Massimo Tamburini, one of the most revered motorcycles designers, has died yesterday evening. Tamburini was 70 years old and was suffering from lung cancer. Tamburini created stellar motorcycles including the Ducati 916 and the MV Agusta F4.
The legendary Italian designer was also a renowned chassis designer. His fame began in the early ’70s with the MV Agusta 750 Sport that he created and welded the frame for himself. Then he was part of the team that founded Bimota. Claudio Castiglioni then brought him to the Cagiva group where he created the MV Agusta eventually.
Massimo Tamburini’s work at Ducati started with the Paso 750 before the 916 turned him into a household name and his motorcycle became known as the greatest motorcycle design of all, enshrined within the motorcycle community as well as in the art community as a superlative example of good design. He was also a man of supreme ethics known for his great gentleness. The motorcycle community has lost one of its best stylists.
Vale,visionary Tamburini.
He was an integral part of BI-anchi MO-rri TA-mburini : Bimota.
The Ducati 916 design was virtually all Honda/France/ElfRacing chassis inspired and Honda NR750 derived bodywork.The 916 was still a serious game changer on the road and the track by anyone’s standard.
One of the greats is gone.
A shame, a great designer! Only age 70 and taken out by lung cancer, Europeans still love to smoke, sad! He may or may not have…..
I had the honor to meet Tamburini at Ducati in Bologna while the first production run of 916s were being built. I don’t know about Honda…..chassis, inspired or NR750 derived. I just loved the motorcycle and was happy to believe it was Tamurini inspired. I came back to US and ordered one right away. I’ve had two and I still love those motorcycle even though I’m too old and too fat to ride them anymore.
I rode into the drive way one day, and the wife said “The only time you really smile anymore is when you’re riding that thing.”
@BigWave916…I wouldn’t say all of the bodywork, but much of the rear of the 1994 916 was inspired by the 1987 Honda RC30. Check the single sided swing arm & tail lights of both bikes.
That said, there is still a lot of beautiful originality in the 916 & other bikes.
Big respect.
RIP
Only the Italians could bring such a thing of beauty like the 916 to life
Massimo Tamburini will never be forgotten for his deeds in Motorcycle design.
What ever his inspiration’s where he obviously made very good use of them.
Requiescat in pace
These ole italian guys just had a great eye for design ………
RE:
“….old guy with an eye for design…”
So sad….. 🙁
-nicker-
so sad, we’ve lost one of the truly great characters in our industry.
rest in peace massimo, and condolences and respect to the family.
arlo
Many of the Italian car and motorcycle designers have left us such unique and lasting designs. Of course, it’s not all about looks. The trellis frames worked in their era, beat the Japanese with whatever they brought to the Superbike racing table, mostly alloy spar designs while the trellis was simple tubes. The parts, the detail like the headlight shell casting/front fairing mount just blew everything away. There is some re-reading to do on the “single-sided swingarm” thing. Honda went after Ducati for its use, but if I remember correctly there were many old applications that pretty much made it a public domain design. 916: dual headlights popularized, under seat exhaust popularized, and made the cut for the Art of the Motorcycle, 1999, at the Guggenheim, NY and four other locations. Bought mine new soon after they came out and sold seven collector bikes to cover the cost. Sits totally stock and proud on its racing stand in my garage. And always will.
Mark,I know Ducati ownership does many things to a man.But.
The single-sided swingarm was a Honda/Elf Racing patent.I remember those patent stickers on them back in the day.The patents for the NC24 would have just about run their legal course by the time the 916 was released,as they were very close to ten years old by then.The Honda NR750 twin headlights and underseat exhaust predated the 916.
The racing space frame Ducatis beat many Japanese superbikes on the race track because of a quirk in the rules allowing the twins to be considerably lighter than the four cylinder race bikes to compensate for the lower horsepower output.The frame was virtually the same in rigidity compared to the Honda RC30 alloy deltabox.The lighter race weight allowed by the rules was the major factor in the old Ducati superbikes competitiveness,not the frame.The old Pantah frame is a trellis,but the 916 is not,it is a space frame.
Love is blind.
Saddened to see the riskers of design pass by, God Speed and condolences to his Family.
One of the geniuses of the motorcycle world. Hard to replace! RIP.
Didn’t he also work on the last Confederate Motorcycle, or was that the other Ducati designer??