Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Ba rcelon a 24 Hours on a 175cc Du cati at recor d speed. Afte r a premature ex it fro m his last race , th e '57 Mot og ir o , in w hich his 175cc Bicilin d rica prototype - Ducati's first-ever tw in - failed to last the distance, Ta rta rini embarked upon a yearlo ng pu blici ty s tu n t ad venture for the Italian firm, in the company of Duca ti's export sa les ma nager Gio rgio Monetti. Together, th e pair com p leted a yea rlong 60,OOO-km (9944-mile) around- theworld trip aboa rd a co uple of 175cc Duca ti sing les. They visited 42 cou ntries after leavi ng Bologna in September 1957 to ride to Ind ia, the n via Au stralia, New Zeala nd, Sou th Ame rica, North Africa, a nd throu gh Eu ro pe, back to Italy agai n. As a reminder of his long-distance feat. Tar tarini today smokes the sa me bran d of tobacco he first enjoyed in Chile during that very trip , and still owns the bike he did it on. Back home in Bologna agai n, Tartarini wa s read y for a new challenge , which e nt a iled mo re th a n m e r el y s elli ng motorcycles tha t othe rs had bu il t, but al so co ns tructing hi s ow n. So in 1959, alon gside his Benelli and Ducati dealership, he fou nded the company w hich in d ue course would becom e ltaljet - even if it was in itia llv bett er known und er the lta le m m e z e ta (as in lt a l MZ ) n am e . T hat's be ca u s e the e ngines which Pold ino used to kick off prod uction of his own motorcycles wer e so urced fro m th e East Germa n MZ co m pany, which he'd become friendly wit h through racing . In h is fir st year of man ufactu ring, Tartarini built more than 300 bikes with . his own frames, fitted with 125cc MZba s e d tw o -st ro k e engi nes, so me of w hich we re modified with ltalemrnezeta's own alloy cylinder, hea d an d pis ton, as we ll as a Dell'O rto carburetor, to create the Junior Sport ve rsion. In 1961, he bra nched ou t int o the flou rish ing 50cc marke t with a Mina relli-power ed cafe ra cer w hose sporty look s required a n a p p rop ria te na me - the "Ita ljet, " By 1967, the nam e had grad ua lly su pp lan ted ItaIM Z, and the Tartari ni co m pa ny was o ff ic ial l y rec h ris te ne d " Ita lje t Moto." But by th en Pol dino ha d branch ed ou t int o o therfields . After his British bike conn ectio ns had firs t been esta blished with his BSA sidecar, he'd been co m m issioned b y t he BSA-T r ium p h co m pany to d evelop a protot yp e Ariel lig htweight mod el pow ered by a 160cc two-stro ke Minarelli engi ne, which was in tended to replace the elderly bu t bestse lling BSA Bantam . Th e proj ect never reached production, but it d id re-introduce Tartari ni to th e Briti sh firm . So w he n in 1965 he was com missioned by the Saudi Arabian gove rn ment to d evelop a special motorcycle for their poli ce force, with a projected ord er o f 2000 bike s to be paid fo r o n a barte r bas is with cru de oil, he based the d esign on a Triumph T120 Bonneville engine. Al thou gh th e protot ype was buil t an d s hi p ped to the Middle Ea st, the Saudis chan ged their minds and asked him to send pr efab buildings instead of mot or cycl es - still in ex change for oil. But th e project had given Tartarin i a n idea for a civilian model. and at the 1965 Milan s h o w h e di spl a yed th e It aljet Grifo 500. Heavily based on the Bonniepow ered police bike, the Grifo 500 used t h e small er twi n- cyli nder Triump h engine fitted in a twin-loop Italjet fram e to produce an Italian-built production v ers io n of th e Triton cafe ra cer the n alread y popular on a hom emade, oneoff basis in Britain. But the 500 Gri fo never reached production. First, because the name means "g ry p ho n" in Italia n (as used o n th e Chevrole t- powe re d Iso G rifo luxu ry s por ts cou p e of th e e ra), a n d it was already em ployed by the rival Guazzoni co m pa ny o n th eir 50c c s ports si n gle. Ta rta rini reso lv ed th at probl em b y adding an "n." However, with his finger on th e pulse of th e market , he figured the big-bik e era was abou t to dawn and tha t a spo rts bike based on the 650cc Bonnevill e eng ine wo u ld have a better chance of sales success both in Italy a nd ove rseas th an a 500cc Tiger 100-pow ered mod el. Triumph ag reed to sell him suc h eng ines - for the p rincely su m of 120 pound s each, recalls Pold ino - and in 1967 produ ct ion of the Marzo cchifo rk ed , Grim e ca -braked Grifon 65 0 began . Three differ e n t versions were available: the standard mod el, the Cali fornia (wi th sma ller fuel tank and high er bars) and the Special, with a slightly sho rte r seat and sportier styling . Th e 500cc prototype' s Ti ger 100 mot or fou nd its way into another on eoff model, the large-tired Fantasia street- legal sa nd-s led , w hich Tartari ni ju nked in favo r of concentrating on the Gri fon. Arou nd 300 b ik es in a ll were s old in Ital y during th e next five years , a nd a si mila r number ship ped to th e United States a nd Austra las ia, w here tho ugh more expe nsive than the stock 650 Bonn e v ill e , th e y fo u n d a read y m ark et. In ter es tin gly, non e found their way to Britai n. Italjet' s su ccessfu l ran ge of innovati v e minibik e s produ ced du rin g th e early '60s included the firm 's firs t road racer, the Minarelli-en gin ed Va m p ire produced in bo th 50 and 60cc ve rsions for GP racing and the Italian Juni or class . MSDS com petition, respectively, as well as with lights for so ns of we ll-hee led enthus iasts. These, and more humble models like the Franco Morini-engined 48cc Kit Kat a nd its small-wheeled cou nterpa rt, th e Go Go, together with the Grifon 's combin ation of crisp Italian styling, chassisd esign flair and Brit ish en gine per for man ce, brou ght Italjet to the attention of The man beh ind the company: Leopoldo Tarta rin l sits astride a 1967 'Grifon 6502. America n entr epreneur Floyd Clym er. Clymer then comm issio ned Tarta rini to manufacture jus t 100 Minarelli-en gined 50cc minibikes for him to give as gifts to U.s . dealers he'd signed up to d istribute the Indian ran ge of bikes he was develo p in g in co nj u nctio n w it h Fr ie del Munch in German y, and for w hich Clymer owned the trad emark. In keepi ng with th e Ind ian th em e, thes e w ere nam ed th e Pap oo s e. In inven ting a new breed o f baby Eurobike, the y were so su ccessfu l that It'lljet ended u p building more than 15,000 for the u.s. market, whi ch in turn were so w ell- r ece iv ed, Cl ymer a lso co m m is sioned Tartarini to build full-size Indian motorcycles. Th ese were based on th e It'l ljet Grifon d esi gn, but were fit te d firstly with Roya l Enfield Interceptor 37

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