GIRO DAY

GIRO DAY
Q Not the fastest or most
elegant, but a fine Giro steed
Q Bike is a veteran of
CB-sponsored Mini Giro GB
1954 MOTO MORINI TOURISMO
A DEFINITE CONTENDER FOR ‘IDEAL FIRST MOTO GIRO BIKE’
Engine: air-cooled, 172cc, ohv single Chassis: Steel, tubular open-cradle type The numbers: 5.8bhp, 58mph, 101kg (223lb), £3500
The Moto Morini Tourismo clattering busily away beneath me
may not be the most exotic – or, indeed expensive – of our mini
test fleet today, but it certainly scores highly on rider friendliness.
A home-made small-end bush that’s on the way out after five years
of hard use explains the rattly top end, but its excellent ergonomics
and torquey power delivery make me feel instantly at home on it.
Proudly wearing peeling numberplates from the Classic Bikesponsored
Mini Giro Great Britain in 2009, Pete di Pasquale’s
black and red Tourismo amply proves the point that you don’t
need the fastest, most collectable or most valuable machine to
thoroughly enjoy the world of Italian lightweights. The gearlever
has a fairly long throw, but with fourth gear in the up-for-up
gearbox engaged, there’s little need to change down, save for the
biggest hills. That softly-tuned little ohv engine just keeps
chugging away. And, though the brakes are ‘only’ half-width hubs,
they’re quietly effective – as I discover when I roll over a brow to
be confronted with a steep drop and right-angle bend. If I was
heading off to Italy to tackle my first Giro this year, I’d be very
pleased to have a bike like Pete’s Morini to share it with.
As you might guess from his name, Peter di Pasquale has more
than a drop of Italian blood in him. In fact, his Christian name is
Piero and he was born in Terni – the home town of the club that
revived the Moto Giro d’Italia back in 2000. There’s no way Pete
– a Kent resident for more than 30 years now – wasn’t going to
take in a Giro or two. And in 2000, he got the call from Giuseppe
– another of today’s band of brothers. “The trouble was,” Pete
recalls, “I didn’t have a bike to do it on. So I started looking and
spotted this Morini for sale in the VMCC magazine.”
Pete offered the owner a swap for a Benelli 254 and a deal was
done. “I don’t know if I got the best of it, though,” he continues.
“The Benelli was on the button, but the Morini was in a bit of a
state. Still, I had a Giro-eligible bike and two months to sort it out.
The dynamo was faulty and I couldn’t find a replacement in time,
so I took a spare battery and charger and charged the battery
every night. I made it through three days like that. The following
year the electrics burnt out completely and the engine seized, so I
vowed to sort the bike out properly before the next event.”
Pete bought a replacement dynamo and a spare engine. “I
thought I’d sort the spare engine and fit that,” he says. “Then I
could go through the original engine and make a proper job of it.
The ‘new’ engine needed a piston and I couldn’t find one
anywhere, so I bought a pair of NOS BSA A7 pistons – the A7 has
the same bore and stroke – and used one. The BSA gudgeon pin is
a larger diameter than the Morini one, so I had to machine some
brass bushes to suit. I should have used bronze, but I couldn’t find
any at the time. The brass bushes have lasted five years, but they’re
about shot now. That’s why the top end is rattling so badly.”
But now the original engine is ready to go back in. “I’ve fitted a
new conrod with the flywheels bored to accept the A7 gudgeon
pin,” he says. “It also needed a new gearbox selector shaft and I’ve
made up new bushes for the rockers. The lubrication to the rocker
shafts is a bit marginal, so they wear. I’ve also got Power Dynamo
ignition for it, so it’ll be good to get it back in the bike now.
“It might not be the fastest bike in its class, but it comfortable
and reasonably torquey – two important attributes for a bike
you’re spending six long days on. The tank is usefully large and
fuel consumption is great. I can get 70mpg from mine.”
OWNING ONE: Spares are getting rare, although North
Leicester Motorcycles (northleicestermotorcycles.com) can help
with some parts. The simple, under-stressed engine is easy to work
on but you do need to check the oil feed to the rockers.
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