Borile Bastard - Specifications & Review

Company History

Borile is a quintessential Italian atelier where motorcycles are designed as much with the hands as with CAD. Founded by Umberto Borile in the 1990s, the brand reinterpreted classic shapes—narrow tanks, high-shouldered tires, and upright cockpits—through modern metallurgy and clever packaging. The B500CR became its calling card: a jewel-like café single with meticulous welds, visible frame lines, and an engine tuned for tractable, real-world torque rather than headline dyno numbers. In an era racing toward electronics and multi-cylinder complexity, Borile argued for a different kind of luxury: lightness, proportion, and craftsmanship you can see and feel at walking pace. Production volumes were intentionally small, which allowed custom touches and owner consultation uncommon in mass manufacturing. That intimacy extended to serviceability; components were chosen not only for performance but also for elegance in assembly and maintenance, a nod to riders who enjoy spinning spanners as part of the relationship with a bike. Economically, boutique scale brings fragility—supplier changes and homologation rules can slow releases—but it also protects character. Borile machines ride like analog instruments: tight controls, immediate feedback, and a soundtrack that rewards a measured wrist. Historically, the marque keeps alive Italy’s tradition of small shops that punch above their weight by obsessing over the conversation between chassis and rider. Where many modern bikes anesthetize, a Borile amplifies—reminding us that speed is only one dimension of joy and that form, texture, and mechanical clarity can be every bit as satisfying as lap times.