Stu Thomson plainly enjoys a challenge. Not content with restoring a Gilera Giubileo to the road, he’s now tackled something even less usual – at least in the UK. And here’s riding the result! First impressions…
Stu Thomson plainly enjoys a challenge. Not content with restoring a Gilera Giubileo to the road, he’s now tackled something even less usual – at least in the UK. And here’s riding the result! First impressions…
Having rebuilt the MI-VAL 125 GS/GL it was time to road test it to see how it performs – and of course have a bit of a shakedown to see if everything works as it actually should.
I decided to have a ride up over the Yorkshire Wolds on the backroads to Seaways Café, a popular meeting place for bikers close to Fridaythorpe. Total mileage about 75 miles, that should sort it out. On the route there were a few interesting hills and narrow traffic free roads, ideal for a first ride on a strange machine.
When filling up the tank and adding the 2-stroke oil, I decided to use the modern recommendations on the oil bottle I bought, as I felt that the MI-VAL recommendations were a bit heavy on the oil. I am sure that the oil has improved in the last 62 years. After about 18 miles I did a quick plug chop just to make sure the mixture was OK and the colour was perfect; a nice light milk chocolate ( just for TP) brown, perfect and no oil blow-by.
First impressions are interesting, certainly compared with a 4-stroke of this period, and bearing in mind that I am running in a new set of rings and have to take it steady for at least a couple of hundred miles. The bike revs up really quickly, with no great flywheel effect, and of course when the throttle is shut there is no engine braking at all (a bit worrying to begin with). There is very little torque low down but lots of induction noise, so much that it is slightly embarrassing, even though there is very little engine noise – no clattering valves here. However when the revs climb the torque improves dramatically and the bike fairly shoots along (well to 45mph at least, I am running in) and is very smooth. But the MI-VAL has the standard small Italian bike gearing with 1st and 2nd quite low and 3rd and 4th quite high for touring, so there is quite a big gap between 2nd and 3rd.
When I parked at the Seaways Café a couple of chaps came over for a chat and the first things they asked were; ‘What is it and where was it made?’ I explained and they said they’d never heard of MI-VAL or ever seen one before, but now they Know a lot more than they did…
The bike handles really well with its light weight, very stiff frame and 19” wheels. The front brake is very good, the back not so good and the suspension quite stiff. The only issue on the ride was that after about 60 miles the chain developed some slack (cheap chains?). Oh, and my head hurt from the noise of the induction roar…
I suppose I should expect the machine to be simple in operation as 2-strokes were a simple design in this period. The exhaust seems to have very little restriction but a very large bore, so I think it was before the expansion chamber theories were put into practice. Maybe with an expansion chamber the performance and torque would improve. Might have to see a specialist!
On the speedo side the new old stock speedo I fitted along with the Moto Morini driving mechanism seems to be reading a little on the slow side – which is unusual for Italian speedos, they are usually very optimistic. But having said that, I did notice that the ignition system seems to affect the bike’s speedos sometimes (proximity of the coil under the tank possibly affecting the bike speedo).
So my overall impressions are that it is actually really good (if rather slow) fun on two wheels!
Now what about the next project? Well I completed the Bianchi Bernina 125 shortly after I finished the MI-VAL. Watch this space, because that is an interesting bike indeed. And I have fallen once again for a small Italian (bike not female), this time an MV Agusta CSTL 175 ohc machine from the mid-50s, so…