40 :OLD BIKE AUSTRALASIA
For a once-great marque,Gilera, like most
of the Italian motorcycle industry, was moribund
by the 1960s. A range of unexciting small capacity
models barely sustained the old and massive Arcore
factory as the decade drew to a close. In a bid to
capture vital military and police contracts, scarce
resources went into the development of the twin
cylinder 483cc B50 5V – the factory’s first 500 since
the famous Saturno single. As well as the military
model, a customer version – the B50 – came on
line in 1968, but it was too late to save the
company, which went into receivership in
November of the same year.
It looked like the end for Italy’s oldest motorcycle
marque, but a rescue came in early 1969 from the
giant Piaggio concern, flush with funds from the sale
of its core aviation business. The Piaggio takeover
marked the retirement of company founder
Giuseppe Gilera, who passed away two years later in
1971, aged 81. With new Managing Director Enrico
Vianson in charge, Gilera embarked on a complete
reconstruction, mainly based around a range of small
capacity two strokes. It was hardly ground-breaking
stuff, but it set Gilera on the road to recovery, and
eventually, the construction of four strokes again.
For the Gilera purists, one of the most fondly held
models was the Saturno – the 500 single that was in
effect Italy’s version of the BSA Gold Star. The Saturno
came into being in 1940, and remained in production
until 1960, appearing in many different guises. These
included production road racers, ISDT specials and
works replicas, motocrossers, trials bikes, and the
bulk of the production which were big road burners.
The Saturno (“Saturn”) continued the company’s
astrological theme for model names which included
others such as the 250 Nettuno (“Neptune”).
At the 1985 Milan Show, Gilera sprang a surprise
by showing its brand new four stroke single, the
350cc Dakota dual-purpose machine, powered by an
all-new liquid-cooled, four-valve head, with the twin
overhead camshafts driven by a toothed belt. In the
bottom end, a balancer shaft was gear-driven directly
from the crankshaft, with a multi-plate wet clutch, a
five-speed gearbox and an electric starter. The one-
piece crankshaft ran on anti-vibration ring bearings
and the piston was a high quality forging. Ignition
was by a Japanese CDI unit. The decision to build an
on/off roadster was based on market trends, with
models such as Yamaha’s Téneré selling very well and
other manufacturers jumping on the same
bandwagon. The major criticism of the Dakota was its
power, or lack of, producing just 33bhp at 7,500 rpm.
Although the styling was very much in the current‘Desert Raid’ idiom, the 23 litre fuel tank was very
wide and made for an uncomfortable riding position.
The power issue was partially solved by
subsequently upping the capacity to 492cc, while
the styling was addressed with the introduction of
a soft-road version with a 15 litre tank and smaller
radiator guards. Importantly, the new 500 Dakota
weighed the same as the 350, but at 147 kg was
still no lightweight. The frame, made from square
section tubing, was extremely strong, and was
retained for the next evolution of the Dakota, the
569cc XRT, which produced 47bhp. The XRT made
its public bow at the 1987 Milan Show, and
although it caused a sensation with its superb
styling and impressive specification, it was not the
only surprise sprung by Gilera on that occasion.GILERA SATURNO BIALBERO
The Saturno Bialbero continues
the lineage of the famous Saturno singles.