Smoke gets in my eyes – 1998 Bimota V-Due Evoluzione

1998 Bimota V-Due Evoluzione with 201 miles in Florida!

I wasn’t lucky enough to grow up around them 2-stroke smoking machines, so I don’t get all misty eyed like some of my fellow RSBFS contributors whenever a Suzuki RGV, Honda NSR250, or Aprilia RS250 comes up for sale.  I do, however, being a bit of a Bimota fan, the V-Due gets my attention every time:

YOU ARE BIDDING ON: A USED RARE / HARD to FIND LATE MODEL 1998 BIMOTA V-DUE EVOLUZIONE 500cc 2-STROKE MOTORCYCLE with ONLY 201 MILES.

Please check pictures, as you can see this 1998 Bimota V-DueEvoluzione is in good – very good condition. This bike has been in a collection for many years and still needs to have the electronics sorted still – as it is completely original and has not been modified except for the stainless collector pipes. This bike is being sold AS IS with a Bill of Sale only and I do not know what country it was imported from.

Since the bike has been sitting so long, the battery is dead and the carbs will need to be cleaned. Also, as you can see the bottom of the fairings are damaged from gas leaking on them. To my knowledge, the bottom of these fairings may still be available in carbon?

The front fairing on the white number plate has a small scratch, but the rest of the bike is close to perfect (except for the lower fairing).

If you are familiar with Bimotas V-Due project and lineage, then you are also probably familiar with the need for the electronics to be sorted out on the bike for it to run at its full potential.

This is a late model V-Due and does not have fuel injection. The fuel injection was removed and replaced with carburetors at the factory to help fix some of it’s running problems (didn’t really work that well), but does make it easier to tune the bike. Also the later model V-Dues have a digital tach, and a different paint scheme.

The V Due was a bike very significant in that 1.) it was Bimota’s first and only (and ill-fated) attempt to develop an engine in-house  2.) it was supposed to be with cutting direct injection technology (on a 2-stroke!)  3.) styling was and still is absolutely drop dead gorgeous  4.) it broke Bimota.

Since a few V Dues have been listed before on RSBFS and we have written quite extensively about it, I’m going to be lazy and ask everyone to click here to read about them in our previous posts.

The one for sale here is the Evoluzione version – which means it is the later carb-ed models after the initial fuel injected production batch were plagued with running problems, so much so that a recall had to be issued.  The good thing is that carbs are much easier to tune than Italian fuel injection systems.

The bad thing is, as the seller states:”…still needs to have the electronics sorted still.” which could mean anything on a 1998 Bimota.  The good news, however, is that there is a good following of V-Dues and there are websites (and passionate enthusiasts) dedicated to it, so I guess if the will is there, any V Due can be made to run properly.

The auction currently sits at $10,000 with 7 days to go – a good indication of just how desirable these bikes are. Did I mention that there are only – surprise, surprise – 500 (probably more like 300 by now) of these out there?  If you’re feeling lucky,

ph