Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128011
Feature By Alan Ca thcart ew men have led as full a life as 66-year-old Italian entre p rene u r Leopold o Tartarin i. And it's a lif e th at's a bo u t to em ba rk o n a new cha p ter, with the return in 2000 of thi s Bologna , Italy-based Italjet scoo ter specialis t to full-scale mot orcycle manufactur er. FQr at the 1999 Milan Show opening on Sep tember 15, Italjet will mark its 40th anniver sary by launch in g its first large-capacity two-w heeler in over 30 years - the three-cylinder Grifon 900 roadster. A design tea m, headed by Tartarini himself, is sched u led to enter production o n th e Grifo n nex t March in the firm's brand-spank ing-n ew , u ltra-mod ern factory near Pescara. Yet in develop ing the Grifo n 900 as Italjet's corpo rate birthday present to its cus to me rs , genia l, pipe -sm o k in g , Jag ua r-d riving a ng lop h ile "P old in o" Tartarini is making hist ory repeat itself. To begin w ith , it ' s th e fir st fu ll-s ize motor cycle he' s per son ally styled since the ran ge of Ducatis he was resp on sible for produ cin g in th e 1970s - a nd not only on paper. "Duca ti in th ose d ays were mainly engi ne man ufacturers," rye explai ns, "so they had no design stu dio and only limited production-line capacity for com plete motorc ycles, be cause th ey were F Ita/jet's comeback too busy building di esels a nd suc hli ke for car s and industrial u se. Because of mv earlier connections with Duca ti, Italjet was called upon to d esign al mos t all the ea rly V-tw ins, based on Ingegn er e Ta gli oni's engine and chassis la yout. Th en , lat er in the d ecad e, we no t on ly designed the fra me as well as the styling for the ra ng e of Ducati parall el twins, but ac tu a lly manufa ctured th e b ikes oursel ves h"ere in the Ita ljet fac tory in San Lazza ro (d i Saven a - a s ubu rb of Bologna ), us ing en gines tru cked acro ss town from Ducati at Borgo Pan igale. But then I wa s fortunat e to fo resee th e impact of the scooter boom in Italy , which is why we withdrew from ou r collabora tio n with Duca ti even before the Cagiva takeover in 1985, and concen trated on the activit V for whic h we are bes t known tod ay. But now, on our company 's 40th birthd ay, it's time to reenter the motorcycle sec to r - hen ce the new Grifon ." As o p posed to th e o ld o ne - fo r anoth er way in w hich Tart arini is red iscovering the tru th of time is by the very na tu re of It a ljet ' s n ew m ot orcy cl e mode l. For the Grifo n 900 is powered by John Bloor' s ca rbureted older-version T300 Triumph three-cyli nd er engine, in the same form as currently fitted to the 900 Trophy, bu t with the en gine castings painted silver on the Triumph production line, before delivery to Bologn a. For the Grifon 900 is not onl y the first-ever motor cycle built outsid e Hin ckle y, powe re d b y Triumph e ng ines, su p p lied u nd er a n o fficia l agreeme n t with the Bloor compa ny, it' s also the re-cr eati on o f lt al jet ' s fi rs t-eve r la rge-ca p acity mod el o f 30 ye ars ago - th e Triumph Bonnevill e-power ed Grifon 650. So me 600 e xa m p les of th at bike w ere built betwee n 1967 and 1971 by ltaljet in San Lazza ro, usin g T120 engi ne units su pplied directly from Meriden to Italy, and so ld e xcl us ively in Ital y, the Unit ed States, Au stralia and New Zea land . History is indeed about to repeat itself . But the reasons for the Triumph connection go back even further than this, to th e d awn of Leo poldo Tarta ri ni ' s mo to rcycle career, w hich began a t th e age of 19, in 1952 - but on th ree wheels, not two. That's the year he wo n the sidecar class in the grueling IS-hou r sing les tage Mila n o -Taranto o pe n- ro a ds ma rathon, beat ing th e fa vo red G uzzi and Cilera-powered compe tition wit h a BSA 650 Go lden Fla s h-en gi ned ou tfit he'd designed and bu ilt himself - so mething he m ight, not ha ve ap p reciated had his fath er, the lead ing Mo to Guzzi d eal e r in Bol og na , no t d ied the yea r befo re, leaving his son free to pursue his chosen career as a professional racer, on the machinery of his cho ice. Poldino' s successes incl u d ed winning the 125cc class of the 1953 Milan o- Tarant o o n a Ben ell i Leon cin o twostro ke he 'd prepared himself (in doing so, finis hi ng a rem ark abl e second overall behind Du ilio Agostini 's works 500 Guzzi) and winni ng the six-s tage 1000-, km Giro d 'ltalia that sa me yea r on the sa me bik e. He also w on severa l local h ill climbs a nd ci rcui t ra ce s . It w a s e no ug h to bring h im to th e noti ce of Count Dom en ico Ag us ta, w ho a fter a test at Mon za offered him a place in his MV Agus ta team for the 1954 GP seas on - an honor wh ich Tartarini was obliged to refu se only af ter his mother begged him to stay and home and su perv ise the familv business. That didn't s top Poldino from joining the Ducati factory in his hometown of Bologna, though, s igni ng to rid e for' th e m in 1954 as a wo rks rid e r a n d develop me nt engi nee r, wo rking alongside ano ther new arriva l - the legend ary "Dr. T" - Fab io Tag lio ni. But a severe sp ina l injury sus ta ine d w hi le r idi ng Taglion i' s first Du cati design , the 98cc OH C Maria nn a , in the Giro d 'lt a lia br ou ght Ta rtarini 's raci ng ca ree r to a pr em atu re halt - thou gh he d id sig n off w ith a flo urish by wi n n ing t he Italjet will mark its 40th anniversary by launching its lirst large-capacity twowheeler In over 30 years in the lorm 01 the three-cy linder Grilon 900 roadster. ; ~ III ... r- ~ Q en en en .n (j; ~ E '" i5. '" en 36 l;