Itom motorcycles

The Itom company began with an association with the bicycle manufacturer Benotto, and started production with a motorised bicycle model called SIRIO, using engines from Officine Meccanica Broglia (OMB), also based in Turin. Soon after, the young engineer Giuseppe Spotto arrived from Sicily. He had been an airplane pilot in the Second World War, and together with Silvano Bonetto, he began to design new engines to be applied to bicycles first mounted on the fork then behind the saddle and finally (beginning with the famous TOURIST model) to be placed between the pedals. In 1953 the Esperia model was launched with a monocoque structure, followed in 1954 by the ASTOR and ASTOR Sport models with 2 and 3 hand-operated gears, and in 1957 the ASTOR Sport Competizione. Finally 1959 saw the launch of the 65 cc TABOR model with 4 gears, first manually operated and then with a pedal preselector positioned under the engine.

At the end of the 1950s, ITOM became IMSA (Industria Meccanica Sant'Ambrogio) having moved in 1957/58 to the factory of the former Maglificio Fratelli Bosio in Sant'Ambrogio di Torino in the Susa Valley, strengthening the production of motorcycles. In 1960 the ITOM Junior model was released, and in 1965 what became the most famous ITOM model was launched: the ASTOR Sport with 4-speed pedal gearbox, in this period with the well-known Yellow / White or Red / White livery. In 1969 the SIRIO Cross was launched, and in 1970 a new version of the ASTOR. In 1973 in-house production of engines stopped, and the ITOM models were equipped with engines by Moto Morini. In the same year, a Cross Competition model with a Zündapp engine was presented at the Milan Motor Show.

ITOM also built air compressors. These operated on an innovative system, using not piston-based but rotary compressors, which was very innovative for the time. ITOM also built a three-wheeler motortricycle based on the structure of ordinary production motorcycles.

In 1965, about 130 people worked in ITOM. On the evening of 26 August 1965, a sudden fire broke out in the attic and destroyed the roof of the factory, causing extensive damage both to equipment and to products already completed.

In 1975 production ended at the Sant'Ambrogio di Torino plant.

In 2010 the road leading to the former factory in Sant'Ambrogio di Torino was named after the enterprise, with the name of "Via Itom".

Production was initially limited to auxiliary engines to be applied to bicycles, then to mopeds entirely of their own production, including the engine; this latter fact distinguishes it from the majority of contemporary Italian makers who used engines produced by the specialized houses of Minarelli and Franco Morini.

ITOM production remained limited to mopeds, with the exceptions only, in the sector of larger models registered as motorcycles, of the Tabor, a 65 cm3 model derived from the various 50 cm3 models, and two models of off-road motorcycles. These latter were presented at the Milan EICMA international cycle and motorcycle exhibition in 1973: a motocross model called 'Gringo' with a 5-speed Zündapp 125 power unit and an 'Enduro' model powered by a Minarelli 125 engine with 5-speed gearbox. The Itom 125 did not have much luck and only a few units were sold. The 50 cm3 production ranged from single-speed models to two-speed, three-speed and even four-speed sports models, the latter being produced in both Sport / Competition and MotoCross / Regularity versions.