Instrument of thought

There’s no half-measures with the Bimota Mantra. You either love it or loathe it. The design can only be described as radical, and when you consider it carried the badge of Bimota, known for stylish and svelte racing and sports motorcycles, this was a leap into the unknown. But the look of the Mantra is not surprising once you consider that it was penned by Sacha Lakic; Serbian-born, Paris-bred; a designer who has pushed the envelope ever since he picked up a pen, or a lump of modelling clay.

Back in 1986, Lakic co-designed the Yamaha-FZ750 powered Axis 749, and there are clearly traces of what became the Bimota Mantra in that exercise. At the time Lakic was working for Paris-based design studio Alain Carré; concepts that were transformed into metal by Boxer Bikes, based in Toulouse. One of the Boxer creations, the Triumph Daytona-engined Gladiateur, was displayed at the 1993 Paris Motorcycle Show, where it was heavily scrutinised by Bimota’s Auriello Lolli, who began discussions with its designer with a view to taking his