29th of june is the day: June 29, 2012. A new racing bike will see the light of day in Castiglion Fiorentino, on the occasion of the Enduro GP of Italy. It's the Bordone-Ferrari Italian Rally Motorbike and it will be launched in the land of Fabrizio Meoni. A choice of the heart. The Bordone-Ferrari Moto Italiana already has behind it a meteoric rise of the brand on the sport scene. It's a new bike and also a new spirit, because summarizes the experience and talent of men in a world-beating team. Engineers, technical staff, designers, managers, chosen because of their uncommon inner dedication. This is the culmination and fulfillment of a dream. As the creators Nicoletta Elisa Altieri Bordone and Renato Ferrari say "a great adventure always begins with a beautiful dream", they revolutionized the International motorcycle scene with a high-flying sport program. Now they are getting ready to reveal the first stage of a grandiose industrial project. The Bordone-Ferrari Italian Rally Motorbike represents how a dream became a vision and it proves that this dream will come reality on June 29th 2012. The adventure has just began. The goals of Pelé during the 1958 World Cup final consigned the 17-year-old brazilian to the history books. The Bordone-Ferrari Moto Italiana wants to make a tangible stamp of its creators' passion for sport, the trace of a racer motorbike that oozes love of design and constant attention to technologic innovation. June 29, 2011, June 29, 2012: When the Bordone-Ferrari [FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Italian Rally Motorbike[/FONT][FONT=Arial, sans-serif] is revealed in Castiglion Fiorentino, the brand will turn one-year-old.[/FONT] http://www.bordoneferrari.com/comunicati/rally/MotoRallyUnveiling1en.html
jeebus...:huh If the engineers are even half as good at building a bike as the writers in the PR division are at using superlatives... the thing should be a rocket ship out of the crate... ... or tripping over the red carpet and knocking your front teeth out on the champagne bottle can also happen...? With these media hype deals... it can go either way sometimes...
Got info earlier that the photo shoot for the bike was today and that the Italian beauty is AWESOME... <iframe width="853" height="480" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/e9KhtlSBoSg?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Anyone wanna speculate? I heard that the motor is TM, asked around as they have been absent from enduros in my part of the world, but the word is that they make a bulletproof, fire-breathing supermotard engine... no word on long term reliability though
Anyone want another Italian Exotic..... My advise...........stay far away from Italian Exotics, once the company goes belly-up, you got yourself a nice paperweight. But if any glutton's for punishment want this one, PM me!
I think so, but Beta are not so keen on rallies yet, plus the guy developing their rally kits is Boano... I think Bordone want to go forth and do their own exclusive thing. Wasn't Botturi on a TM a few months back? Either the ADDC or Qatar round, I don't remember the specifics, but he withdrew with a mechanical IIRC
It was Qatar where he rode the TM. Viladoms told me they hope to ride their new bike in Egypt in October...
Does the Bordone Ferrari outfit have the engineering/machining/manufacturing resources, workshop facilities, techical & engineering personel behind it, and (not the least) financial backing to build their own bike (including engine)? This is a BIG task to do all the R&D to get a competitive engine/chassis/rallybike package built and developed, then up to speed. Even fully budgeted and supported "factory" teams have a full time job to bring a project like this to fruition within 12 months. When they first announced the B/F project a year or there abouts ago... that the team bikes they "unvieled" were just re-liveried KTM 450 RR's was no (real) surprise... given the short time to establish and prepare the team structure. When Chaleco came on board over from Aprilia, and they announced the continued use of the Austrian bikes - I (amongst others) thought perhaps they were aligning themselves to be the "satelite" factory KTM outfit for the future. Certainly using the material and experience of the Mattighoffen product as a base for their teams establishment season was a smart move... in terms of results and proven product behind them. But these latest indications seem to reinforce the long running rumours/industry hype, that they WILL be pursuing the goal of developing their own bike. :huh Speculation about the engines is a key aspect here I think. While engineering their own chassis/fuel cell platform is not that major of a headache for a team with the resources and budget... and the majority of suspension componentry, wheels, braking components, navigation equipment, rally accessories etc. are merely OEM manufacturer/catalogue items in many respects... But, to design/build a powerplant from scratch is something that requires a whole different level of commitment (resources, engineering, R&D time). I'm not saying 100% that they haven't done so... But it seems like a helluva project to take on... just to field a competitive team of five or six rally bikes... even if they offered "kit" bikes for sale to other riders/teams... the relatively low unit numbers/economies of scale would seem to make it inequitable it terms of investment required. So that leaves us with the "which engine will they use"" specultation...? KTM...? They have a developed and proven 450 Rally powerplant that has been assembled using a hybrid of components from their various Sxf/EXC partslists... but for B/F to go to all this trouble to develop a bike as a new host for the same powerplant... seems like a lot of work. What else...? TM... Beta...? both have been suggested (rumoured), but as both of these manufacturers also only offer enduro/mx type engines from their existing model ranges... any "rally" motor/development thereof from either of these platforms is still going to require some significant R&D to transmission, coolong system, oil/cooling system etc. to get the "reliability/service interval" specifications needed to compete at rally competition. Or will B/F resurect one of the italian motor designs from some other manufacturer? (VOR and/or Vertimati... or a Huskvarna/BMW derivative perhaps ?) I am sure there are many who are really keen to see what this new "revolutionary" rally bike is gonna be...
Yeah i don't think they will produce an engine from scratch, my phrasing was mistaken when I said pursue their own thing, what I actually had in mind is that they grab a 450 off TM's shelf, develop it/tweak it (add oil capacity, longevity tests etc) and then plant it in a more stable, own-design chassis and do their own set up regarding fuel cells & pumps, nav set-up etc... I am trying to find more info on TM's recent supermotard campaigns, someone mentioned the other day that they are a very strong outfit and may have even won a few rounds, even a championship
Well all I have to say is that it is exciting to have someone else stepping into the game. I think it is good for the sport and us as spectators. The B/F team certainly did things right at the last dakar and for Chaleco's and Jordi's sakes I hope they really provide them with a formidable weapon whatever its heart may be. Italian exotica... I hope it runs as sexy as it will probably look.