Incredibly, it’s been 10 years since we began ‘Project Polini’, our longest-ever road test. What better way for Stan to mark the anniversary than with a visit to Polini HQ…
Full disclosure: I’m a big fan of Polini. My relationship with the brand began back in 2016, when my previously trusty PX blew a hole in its piston on the way to Woolacombe. By pure coincidence, Dan had just been offered a Polini 210 kit, and so the seeds were sown for a road test that continues to this day. Since then, the motor has propelled me around the UK, over to France, into Italy, and even down into Spain. We’ve tested various components on its casings and stroked out its capacity to 221cc, but at its heart, the original kit keeps beating away, strong as the day it was fitted. Sadly, my trusty Motovespa has succumbed to tunnel rot, but the engine has been transplanted into a new frame. I’d always harboured a dream of riding my Polini to Polini, but when our invitation to visit Polini HQ in Alzano Lombardo landed, the rebuild wasn’t yet complete. So, I boarded a flight to Bergamo, a journey that was as entertaining as any scooter trip. Ask me to tell you about it one day; it involves a diverted flight, a priest, four nuns, and a minivan!
The birth of a legend
Just as with Vespa and Lambretta, Polini’s roots lie in the period immediately after WW2, when Italy’s economy lay in tatters and personal transportation wasn’t a luxury; it was vital to secure employment. Returning home from war, Gian Battista Polini opened a small workshop and began to repair bicycles, a lucrative business, as pedal power was, by far, the most popular and affordable way to move around.
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By the 1950s, Italian engineering had proven that it was more than capable of meeting the challenges posed by the post-war world. High amongst its achievements were the Vespa and Lambretta brands, whose story has been told many times in this magazine. It was into this world that Battista’s sons: Piero, Carlo, and Franco, were born; all three became what we would now term ‘petrol heads’, although this manifested itself in different ways for each of them. The keenest rider was Piero, whilst Carlo took to engineering, and Franco’s all-round enthusiasm and passion made him a natural salesman. By the 1960s, the first true Polini performance component was designed and manufactured during this era: an expansion pipe for the Vespa ET3. The opening chapter in Polini’s story had been opened, but the brothers’ efforts weren’t confined to the Vespa.
As anyone who visits the Bergamo area will confirm, its rolling countryside is perfect for trials riding, which becomes one of Piero Polini’s passions. He carves out a niche as a successful and highly competitive racer, all the time being supported by his brothers. Together, they work to boost the performance of Piero’s motorcycles. First on Gerosa, then CMK, and later Ancillotti 50 bikes. Together they create a distinct Polini ‘recipe’, one that combines increased performance with reliability. They work on all engines; Ancillotti, Fantic, Minarelli, Sachs; and on all components: exhausts, cylinders, air boxes, even providing complete kits. Demand for Polini products increased each year, and in 1975 Franco opened a motorcycle parts store in Bergamo. From this base, the story of Polini as an international tuning house really began.
Now, 80 years after Gian Battista opened his cycle workshop, there are over 5,000 products in the Polini catalogue; its Headquarters is home to 100 employees; there are more than 1,000 distributors worldwide; and the company exports to over 60 countries. The company has been involved in Moto GP, and in 2004 launched the Polini Italian Cup, a race series designed to allow accessible racing to young riders. Today, Polini is managed by a third generation of the Polini family, with a fourth also making its presence felt. However, my tour is hosted by Saimon, who has followed in the footsteps of his father, Franco, to head up Polini’s marketing department.
Polini today
Of course, what I want to see is how the magic works. Being rather cynical by nature, I expected to find an office block and some warehousing, with the majority of design and manufacturing being conducted elsewhere. In fact, I was amazed at the scope of activity that takes place on-site.
Firstly, even though this is a scooter magazine, I have to mention the building. Designed by the Italian architect Joseph di Pasquale, the building opened in 2005 and has been the subject of books and documentaries. It really is a stunning piece of modern architecture. After the obligatory espresso, Saimon began my tour, and it soon became obvious that this isn’t just a corporate HQ; it’s the home of genuine enthusiasts. From the well-known gold-plated 50 Special in reception to the mini bike that acts as a kind of pen holder/desk divider in the marketing office, there are pieces of Polini’s history dotted everywhere around the building. Today, Polini operates across three main areas of business: motorcycles, e-bikes, and paragliders. Obviously, I’m most interested in the scooter side of its business, and I keep stopping Saimon to ask if this is the machine shown at EICMA, or if that is the machine raced by Piero, and whether that photo is really of a young Valentino Rossi cutting his teeth with the Polini team. I suspect Saimon’s heard it all before, but his enthusiasm is all too evident.
The tour begins
Having got me back on track, no pun intended, our first port of call is the design office. Here, engineers from across all three of the company’s business areas share office space and have access to the latest CAD technology. As Saimon explained, “Each discipline has dedicated engineers, but we find it useful for them to work together. When they face a problem, they can draw on their colleagues’ experience. So a problem facing the E-bike team may be solved by someone with a background in paragliders, who, in turn, may find an answer from the world of scooters. In this way, we have a much wider approach to design than an office that may only specialise in one field.”
