After a long period of illness, Massimo Tamburini, recognised as the world's greatest motorcycle designer, died yesterday 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, for which he dedicated a significant part of his career, designing Cagiva, Ducati and MV Agusta motorcycles together with Claudio Castiglioni, all of which are renowned as the most beautiful bikes in the world. Among these, motorcycle enthusiasts acknowledge first and foremost the outstanding MV Agusta F4 and Brutale models.

“Massimo Tamburini was one of the legends of the motorcycle industry. I want to remember his passion, enthusiasm and determination. 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 amongst motorcycle’s all time greats,” stated Giovanni Castiglioni, president of MV Agusta. “His name will go down in history for his ingenious intuition and perfectionism applied to every small detail.”

Photograph: Claudio Castiglioni and Massimo Tamburini.