EICMA 2013 Steven Tyler inaugurates EICMA Custom and launches the Dirico brand on the European market

Exceptional godfather for EICMA Custom in 2013.

This year's edition dedicated to 100% customized American motorcycles had Steven Tyler, leader of the historic rock band Aerosmith who has been on the scene for more than 40 years, "cut the red ribbon".

For the rocker, however, it was not just a pleasure visit, but also the opportunity to launch his brand of "customized" motorcycles, the Derico, as a European preview.

The history of this brand is similar to many others. Chief engineer Mark Dirico (for whom the house is named) and his partner Steve Tallarico started a garage, until six years ago they met the namesake Steven Tyler (whose full name is Steven Tallarico), who joins to the project.

They are finally ready to arrive on the European market, and they do it in style by effectively opening Eicma Custom 2013, on the stage of Virgin Radio, in the company of DJ Ringo and Gio Di Pillo.

“We mainly use Harley Davidson components” explained Mark Dirico “also for reasons of guarantees and assistance, but the bikes are created completely by us. We came here to present the bike, and to give it a try to journalists, so they can review it. The objective is to create a distribution network in Italy and throughout Europe"

In all this, however, no one wanted to reveal the costs of such a motorbike.

The floor was then passed to Steven Tyler. How does a rock star see the custom world?

“Custom is a natural thing, and it is now an art. It is natural for a man to ride two wheels, and to personalize them according to his philosophy” answered the question posed to him by Ringo “For me, creating a motorbike, this motorbike (in the photo ed.), is like writing a song. Each piece is like a verse, you perfect it, you learn to love it just like you love a song, and that's how it's born. Motorcycles are like rock & roll"

In the photo: Steven Tyler's Dirico motorcycle

It's impossible not to mention the singer's local origins, whose grandfather was born in Cotronei, in Calabria, which the Aerosmith frontman visited in July and who was awarded honorary citizenship.

“The first Italians to arrive in America were considered a bit strange” he said "and I didn't understand well, but then I was in Italy and I understood. This is also why we are happy to be in Italy, because we are partly Italian" the rocker then concluded.