International Dealer News IDN 118 Apr/May 2014 | Page 40

news ROOM

Massimo
Tamburini
LEADING motorcycle designer
Massimo Tamburini has died at the
age of 70. For over 13 years Tamburini
was Head of the MV Agusta Design
and Engineering Division at CRC
(Centro Ricerche Castiglioni) in San
Marino, designing Cagiva, Ducati and
MV Agusta motorcycles with Claudio
Castiglioni.
Regarded as one of the greatest
motorcycle chassis engineers of the
20th century, with the self-made
frame of the MV Agusta 750 Sport
launching him onto the international
stage in the early 1970s, he was one
of the founders of Bimota. In a career
that made him the 'go-to-guy' of the
Italian motorcycle industry his design
credentials include the Ducati Paso
750, the hugely admired Ducati 916,
the MV Agusta F4, and the current
Brutale models.
Giovanni Castiglioni, President of MV
Agusta, said that “Massimo was one
of the legends of the motorcycle
industry. He was a great designer, but
above all he was truly passionate
about motorcycles. He left our
company a precious heritage and will
always occupy a place of honour in
the industry”.

Massimo Tamburini, seen here right,
with Claudio Castiglioni

Motorsport Aftermarket Group
(MAG) merges with distribution
giant Tucker Rocky
HE owner of Fort Worth,
Texas based distributor
Tucker Rocky (Lacy
Diversified Industries/LDI of
Indianapolis) has announced
that it has acquired a majority
ownership position in the Irvine,
California headquartered
Motorsport Aftermarket Group
(MAG).
The deal to acquire a majority
ownership position in MAG is being
described as a “merger” between MAG
and the Tucker Rocky operation.
MAG is best known as the owner of
Vance & Hines, Performance Machine,
KuryAkyn, Progressive Suspension, J&P
Cycles, Mustang Seats, UK based offroad specialist Renthall and a number of
other high profile specialist motorcycle
industry parts and accessory brands and
manufacturers.
Tucker Rocky is one of the largest
motorcycle parts, accessory and apparel
distributors in the United States, often
cited as being second only in sales
revenue and volume terms to the
LeMans
Group
(Parts
Unlimited/Europe).
Although their ‘third-party’ product
portfolio is substantial and involves
them in all the primary powersports
industry sectors in the United States,
here in Europe Tucker Rocky is probably
best known for own-brand product lines
such as the MSR (Malcolm Smith

T

Racing) off-road apparel and parts
programmes, Answer Racing off-road
gear, apparel and accessories, and their
ProTaper hard parts and accessories
range, which includes the top-selling
ProTaper handlebars programme.
According to the text of a March 27
statement released by all three parties,
LDI “will become the majority
shareholder of the combined
company”, with Leonard Green &
Partners, (L.P. - the current majority
shareholder of MAG) and other existing
MAG shareholders (which includes the
former owners of many of the group’s
subsidiary brands