In many ways, the Italian motorcycle industry in the 1930s mirrored Britain’s bike makers of that time. Benelli, Bianchi, Guzzi and Gilera all produced single-cylinder 4-stroke street bikes with various levels of sophistication in the 250 and 500cc classes. But the aftermath of World War II dramatically altered the Italian motorcycle market. Required were miserly, small capacity basic transportation bikes like mopeds and scooters. And while Guzzi and Gilera continued to build prestigious 500cc and 250cc 4-stroke singles into the 1950s (such as the Falcone and Airone from Guzzi, and the Saturno and Nettuno from Gilera), sales in those classes were slow.
Companies new to motorcycle production proliferated: Aermacchi, Innocenti, Agusta, Piaggio, Laverda, Ducati, Parilla, Rumi and more. Motorcycle makers with a background in larger capacity machines struggled. One of the more agile of the heritage manufacturers was Gilera.
Giuseppe Gilera founded his motorcycle company in 1909 at the age of 22 after apprenticing at Bianchi. After World War I, Gilera opened a new factory at Arcore near the Monza circuit, and the company quickly became not only one of Italy’s largest motorcycle manufacturers but was also successful on the racetrack. In the 1930s, the company’s volume production had been based around a range of side-valve 4-strokes.
The Gilera 125
Gilera knew that 4-stroke motorcycles were considered superior to 2-strokesand so they were able to command a higher price — though they were typically more expensive to produce.
