will be created in 2026 to make up the 500 run homologation number required for the bike to race in the WorldSBK Championship.
Bimota’s MO are their beautifully crafted chassis and the KB998 is no different. Running a hybrid of a CNC-machined rear section that bolts mounts the swingarm to the engine and rear suspension, the front half of the chassis to the steering head is tubular steel in the same fashion as many previous Bimota racers.
The KB998 will run a Kawasaki ZX-10RR motor donated by its company owners, so if you’re one of the very lucky few people to pick one up you can expect to have around 200 horsepower to play with and 81 lb-ft of torque at your disposal.
Showa provide the suspension, mounted in very pretty billet aluminum triple clamps, and Brembo have fitted what look to be Stylema front brake calipers.
The switchgear has also been taken off the ZX-10RR, so there’s a good chance the base electronics on the KB998 will be the same as well. And, of course, there’s carbon fiber everywhere, with all body panels, intake using it for their construction.
Now, will you be able to buy a KB998 in North America? Maybe, but given Bimota USA essentially run out of a small shop in North Carolina and not under the Kawasaki USA banner as in many other parts of the world, don’t expect to see one at your local biker café any time soon.
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