Gino Bartali & Bartali Bikes
With Phil Aynsley
I don’t have many pictures of this explicit machine, however whereas it’s simple to dismiss Moto Bartali as yet one more short-lived Italian producer, the historical past of the person behind the marque makes it worthy of nearer consideration.
Gino Bartali was already a nationwide icon lengthy earlier than his identify appeared on a motorbike gasoline tank. Born in 1914 close to Florence, Bartali was one of many defining figures of Italian biking within the inter-war and speedy post-war years. Over an expert profession spanning three many years, he gained the Tour de France twice, in 1938 and once more in 1948, and claimed three Giro d’Italia victories in 1936, 1937 and 1946. His rivalry with Fausto Coppi turned a part of Italian sporting folklore, symbolising not solely sporting competitors however broader social and political divides in post-war Italy.
Bartali retired from top-level biking in 1953, at a time when Italy was rebuilding each its economic system and its industrial base. Like many former sportsmen of the period, he turned to manufacturing, initially returning to his roots by producing bicycles. In partnership with Roberto Stavini, Bartali established a bicycle manufacturing facility in Florence, buying and selling on each technical competence and the large goodwill hooked up to his identify.
The transfer into powered two-wheelers adopted rapidly. Through the Fifties, Italy was awash with small motorbike producers responding to monumental home demand for inexpensive transport. Displacement courses underneath 175 cc dominated the market, and Bartali joined this crowded subject with a variety of two-stroke bikes marketed underneath the Moto Gino Bartali identify. Engines had been sourced from FBM, Fabbrica Bolognese Motocicli, a revered provider whose powerplants had been utilized by a number of Italian marques of the interval.
Bartali bikes had been supplied in capacities starting from 50 to 175 cc, with easy, strong specs geared toward on a regular basis use slightly than outright efficiency. The 125 cc mannequin produced round 5.5 horsepower, featured a four-speed gearbox and weighed roughly 80 kilograms. The bigger 175 cc model produced round 11 horsepower and weighed roughly 97 kilograms. In 1958, the 175 bought in america for US$495, inserting it competitively inside the light-weight imported motorbike phase.
Not like many small Italian producers that remained purely home, Bartali made a concerted effort to enter the American market. From 1957, distribution in america was dealt with by the Californian Importing Firm, which additionally represented Mondial. This foothold in California proved vital, as Bartali machines discovered success within the rising off-road and enduro scene on the West Coast. Riders akin to Ken Harryman, Invoice Messer and Preston Petty achieved notable outcomes aboard Bartali 125 and 175 cc machines, giving the marque a degree of competitors credibility that far exceeded its modest manufacturing scale.
Regardless of these efforts, Moto Bartali remained a small operation in an more and more aggressive market. By the flip of the Sixties, consolidation and rising prices had been forcing many minor Italian producers to shut, and Moto Bartali ceased manufacturing in 1961.
Gino Bartali himself remained a revered sporting determine in Italy till he died in 2000. Solely after his passing did the total extent of one other chapter of his life develop into extensively recognized. Through the Second World Warfare, after Germany occupied Italy in 1943, Bartali had performed a job in a clandestine community organised with the assist of the Catholic Church to assist Jews escape Nazi persecution. Utilizing his standing as a celebrated bike owner, he transported cast identification paperwork hidden inside his bicycle whereas coaching, an exercise he by no means spoke of publicly.
As Bartali himself later stated, “Good is completed however not spoken. And sure medals cling on the soul, not the jacket.”
The motorbike proven here’s a 1954 Moto Bartali 160 cc, a modest machine by any technical measure, but it carries the outstanding legacy of the person whose identify it bears.
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