The end of Bimota?

The Rimini-based company, which had previously seen difficult times, ceased operations in September of this year. The factory in Rimini is closed. Rumor has it that the company logo was removed from it, and the last copies of the motorcycles were assembled in Switzerland from the remaining kits. Is the brand finally going down in history?

The company, whose founders included legendary designer Massimo Tamburini, who worked with Ducati, Cagiva and MV Agusta, has been in existence since 1973 and already faced a crisis, but returned to life after bankruptcy in 2003. Rising from the ashes, Bimota continued to build interesting devices with “alien” engines, which, by the way, was in accordance with its traditions.

The current owners Daniele Longoni and Marco Chianchanesi live in Switzerland. They moved many of the components to Lugano, Switzerland to support motorcycle production for several months. Some customers around the world still buy Bimota motorcycles, but they have to wait until the order is assembled in Switzerland. No one knows what will happen next when the components run out.

Recently, the Bimota brand has had too many owners, but it all started with the departure of Massimo Tamburini, who, in fact, was the main person in the success of the brand. Unfortunately, Massimo and his partner Giuseppe Morri disagreed regarding the development of the Bimota company. Tamburini wanted to focus on R&D, keep Bimota unique and focused, and create new technologically advanced frames and kits for track and road motorcycles.

Massimo put his soul and talent into establishing the Bimota brand, but he needed to move and develop somewhere. Tamburini did not want to take any risks and wanted to maintain the narrow focus of Bimota. At that time, in-line fours from Japanese manufacturers became popular, which, by the way, did not want to supply their engines to the Italians. Morrie developed a utopian plan to make Bimota a full-fledged manufacturer of motorcycles with Japanese engines. It took a large and expensive facility to dismantle entire Japanese motorcycles and remove the engines from them. Then financial problems began. Firstly, disassembling finished motorcycles is expensive, since many unnecessary parts remain. Secondly, the company faced bureaucracy in terms of designing its motorcycles. Large investments did not pay off...

Giuseppe Mori (an accountant by training) found himself in the role of general director, but set too high and ambitious goals, which were not achieved. Since then, Bimota has been operating on the brink of bankruptcy, but the brand created by Massimo Tamburini more than 40 years ago may soon be completely forgotten. The only hope is for a major investor who wants to save the brand...