The UltimEight

Ask any two-wheeled technofreak for a short list of the most exotic motorcycles ever made, and it’ll surely contain the mid-’50s Moto Guzzi V8 500cc GP racer, as well as the 1980s Honda oval-piston V4 NR500/750 which was a V8 by any other name, with its 32 valves and eight conrods.

maxi-bike for the checklist: the Morbidelli 850 V8 sports tourer that, after a decade of development was on the verge of starting production in 1998 before being disappointingly cancelled, after the first three customer bikes to meet a strong order book started making their way down the hand-built production line. Let the bike’s creator, Giancarlo Morbidelli, explain how the ultimate street bike bearing his name came into being, only to die almost at birth. “My wife insisted we take the family on holiday for a month to a resort in Africa where there was lots of sun, but nothing to do,” recounts Giancarlo, “I was completely bored, so to pass the time, I decided to design my own multi-cylinder street bike. Originally, I wanted to make it a V12, but I eventually opted for a V8 on the grounds it would be more practical for a touring bike, which is what I wanted to create. Originally, it was just a timekilling idea – but then after I got back from holiday, I decided to build a prototype as a means of publicising the technical expertise of our machinery company, which therefore became the beneficial owner of the rights to the design. From there to putting the result into limited, hand-built production for customers who, like me, are enthusiasts of fine engineering, was only a short step – even though it took some years to reach the point of being ready for production.