The greatest motorcycle designer of all time, Massimo Tamburini, retires

avanti

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All hail the master!

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I wonder who will take his place, hopefully HD won't fuck up MV Agusta!

MV Agusta press release:

VARESE, ITALY, Dec. 3, 2008 - MV Agusta today announced that Design Chief Massimo Tamburini will retire from the company, effective Dec. 31, 2008. Tamburini has been with Cagiva since early 1985 and has headed up MV Agusta?s engineering and design center, Centro Ricerche Cagiva, in San Marino for over 13 years, where he and the staff designed what are widely regarded as world-class, premium, high-performance sport motorcycles, including the legendary F4.

?I have dedicated a significant part of my career in motorcycle design to Cagiva and MV Agusta and am immensely proud of the beautiful and thrilling motorcycles we have created,? said Tamburini. ?While my decision to retire was extremely difficult to make, I am confident the highly-talented designers and engineers in San Marino will continue the tradition of excellence that is the hallmark of MV Agusta. I have been privileged to realize so many dreams during my years with Cagiva and MV Agusta and look forward to seeing more great things yet to come from the company,? Tamburini said.

Tamburini plans to pursue design interests outside the motorcycle field and to spend more time on his other outside interests.

?Massimo Tamburini is one of the legends of the motorcycle industry and leaves a great legacy at MV Agusta,? said Claudio Castiglioni, MV Agusta Chairman and Director of Motorcycle Research and Development. ?The capabilities he built at MV Agusta?s design center are outstanding and his legacy and vision will now be carried forward by the team he assembled and mentored over many years. While we will miss his presence, we respect his decision to retire and wish him all the best for the future,? Castiglioni said.

MV Agusta is a wholly-owned subsidiary of U.S.-based Harley-Davidson, Inc. (NYSE:HOG). MV Agusta produces premium, high-performance sport motorcycles sold under the MV Agusta? brand and lightweight sport motorcycles sold under the Cagiva? brand.

Some of his creations.
:bow:

Ducati 916
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MV Agusta F4
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And the MV Agusta Brutale
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Thats sad and all, but to be quite frank all of those bikes scare me. I want to drive a signiture expression of aggression, not a signiture expression of a giant 2 wheeled insect.

edit: actually that F4 is beautiful.
 
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Sad day indeed :(

Just imagine the consulting fees he can charge now!!
 
I wouldn't say he's the greatest bike designer of all time. One of the great stylists, yes.

But Soichiro Honda *still* holds "greatest designer" honors. After all those bikes are out of production and long forgotten, there will still be millions and millions of Honda's Cubs running around. Thousands of Gold Wings, CB750 SOHCs and their relatives, too. Most of which are instantly recognizable even by people who know almost nothing about motorcycles.
 
I wouldn't say he's the greatest bike designer of all time. One of the great stylists, yes.

But Soichiro Honda *still* holds "greatest designer" honors. After all those bikes are out of production and long forgotten, there will still be millions and millions of Honda's Cubs running around. Thousands of Gold Wings, CB750 SOHCs and their relatives, too. Most of which are instantly recognizable even by people who know almost nothing about motorcycles.
Granted, but a Hummer is instantly recognized by someone who knows almost nothing about cars, not because of it's beauty, but because of the same reason as the gold wing, because it's bloody enormous.
 
Oh, the later Goldwings weren't what I was thinking of. I was thinking of the original, which was one of Soichiro's last designs:

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The 916 = luv! But the rest of the bikes are not that pretty.
 
Granted, but a Hummer is instantly recognized by someone who knows almost nothing about cars, not because of it's beauty, but because of the same reason as the gold wing, because it's bloody enormous.
I'm not certain all the Hummer's recognizability is based on it's enormousness. A Chevy Suburban and the Ford Excursion are also enormous pieces of machinery, but they're not so recognizable, because their styling is quite like any other SUV's. The Hummer, especially the H1, doesn't quite look like anything else you see on the road, and many of it's styling features (the grille, the squared-off styling etc.) are actually recognized as part of the brand. Therefore, whoever designed the Hummers actually did a good job of integrating the brand to the designs, no matter how ugly it might seem when viewed only as a design.

And yeah, this isn't related to the topic at all, let's just continue it in a different one should you disagree.
 
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OK now I'm not a bike guy, but ...

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ZOMG dowantdowantdowantdowant!!!!!!11111one
 
The 916/996 is the most beautiful bike ever, in my opinion.
I would be a happy biker if I ever own one.
 
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