best bike of the show: ducati 1199 panigale second best bike of show: mv agusta 675 brutale new ktm 450 engine (with rocker arms) r
For a second there I thought the motor was a GG unit...but its not I see bits of Beta in there too....but looks to be a all Bimota design I'm liking it It is an amazing "time juncture" in economics on a worldly scale...with the huge Japanese companies seemingly at a standstill in terms of innovation due to the volumes they must sell to be profitable...yet the Euro companies are going "all out" trying new designs..being different and making some lovely machinery...I guess being small means you can specialize
I am not getting the whole Italy default thing.........I guess all these innovative cottage shops must be in hock up to the necks....money is definitly being spent on R&D and prototypes. Hope for the best, the EU is going into an even deeper renaissance of moto design and execution. Is that BiMoTa a KTM in disguise or partly a kato?
here's more info on the bimotas: cycleworld the companies that struggle are mostly the parts supplyers. but many of the "cottage manufacturers" are doing quite well. the reason for that is the italians' enthusiasm for motorcycles. there are plenty of genius enthusiasts in italy who design/build motorcycles. and there are plenty of wealthy people in italy who are willing to "burn some money" by financing a motorcycle build or a motorsport team. the motorcycle scene is well connected, and it in fact is more like a scene than an industry. some cool bikes: - borile - zaeta - vertemati - swm swm, for example, is a side "project" of fantic. the 340cc two-stroke short-tracker is featured in a big article in the latest "motociclismo" issue. it's the coolest bike i have seen in years. i want one. r
Always wanted to know what happened to the TerraModena SuperMoto (financed by International Watch & Ferrari). T´was the nicest SuMo you could imagine.
Unusually for Bimota it's a very conventional design, nothing out of the ordinary in layout. Build quality will be good though, depends how much it's going to cost. There's not much of a market for 'premium priced' dirt bikes currently. Dave
it seems like the "bimota" enduros are in fact "jotagas" ("jtg") bikes. in the german husky forum someone posted that jotagas did not show them in their own booth because the bikes were not quite ready, but bimota seemed to be happy to "jump in". jotagas website info about jotagas r edit: jotagas are spanish, bytheway, not italian. they develop a trial bike, too. if i remember correctly i saw an article about the trial bike prototype in a french magazine some months ago... 2nd edit: if this is really where the company is situated, i want to work there i'd build me a 300cc-two-stroke "supermono" (20 years later, roland sands calls them "supersingles") for spending my spare time at the track, and build a hut right by that lake on the right side.
It might be because they don't answer their phones or email !!! I tried for a couple months to contact them and even got the Italian Trade Commission in LA involved, but no dice. Turns out that they looked a lot more exotic compared to a 2011 GasGas than a 2012 GasGas too.
i have just photographed a few photos from the magazine where i first saw the swm "cherry" (fuoristrada 11/11). really the coolest bike i have seen in a long time. r
You forgot about Spain, yes Italy and Spain are the only ones designing and actually building very cool Moto stuff (They are even for good looking women but Italy also gets the nod for building very cool cars as well).