from MCN:
Italian motorcycle company Bimota— created by Massimo Tamburini with technical and styling excellence through his hard work and superb creativity—is almost completely extinct. The premises located in via Giaccaglia, on the outskirt of Rimini, are empty. The Bimota sign has been taken down and the sight of it made me terribly sad.
My memories go back to the enthusiasm and passion that characterized the atmosphere at Bimota in the old days, when Massimo was carefully cutting, bending and welding chrome-moly steel tubing to create the most advanced and refined motorcycle chassis of the time.
Today, a sign says that Bimota moved about 100 yards from the old building, but there is only a 4,500-square-foot storehouse in a public storage building where they piled up the spare parts of the latest Bimota models, in particular the unfortunate BB3. Only three or four people are working there. The present Bimota owners, Messrs. Daniele Longoni and Marco Chiancianesi, are Italian contractors living and operating in Switzerland. They’ve moved all the components that would keep production alive for a few months to a shop somewhere near Lugano. This was confirmed to me by an Australian friend, Captain Niels Faerch, who ordered a Bimota Tesi 3 from his local dealer and who confirmed that the bike had been assembled in Switzerland.
Delivery time had been extremely long to the point that Captain Faerch was getting a little anxious about the final outcome of his purchase and related downpayment, but all turned out nicely. What will happen once the stock of components will be gone is a big question mark because it seems that all connections with the real Bimota tradition have been cut. Bimota changed hands a few times too many, and this last time looks, well, final.
The sequence started after Massimo was stabbed in the back by his “friendly” partner Giuseppe Morri and forced to quit. That was totally suicidal because Massimo unconditionally was the pillar of Bimota. He wanted to keep Bimota lean, agile, focused on R&D and on the production of a highly advanced frame and beautifully designed body kits, for racing bikes and for street bike as well. There was a whole new generation of enthusiastic owners of super Japanese Fours begging for better handling, lighter, leaner chassis kits to harness their powerful engines....
for the rest part of article click HERE (http://www.cycleworld.com)
da INMOTO
Bimota e la città di Rimini. Un connubio indissolubile, parte integrante dell’alchimia che ha generato una delle storie più belle del motociclismo. Quella della factory - fondata nella città romagnola, nel 1973, da Massimo Tamburini, Valerio Bianchi e Giuseppe Morri - che ha innovato con i suoi telai avanzatissimi e ha dato vita ad alcuni dei gioielli a due ruote più preziosi di sempre. Ed è proprio la storica sede di Rimini, secondo quanto riferisce Cycle World, ad essere stata smantellata in questi giorni.
RIMANE BEN POCO - Via i cartelli dalla strada. Via ogni riferimento. A quanto pare i locali Bimota in via Lea Giaccaglia, 38 sarebbero oramai completamente vuoti; mentre in un magazzino, qualche centinaio di metri più in là, sarebbero state ammassate le rimanenze e i pezzi di ricambio, in particolare dell’ultimo modello prodotto, la sfortunata BB3. Al momento (stiamo verificando) i dipendenti ancora attivi sarebbero appena 3 o 4, impegnati più che altro nella gestione/smaltimento di ciò che rimane di Bimota.
UNA LENTA AGONIA - Alla base del declino del marchio, volumi di vendita non sufficienti a rientrare dei corposi investimenti decisi per allargare la propria presenza sul mercato; sfociati poi in continui guai finanziari, fino al fallimento dichiarato nel 2000. Nel 2003 arriva il rilancio, grazie all’intervento di un gruppo di investitori ma di nuovo, subito dopo, un lento declino. Oggi, solo un progetto serio e strutturato, sostenuto da un adeguato investimento finanziario, potrebbe salvare dall’oblio una delle eccellenze motociclistiche italiane nel mondo. Anche se la situazione sembra ormai disperata... forza Bimota!
Nessun commento:
Posta un commento