Competition, passion and experience were the key elements for Giuseppe Visenzi when he founded GIVI and today they are still an essential part of its DNA.
Back when riders still actively worked on their own bikes and the circuits used public roads, Giuseppe Visenzi turned his hobby into a way of life. The founder of GIVI immersed himself in the world of two wheels as a professional rider, and then transferred all his knowledge and experience, as well as his love for the sector, to the world of motorbike and motorcyclist equipment. Along with having a presence and being recognised all over the world, the brand continues to be closely linked to the passion of top-level competition. It provides direct support to teams and riders in MotoGP, such as Team LCR HONDA and the official DUCATI Team, as well as other major players in Superbikes, the Enduro World Championship and the Dakar, among others.
Two-wheel fans are used to seeing the GIVI logo in different scenarios: on the bike and leathers of Álex Márquez, the MotoGP rider who forms part of the LCR Honda Team; in Enduro and Motocross championships at international level; and even in the most prestigious motorbike raid of them all: the Dakar. The relationship of the transalpine brand of motorbike and motorcycling equipment with competition goes back a long way. In fact, it goes back all the way to the origins of the company. Giuseppe Visenzi, mechanic, professional rider and entrepreneur, founded GIVI years after the end of his two-wheeled sporting career and brought together everything he had learned and what was intrinsic: his love of motorbikes. It’s precisely this shared love of motorcycles that has brought the brand so close to motorbike enthusiasts: in their everyday life, on their longest journeys and also in the world of high-level competition.
This is how it all began
Giuseppe Visenzi, motorbikes and racing have always gone hand in hand. It was in 1959 that, as a mechanic, he entered a world that he has not left since. Combining that job with his first steps as a professional rider, he competed in his first race aboard a Laverda 75 that was not even his own; he borrowed it from a close friend. And so began an adventure that is still as lively as ever.
Before making the leap to the world championship, Visenzi competed at national level on a Mondial, which tested his two-wheel passion that had led him to get on a bike for the first time. For it was not an easy bike to get, nor was it easy to master. Its constant breakdowns led him to buy a second-hand Ducati on his way back from a race in Piedmont in the middle of the night. Far from the glamour that surrounds the MotoGP paddock today, in many cases it used to be the riders who brought their own bikes to the races.
The Italian brand took Giuseppe Visenzi all the way to the World Championship. It was a dream that lasted 9 years and one that was interrupted by a serious crash at the Imatra Circuit, in the 1969 Finnish GP, in which he fractured his pelvis. His passion, which has never left him, led him to get back on the bike he was riding at the time, a Yamaha. But eventually the extent of his injuries forced him to end his career as a professional rider with a creditable third place in the 350cc World Championship, which was won that year by none other than sporting legend Giacomo Agostini.
Strong ties that bring together passion and functionality on a motorbike
Visenzi’s story does not end there. Combining his experience and knowledge with his love for two wheels, the Italian turned his professional life around and opened a dealership in his native Brescia. This is where GIVI, a brand of motorbike and motorcycling equipment that he founded almost a decade later, was born as he designed his first rear top case.
But where is the competition in all this? As he has tirelessly pointed out ever since, the founder of the transalpine brand continues follow the races as if he were racing them himself. He enjoys overtaking at the limit and the most thrilling comebacks. What’s more, with his career very much in mind, he is aware of the sacrifices involved in competing at a professional level, especially in MotoGP. That’s why in the form of sponsorship, GIVI supports two teams in this championship: LCR Honda and Ducati Lenovo Team. This sponsorship is essential for the survival of the teams in the World Championship, whether official or unofficial, and for their riders. It’s also a boost for the brand, which is therefore perceived as one of the leading and most prestigious firms in the sector, placing it in the spotlight of motorcycling enthusiasts.
The passion of the young Giuseppe, who at the age of 18 dared to live the most exciting adventure of his life, now lives on through other riders who follow in his footsteps. They do so with more advanced technology, more safety and more speed, but are still driven by the same feeling.
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