Bimota is back, along with Buell
Two names that have a chequered history in Australia are back on the market, thanks to Melbourne-based Urban Moto Imports. Editor of our sister magazine Free Wheeling, Rennie Scaysbrook, spoke to Urban’s CEO Joseph Elasmar (right) and penned these words. For anyone who has actually seen a modern Bimota in the flesh, they know what Joseph Elasmar is so enthusiastic about his company’s line up. There’s incredible attention to detail in a Bimota; touches like billet brake levers and anodised bits and pieces everywhere. Almost any Bimota can be considered a rolling work of art, from the obscure Tesi 3D to the delectable DB11 and the soonto-be-released BMW S 1000 RR-powered BB3, which is currently wrecking the EVO category of the Superbike World Championship (and is my personal favourite). But it’s not just Bimota that Urban Moto Imports count as one of their oddball brands. Running out of their flagship store of FX Powersports in Brunswick, Victoria, and the distributorship based in Coburg, Elasmar has built his business on a model of individuality, signing brands no one else would touch or have the balls to. Enter Erik Buell Racing, or EBR for short. Erik Buell is a man who, like the late New Zealander John Britten, has made a career from thinking outside the square. However when owners Harley Davidson pulled the pin on Mr Buell’s funding following the GFC of 2009, many thought that would be the last we saw of the brand. Six months after Buell’s doors were shut, Erik formed a new company, Erik Buell Racing. That led to a meeting with India’s Hero Motor Corp, now the largest single motorcycle manufacturer in the world (Honda and Yamaha don’t count because they make cars, pianos etc, Hero just make bikes). Hero secured a 49% share in EBR, and that fresh injection of Indian money has given Erik the cash to develop a mouthwatering array of models, from the 1190 RX Superbike currently racing in the Superbike World Championship, to the ultra-collectable 1190 RS Carbon Edition and the soon-to-be released 1190 AX streetfighter.
Further on in the list of marques in the UBI stable is Benelli, that glorious Italian brand and the longest-running Italian motorcycle manufacturer around. Benelli started in 1911, and not counting production disruptions (of which there have been quite a few), Benelli is the company who have been making Italian motorcycles longer than anyone else. Its renaissance kicked off at the turn of the century, when the company started releasing a range of three-cylinder nakedbikes and superbikes like the Tornado Tre 900 and the TNT Café Racer 1130, in part developed by former Australian Superbike Champion, Peter Goddard. Fast forward to 2009 and the company was bought by Chinese motoring giant Qianjiang from then owner Andrea Meloni, however although the money comes from China, the bikes continue to be constructed at the plant in Pesaro, Italy, where it all began back in 1911. Completing the UBI line up are two relatively unknown American brands, Confederate and Viper, with price tags to match their exclusivity. Now, to start saving for my new Bimota BB3...