The motorcycling world hasn’t gone mad. It’s
always been like this, and our two-wheeled
history is littered with prototypes, some suc-
cessful, some not. It’s a pattern you can
date right back to the steam-powered cycle
designs of the 1860s.
One fascinating prototype that never
made it into production is MV Agusta’s
300B of 1955, a motorcycle that seemed
set to unlock the future, with advanced
features such as electric-only starting
and high camshafts with very short
pushrods.
Today, we take electric-start-only
for granted and the high-cam, short-
pushrod design long ago reappeared
in BMW’s all-new “oilhead” boxer
twin engine of 1993.
But things were very different back
in the early 1950s. The world was final-
ly shaking off the devastation of World
War II and motorcycles were getting
bigger in capacity and more sophis-
ticated. From Harley-Davidson’s new
road-burning overhead-valve Sportster
to Moto Guzzi’s fiendishly complicated
V8 500cc Grand Prix racer, the motorcycle
world was jumping with big, new ideas.
MV’s 300B had potential, but only a pro-
totype was made as factory management con-
sidered the production costs too great. It disap-
peared for 50 years, and then emerged in an amazing
postscript.E
Engineers and designers are always
pushing the envelope of reality, sometimes
ending up with crazy ideas. Remember the
various hub-center-steering prototypes of the1980s? These days, we have self-balancing-
motorcycle designs being promoted by
BMW and Honda.
TWIN
DREAMS
Story by Hamish Cooper
Photos by Phil Aynsley1955 MV Agusta 300B
Bicilindrica Prototype
14 MOTORCYCLE CLASSICS September/October 2017