Borrani

Carlo Borrani was born in Nappa City, California in 1887 – his family emigrating to the US in search of greater fortune. Just after World War 1 he met his future partner Ettore Ambrosetti. Carlo could see the pace at which the auto industry was changing and expressed to Ettore ideas for his new business venture. Carlo Borrani founded Rudge Whitworth Milano in 1922 - the business starting with the purchase of a license from John Pugh of Rudge-Whitworth who in 1912 had patented the design of a wheel mounted on a unique splined drum which was secured by a central lock nut. Success was almost immediate – particularly to race car teams – as the wire wheels lack of weight and their quickly detachable mounting played a large part in racing success. For Borrani, post war business in the 50s and early 60s was brisk and this required relocation to new, larger premises at Baranzate in North East Milan in 1955. As the 1960s progressed more manufacturers were turning to the cast aluminium style of wheel but motorcycle wheel production, however, was gaining more and more momentum and by the late 1950s Borrani was producing 15,000 wheels per month. More recently, Ruote Borrani has patented a completely new type of wire wheel that has been developed for today’s modern cars with much lower profile tyres. The company’s new light alloy rim with a forged alloy centre – Bi Metal – are a new direction for the company as are the recent M-Ray motorcycle wire wheel designed for machines with a single-sided swing arm.