Betamotor has always been connected with the history and evolution of life on two wheels. The company was founded in Florence in 1904 under the name "Società Giuseppe Bianchi", for building handmade bicycles. At the end of the 1940s, with the changes that had taken place in Italian society and the development of motorised transport, the company switched to motorcycle production. The simple expedient of attaching an engine with a roller transmission to one of its bicycles, a typical example of Italian creativity, resulted in the first motorbike produced by the Tuscan firm.

The two men who ran the company, Enzo Bianchi and Arrigo Tosi, joined their initials to form the brand-name Beta, and the company’s bikes have been sold under this name ever since.