Mondial Piega: from the pact with Honda to the broken dream, the legend that came close to Superbike

There are stories that seem written to become legend, made of promises kept and dreams that shatter a step from the finish line. The tale of the Mondial Piega begins with a handshake that tastes of myth: the one between Count Pierluigi Boselli and the top brass at Honda.

In the name of an old friendship that linked the Milanese brand to founder Soichiro, the Japanese decided to make an exception to the rule, granting their most precious engine, the V-twin of the VTR1000 SP-1, to an outside manufacturer. Thus was born one of the most fascinating and tormented motorcycles of the new millennium.

The Piega was not simply an assembled motorcycle, but a tailor-made suit stitched around a world-class powerplant. While the steel-tube trellis frame caressed the Japanese engine, the electronics were entrusted to the skilled hands of Pietro Di Zinno. His dedicated EFI injection turned that already stormy character into a symphony of millimetric precision. But excellence did not stop with the first series.

Fate decreed that the lineage would evolve into the very rare EVO version, a jewel of which the world saw only two examples, identified by frame numbers 00069 and 00101. These machines represented formal perfection, redesigned by the inspired pencil of Massimo Zaniboni. The creator of the Starfighter 1000 managed to clean up the fairing’s lines, making it more harmonious and sleek, as if to appease the wind even before challenging it on the track.

The curbs themselves were the call of the wild for the Mondial. The return to Superbike was a rough road, beginning with its first stirrings in 2001 testing. Within the walls of the Milan workshop only three specimens in pure SBK configuration saw the light, machines born to race that nonetheless remained confined to the silence of private tests. However, the sacred fire of competition found an outlet in 2003, when the company decided to dive into the fray of the Endurance World Championship. It was a year of sacrifice and sweat, with Maurizio Bargiacchi and Andrea Perselli committed to carrying the Mondial name to the world’s most grueling circuits, proving that beneath that showroom beauty beat a heart of steel.

The last jolt of pride arrived in 2006. Learco Ghelfi’s L.M. Superbike Team decided to bet once more on that project, fielding two stunning Piega Superbikes that seemed poised to put the game back on. But fate, often cynical, took the form of a federal rule change in 2007.

The new technical regulations cut the legs out from under a project whose original architecture was its pride, forcing Mondial to strike the colors and set aside all sporting activity. Thus the Piega left the stage, leaving behind the scent of carbon and the regret for what might have been if time had been more gentlemanly.