Italian Rare Bit

Stage 2. Machine outline design

This version of The Mi-Val is from 1954 or thereabouts and is the GS version. Well… according to the nameplate on the frame; as it’s complete with an adjustable steering damper, however, it seems to have some GL components. The fork shrouds have sidelights at the top either side of the headlamp – very Royal Enfield – and these were only fitted to the GL version. The seat appears to have been black and red – another GL variance – and as far as I can tell from investigation the only other changes were the colours and the carburettor, which for some reason was mounted with the slide horizontal on the GL version (some bikes) but not on the GS. So maybe this model has been customised into a GLS (or a GSL)? Or maybe options could be requested direct from the factory, as was the case with a lot of British bikes of the period.

Mi-Val seemed in the 1950s to have produced several 125 models, the models themselves changing from year to year, which helps when trying to date a machine as the GS was a 1954 variant. Or at least the first year it was made was for the 1954 market year, it was then made through to 1958 (I think! It’s not