The Lamborghini Countach (left) provided the design inspiration for the Lamborghini Design 90 (right) motorcycle. Lambo should have stuck with cars, eh?
When you first think about it, a Lamborghini motorcycle seems like a damn good idea. For a company that’s made cars like the Miura, Countach, Diablo, Murcielago and Gallardo, how bad can a Lamborghini motorcycle be? Well, as you can see from the pictures here, quite terrible really…
Back in 1986, Lamborghini got into a tieup with French racing bike constructors, Boxer Bike. Based in Toulouse, in France, Boxer Bike were known for their expertise with hand-built racebikes, which supposedly used a lot of aerospace technology in their stiff, lightweight and sophisticated chassis. And along with Boxer Bike, Claude Fior, well-known for his work on alternative front suspension design, also worked on the Lamborghini motorcycle, which was actually made in France rather than in Italy.
The Lamborghini Design 90 was actually made in France and fitted with a Japanese engine...
The result of this alliance between Lambo and BB was the Design 90. Fitted with a DOHC, 16-valve, 1000cc, 125bhp inline-four (sourced from Kawasaki), the Lamborghini Design 90 weighed about 175 kilos and had a top speed of 250km/h. The bike’s styling was supposed to ‘evoke the spirit of the legendary Countach,’ and while we don’t know about that, we do think it looks horrible – almost as bad as the first Morbidelli 850 V8.
Today, Boxer Bike seem to have disappeared with a trace, and while Lamborghini continue to make some pretty astonishing supercars, they’ve apparently decided to stay off bikes for good. Which is just as well, given the complete disaster which the Design 90 turned out to be. According to some reports, Lamborghini had initially announced production of 25 units of the Design 90, but ultimately only five or ten units (the exact number remains unverified) of this bike were built.
Looks awesome, huh? Thank god Lambo only five or ten of these...
In 1986, the Design 90 cost about US$13,500. Today, the market value of this ultra-rare Lamborghini is said to be around US$50,000 - 75,000. Of course, you aren’t very likely to ever see one of these Lamborghini bikes in your neighbourhood. Which is quite all right really – we’ll just take this Rizla-rep GSX-R1000 and be happy for the rest of our lives…
Also see:From dream to disaster: The amazing Morbidelli 850 V8!
Colnago: Bringing the Ferrari name to two wheels...
RAD 01: 749R-based forerunner to the Ducati 848
The 152bhp, 282km/h Bimota YB6 Tuatara...
Radical Ducati unveil the RAD 02 Corsa!
Memorable: The rotary-engined Norton F1
Steffano Motorcycles’ Ducati 999-based Café9...
External links:
The Honda-Moriwaki MD250H, for young American racers...
More outlandish bikes, from the mid-1990s: The Suzuki GSX-R-based Innotech Crea 750 (left), and the Honda FireBlade-based Crea 900. More details here
And here's a video clip from the 1980s, the glory-days of 500cc motorcycle GP racing. All the greats are here - Lawson, Rainey, Schwantz, Doohan and others. A treat!
Video clip: Oliepeil
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