Paolo De Giusti’s Turbodiesel Concept motorcycle, ‘Big Mono Naked SD’
What’s the next big thing in European concept motorcycles for the 21 st century?
How about this offering from young Italian designer Paolo De Giusti.
According to De Giusti,Big Mono Naked SD was inspired by the lines of the Moto Guzzi’s of 1950’s.
“This design concept is imbued with the spirit of the old Guzzi . The project is fully completed, all the technical details are well thought out: the engine – a large one-cylinder turbo diesel 900ss and a huge tank allows the bike to go all night, just like the endurance racers,” De Giusti said.
Italian Motorcycle History
It’s a question of style. Of La Dolce Vita on wheels.
The motorcycles from Italy stand, quite simply, alone among all those made in any other part of the world. The minute you lay eyes on an Italian motorcycle you know it for what it is. There is, as with many Italian-designed products, an elegant and nearly regal stamp applied to Italian motorcycles.
Piaggo
Founded in the 1940’s by Enrico Piaggio, the Vespa was for a time the best known manufacturer of Italian motorcycles. After starting out as a company bent on answering a critical need to find a way for motorists to navigate Italy’s impossibly crowded and narrow streets, the Vespa soon became a fashion accessory as well. It was the birth of the Vespa which arguably brought about the Italian motorcycle boom. As for now, the company is experiencing a resurgence in popularity as the price of fuel – and the demand for stylish, sensible transport – has brought about a need for ‘a better way.’
The revamped, vintage-inspired PX150 and the Granturismo 200, retain the classic style and eye-catching design which Enrico Piaggio originally envisioned for his machine.
Benelli
Founded in 1911 by Teresa Benelli and her six sons as a small car and motorcycle repair shop, the Benelli family slowly began to conceive and manufacture their own brand of motorcycles. From the humble and simple 75cc single cylinder machine adapted to fit a bicycle frame back in the 1920’s, the Benelli became, by degrees, much more. In 1921, Benelli had begun to improve on their designs, and their take on simple yet stylish motorcycles started to take off with riders. By the 1930’s, the company had captured the imagination of the great Italian racers.
Capitalizing on an impeccable racing pedigree, Benelli has continued to make strides with riders – and to make history.
The groundbreaking Tornado model of the 90’s and the most recent TNT model have kept the iconic manufacturer in the motorcycle manufacturing game to this day.
Ducati
Ducati.
The mere mention of the name is likely to inspire the serious rider and racer to paroxysms of drooling, covetous joy. Founded in the 1920’s, originally as a maker of radio parts, it wasn’t until the mid-1940’s that the Ducati brothers began production of the motorcycles which would become objects of admiration to riders around the world. Their reputation for innovation spring from tragedy. The plants and factories which Ducati had been using were bombed to rubble in 1944, but the brothers were undaunted and turned to manufacturing motorcycles to exploit the demand for inexpensive transportation following the war.
The first Ducati, the Cucciolo, may well be the most famous Italian motorcycle the world has ever known. The Cucciolo began life, much as the groundbreaking Benellis before it, as a small motor attached to a bicycle, but was soon adapted as a completer motorcycle when demand took off. The success of the Cucciolo line of motorcycles put Ducati on the map for good, and the company has been making quality, and it could be said, poetic, motorcycles ever since.
Moto Guzzi
Perhaps the most influential Italian motorcycle company, Moto Guzzi, was founded in 1919 by Emanuele Vittorio Parodi and Carlo Guzzi. Their first offering to the market was the G.P., or Guzzi-Parodi, and it was far ahead of it’s time. The G.P. offered riders a 500 cc powerplant which could achieve a maximum speed in excess of 65 mph.
Constantly modified – and never manufactured for public consumption – though in 1921, the G.P. led to the creation of the Normale. More advanced than the G.P. on which it was based, the Normale took its place on the grid at the famous motorcycle races of the time. The great racing success of the Normale led to the marque’s extremely popularity among the public and set the pace on street and track for decades to come. Today, Moto Guzzi may have plants and dealers located around the world, but the marque, whether it’s manufactured in America or Germany, remains its distinctly Italian style.
The company’s latest offerings, cafe-racer inspired takes on the classic machines of the past, are still fighting for their place among the modern motorcycle-buying public, and the latest effort, the V7, may well prove as durable as the company’s past efforts among aficionados.