MV Agusta is one of the most interesting projects for restoring operators as we are. The Italian Motorbike Brand is in facts one of the most important competition winner in years ’50 and ’60. MV Agusta used to celebrate this great achievements, by printing the list of the world championship prizes on the tanks of the bikes. Fabio and Roberto found an old model ov Agusta MV 125 in a friend’s garage who sold the bike for 250,00 EUR.
The unknown model
The hardest part of the job was not the restoration, but the fact that many details were missleading the guys from the detection of the correct bike model (many MV 125 were built). Before starting a restoration process, it’s necessary to acquire all information about the model, to make sure to be looking for the right missing pieces. MV Agusta 1960 bikes (125 and 150) had many different production version releases, which are different just in small details.
The next picture shows the first identification dout. In the white circles some details about 2 unexplained supports.
The 2 supports close to the shock absorber are ok (the top one). They should be the supports to secure the lateral iron bags. The problem is about the 2 supports on the left of the image, the lower ones, that are not known in any MV Agusta Model. In fact, there is no image all over the internet (not even on the MV Agusta website) explaining theese two supports.
This werid detail could not be ignored. It could have told the Team something more about the model to reconstruct.
Theese supports could have not been added in a second moment. They really seem to be there since the production time. What should have been attached to the two screw support in the original motorbike model?
This detail, that appears to be not so important, is defenitely important to discover the true MV agusta model type. The check at the italian motorbike registration office (where you give the registration number and you get back the model) returns “MV AGUSTA 125 GTL” (Gran Turismo Lusso). Googling for this model (rare if related to the other possible candidates) i have found the following pictures, still not explaining the front supports.
No picture still can explain the weird supports. Also, the handlebars are note correct. The 125 GTL, as shown in the original datasheet available here, has the handlebar fused in the front frame, and the motorbike to be restored has it on the top, like the old model of MV Agusta 125 TR.
Finally, after many days spent in searching and Googling, the Agusta Friends of Motoclub Tingavert came in help, providing the following picture of a 125 GTL model WITH the iron supports identical to the unknown Bike.
And what could be placed on thees supports? The answer comes once again from the expert users of Tingavert Forums, with the following picture that shows the possible type of iron bags that could be handled laterally.
Another interesting detail. The Tank was wrong!
The next picture, shows again the weird unknow support (big circle), and also the impossibile connection between the frame and the tank, that definitely shows that the tank is not the right one for this model.
The following photos show the bike (bought from Mr. Brando) and the wrong tank that the Team recovered at Mr. Vincenzo Battaglia Old Bike Store in Rome.
To be continued…