OFFICINE ROSSOPURO(ex Firestarter Garage) opens in Pescara in 1998, on a sunny 14 th June to be precise.

It has been the first business of this kind in Abruzzo, being a workshop as well as a shop selling accessorises and clothing for Custom bikes only.

The name Firestarter means the principle from where the first spark sets off the fire, while Garage is to remind me where I come from, as I started to customise the first bikes in 1992 in a garage down the building where I lived, with a few tools!!

In 1998 the shop was around 50sq.m with a workshop of just 20sq m.

Alterations have always been performed on every kind of bikes, but I was mainly interested in Customs for different reasons: as a young lover of the first Harleys imported in Italy, as they were the best selling bikes in those years when Naked didn’t exist yet, Paris-Dakar bikes were losing ground and streetbikes were selling slowly. The first bikes customised were quite simple as the culture of Customising arrived a bit later here in Abruzzo than in the rest of Italy (particularly in the North). The first important job was done for the 1998 Exposition in Padua, over a Honda VT600 that I named “Eat My Shorts”.

The following year I realised, always for the Custom&Chopper Show in Padua, my first real and proper work of deep tuning and customizing. Based on an old Kawa Z1000 from 1980 I created “EKA”, a naked with a strongly modified frame, front brake and (part) from a different source and the body completely handmade. With this bike I had the honour of receiving the third prize in the category “Streetmachine”, next to the best Italian Customizers. That made me promises me to bring to the exhibition in Padua a new bike every year, always trying to create something new to break the mould.

In 2000 I presented the bike that has given me the greatest satisfaction so far, the CICLOPE, a special based on a MOTO Guzzi V11 Sport. I was in love with both the bike and the Guzzi brand in general and I tried to do what no-one had ever done before: a Guzzi bike that was sporty, aggressive, short and slim, as naked as possible. After months of hard work I realised the bike that won second place in the category Racing Sport in the International Bike Expo’.

This bike has aroused a lot of interest, mainly as the unusual starting point but also because at that time the Guzzi brand was said to be closing down.

The bike has been on most Italian bike magazines (as In Moto, La Moto, Cafè Racer, Super Moto Italiane, Biker's Life, etc) as well as the European press (come Optino Motò, StreetFighter, Motorrad, etc.). This pushed me even more on focusing on customizing Guzzi bikes, for pure passion and for the originality of the project.

The following year, thanks to collaboration with Ghezzi & Brian and the technical support by Giuseppe Ghezzi, there was the creation of Kimera. A project based on the Supertwin made from Ghezzi & Brian, with technical and aesthetical solution really peculiar. Even this bike was present to the International Expo’ in Padua and it classified second place in the category Hypersport.

I scored an outstanding record of three bikes classified in the first 3 places for three years in a row, in three different categories.

Following this great success in 2002, I decided to enlarge the shop and the workshop to 200 sq. m, still always in the same location in Lungomare Matteotti in Pescara.

In 2003 I started working on a rather weird project which I named Bellerofonte, like the Greek character that killed Chimera, the mythological monster.

This bike won first place as the most original and extravagant bike to the 2003 Expo’ in Padua.

In the same year the FSG004, a special based on a Furia 1100 by Ghezzi&Brian won second place in the category for sport bikes in the International Bike Expo’ in Padua.

This successful year made me embark on a new enterprise and together with my dear friend Paolo D’Alcini we set up ROSSOPUROITALIA, a brand new line of accessorises for Guzzi bikes. This also gave me the idea to make a new bike that I named ROSSOPURO.

Both projects have given us a great satisfaction. In 2004 the bike won first place to the 10 th Edition of Bike expo’ Padua and our line of accessorises has had a great success among the bike lovers.

In 2005 we won the International Bike Expò with a new motorcycle ANIMA, it was based on a Ghezzi frame.

In 2006 we dedicate to renew all the shop and workshop.

In 2007 we come back with another work on a Moto Guzzi Griso 1100, the ZERO!! We won the Bike Expò of Padova like The Best of Sport Motorcycle in all the Bike Show.

Now we are looking forward to the future and we hope it is great!

I would like to thank my family for their support and my friends that helped me making my bikes, sometimes with ideas, sometimes with a good beer!

Filippo Barbacane