As I chat to the scooter team, two products really stand out: the arrival of suspension units for modern and classic Vespa, together with the new Vespa PX casings. With regard to the latter, I probably outstayed my welcome, but gathered so much information that we’ll need to come back to these gorgeous pieces of engineering next month.
After the design shop, Saimon takes me into the warehouse, which occupies an incredible 8,800 square metres. If you’re struggling to visualise what that looks like, a FIFA pitch is around 7,140 square metres. If my Christmas morning looked like this, I’d be a very happy boy indeed! At this point, I feared that my suspicions were correct, and that this was simply a warehousing operation, but Saimon soon set any doubts to rest. In fact, the only major operations that take place elsewhere are casting, annealing and plating. Even more impressive is that 85% of the off-site activity takes place in Italy.
I was particularly intrigued to see that every carburettor is assembled and inspected by hand. When my Casa 185 motor was built by Martin at Chiselspeed, he’d recommended a Polini carb due to its tolerance and ease of set-up. At the time, I’d been doubtful, but thousands of trouble-free miles later, I realised it had been a good choice. I know it’s something only another enthusiast could appreciate, but seeing the bench on which the carb had come to life was quite a thrill.
Downstairs is home to the more industrial processes. It’s here that clutch bells are turned from raw castings into finished products, and variators are turned before being carefully balanced. This process is a mixture of technology and skill. The variator is first spun up on a machine that detects where any imbalances occur and recommends how much should be taken from where. It’s then over to a human operator who removes any excess material before checking that the balance is correct, and then, finally, making any fine adjustments that may be needed.
All the toys…
Cleverly, Saimon saved the final part of the tour until last, ushering me into the workshop where Beppe and his team occupy what can only be described as a world-class facility. Here, they prepare machines for the factory’s race team, but more importantly, act as a sounding board for the engineers and conduct quality-control checks. The breadth of machines they work on is astounding, although we associate Polini with Vespa, their catalogue lists components for 36 marques, including Ape, Aprilia, Gilera, Italjet, Piaggio, Royal Alloy, Scomadi and Vespa; together with the big Japanese manufacturers and a large cross-section of the modern Asian brands.
Modestly, Beppe sums up his team’s role as, “Thinking of the guy or gal who has to fit the parts at home.” However, the degree to which the workshop is involved with production was very evident. At the time of my tour, Beppe was critically examining the new Polini PX cases. This included slicing a set horizontally so that accurate ‘real-world’ measurements could be taken inside the gearbox.
Although we’ll cover the cases in more detail next month, one thing that’s worth mentioning is the amount of material around the casing’s mouth. When I asked if this meant larger barrels could be accommodated, I was told that the new 244 kit didn’t need any changes to stud spacing. Yes, folks, a 244 kit isn’t just planned; it has already been on the dyno, of which Polini has three, including static and rolling rigs.
Close to the workshop’s roller shutter is a selection of race scooters that have been ‘too enthusiastically’ ridden, together with examples of scooters from various manufacturers that act as test beds. Amongst them is the factory PX, on which prototypes of all the parts you’ve bought from Polini for your own machine have at one time or another been tested. Having begun life as a T5 millennium, the scooter currently runs a 180 kit with a Polini crank and cassette clutch; more on those next month.
Although this PX is used by the factory for testing, a diet of nipping to the shop at lunchtime and being taken home every so often isn’t really the stuff of which meaningful testing is made. For that, Beppe advocates endurance racing. “Only endurance racing really tests components to their limits. If a part can perform under those conditions, then it will perform on the street.” It’s a theory that seems to work in practice. As we reported last month, the Polini team secured an overall victory at this year’s Pomposa 500km endurance race; one of the most demanding events on the scooter racing calendar worldwide.
A final farewell
Although the facilities at Polini’s HQ are undoubtedly state-of-the-art, they are also inhabited by enthusiasts. During the visit, we traded stories of past trips and adventures, but one thread that ran through the entire day was that things need not be complicated. Yes, Polini has a superb set of engineers, access to the most modern design technology and testing facilities that would be the envy of any manufacturer. However, all of this has one goal: improving the average rider’s experience.
When we’d discussed our ongoing road test, I’d explained to Saimon that, in addition to my engine, another had been built by a regular contributor, Brad. Whilst he’d taken a more complex approach: matching ports, incorporating straight gears, etc, my engine had been a more straightforward ‘bolt it on and see’ build. It was a comparison that struck a chord with Saimon. “People are comfortable with two-strokes but seem afraid of tuning modern scooters. Yes, there are incredible opportunities at the highest levels of engineering. However, you don’t need a fully equipped workshop, and we’ve done all the development work. Just buy a variator, bolt it on, and you’ll go faster. It’s that simple.”
They say that we should never meet our heroes; but I’m glad that I’ve met mine. Here’s to the next 10 years of our road test!
Words: Stan
Images: Dalila Agrati/Polini Archive
Article originally appeared in Scootering Mag July 2026 issue. To subscribe and grab some Meguiars cleaning freebies visit https://classicmagazines.co.uk/scootering?offer=SCOME2026
