Bimotafest at Malibu’s Rock Store 12/1/02 by Bruce Allison

Historical BimotaFest #1 was held this Sunday morning Dec. 1, 2002 at the famous "Rock Store" in Southern California. Beautiful weather graced the event, with cool fog in the valleys and sun in the mountains in the early morning clearing to a spectacular sunny & warm day by noon.

Five bikes of Rimini origins were in attendance along with a few
ex-Bimota owners and at least one "soon to be a Bimota owner". Some had never met before, some had only "met" on the Internet, all were immediate friends by way of the brotherhood of two-wheeled Eye-talian transportation.

Ken Zeller was first to arrive on his outstanding SB8. Ken owns Evoluzione Cyclesports and was immediately surrounded by clientele asking for his advice on everything from Aprilia's to R6's. Bruce & Kathy Allison arrived on a Furano & Supermono respectively (fastest & slowest built of the Bimota production??), and joined in the technical conversation. Soon Vince Scala arrived on his like new YB11, to be followed by Ed Milich on his Dieci with wife Alice on her Alazzurra (a what?!). With introductions made good conversation followed and a decent breakfast of eggs and potatoes was enjoyed inside the roadhouse.

Although the Rock Store is patronized on the weekends by all kinds of motorcycle exotica (and has been since the '50's), the 5 Bimota's stood out from the crowd and had many admirers. Inquisitive people flocked to the small gathering and peppered us with questions and comments. As Bimotisti our first instinct was to ignore these unworthy creatures, but our humanity overcame the snobby Bimota genes (it's a JOKE people!) and we found that indeed, owners of other marques can be civilized and intelligent too.

Ed Milich took advantage of Evolutione's dyno on Saturday (instead of Sunday), taking some solace in the fact that his 'Guzzi had a nice flat torque curve even if it didn't have any earth shaking horsepower. The rest of us decided that our real lives were calling us home and we couldn't make the trip to the shop this time. Ken's generous offer was very appreciated though.