Vitaliy Selyukov of Balamutti dreamt up one of the craziest, supercharged, three-wheeled, ice-racing motorcycles ever seen. New Atlas calls it a “mutant Trikenstein perfect for today’s apocalyptic mood.” Not only did the man create the contraption almost from scratch, but he did it to race the Baikal Mile. Three spiked wheels meant to keep the machine upright will have the beast of a bike flying across the Russian ice propelled by supercharged Ducati power.
Not only did Vitaliy design, plan, and build the beast of a bike, but he also was intended to race it on the ice at the enormous Lake Baikal where the temperature conditions can be as low as -25C. He recalled:
The idea of building this bike came about in 2016, and grew for several months on paper, in the form of concept sketches that I knew I wanted to transform in the future. It’s hard to say how the idea of such a motorcycle came to mind, perhaps I was inspired by Anakin Skywalker’s Z-74 Speeder.
The Bimota Tesi is very loosely based on a Ducati Hypermotard. Vitality builds and services all makes and models of Italian motorcycle machinery for a living, so the choice was fitting. The transformation of the Hypermotard into the Bimota Tesi was a long and challenging journey. Almost as far a stride as his workshop in St Petersburg was from the icy Lake Baikal – where the bike would eventually race (which was about 4500km away on the other side of Russia).
The Ducati was stripped of everything but its engine and trellis frame. Everything else was then fabricated by Vitality, including the two-wheel front end. To make it work, no standard suspension setup could be adapted. Vitaliy said:
With this kind of suspension structure, the development of the steering caused difficulties. For almost a year, I could not find a solution. Variants with cables and hydraulics were tested and rejected.
Eventually, Vitaliy came up with a plan that worked. As Pipeburn reported:
He fabricated a pair of front tubular swingarms that are suspended with a pair of Sachs shocks. However, the components to make it turn required a mix of spherical roller bearing equipped hubs and the clever use of twin steering dampers to make things more progressive, and rose jointed actuating rods. A third damper is bolted to the lower headstock and a pivot arm takes its input from the Star Wars-esque inverted handlebars. The rear end is also a single-sided swingarm, but of the much more conventional type, coming from Ducati and also controlled by a Sachs shock. While Brembo brakes with wave rotors are also adapted to fit, ensuring the stopping power at least is a sure thing.
That’s not all. Pipeburn goes on to explain how the Ducati engine wasn’t powerful enough, and Vitality had to give it a boost so that he’d be able to race in a straight line successfully.
The 1100cc Ducati L-Twin makes a thumping 103nm of torque, but the 2-valve engine doesn’t crack the 100hp mark. [Vitality] knew forced induction was the way forward, [so he] took a Garrett GT35 turbo front housing rated for around 700hp, cut off the turbine and converted it into a crank driven centrifugal supercharger system, with his own belt and pulley setup. A custom pipe then routes the air into the 45mm throttle bodies, while the post-explosion gases leave the engine in a hurry thanks to a pair of single pipes per cylinder that exit out of GP style mufflers. A huge blow-off valve prevents the compressor wheel from stalling on gear changes and a host of wiring modifications and tuning was required to make the engine run crisply.
Once the Bimota Tesi was done and ready to be driven, Vitality took it out with a mix of ‘dementia and courage’ to the ice for testing. He recalled:
Contrary to any common sense, the first Yondu test drives were conducted on the ice of Lake Baikal with frost below -10C, and not on warm asphalt, as was originally intended.
No news has been posted yet on how the test drives went other “than he thundered down the ice, throttle pinned for the full mile.” And of course, that he’s set on drag-racing – so the Bimota Tesi is ready for action!
