Crude but cool

Malaguti has been making stylish small capacity machines since the late 50s. Although exported throughout the world since that period, the brand didn’t fully appear in the UK until 1974, with the first of a four-model range being introduced to a market place hungry for stylish and fast 50cc machines.

The Superquattro, introduced in December of that year, was the baby of the road-going range, being a similar style but a slightly lower specification than the more expensive Olympique model. There are no hard and fast sales figures on which to base any facts but the Superquattro was not as popular as the more racy looking Olympique with its twin silencer exhausts, or the trail-styled, Cavalcone models, the Cross and Super Cross. The Olympique also came in several variants, with either four- or five-speed engines, depending on what arrived from Italy, and conventional or clip-on bars according to which model you bought. The Italian market also got a five-speed Supercinque while a year or so after the initial models landed in the UK the Hombre, an enduro- styled machine, was also added to the line-up.

The amount of Malaguti machines sold into the UK would have been far outweighed by the onslaught of the Yamaha FS1E and Suzuki AP50 that appeared around the same time as the Italian range. The Superquattro is a rare machine to stumble across these days and few are seen compared to the hordes of Fizzies and gangs of Garellis witnessed at the many shows in the UK.

One of the countries leading moped protagonists, Ian Ritchie, restored this machine after acquiring it in a part exchange deal with a scruffy AP50 Suzuki. The Malaguti was in generally good order and a few weekends tidying it up saw the bike looking something like we see it today. Having seen little use the bike is still wearing the original, and hard to find these days, Ceat tyres, plus a pair of Malaguti embossed handle bar grips.

With a chassis little different to Malaguti models of the 60s, it is left to the bodywork to create a 70s image, which it does, but nothing like as effectively as the Fizzies, APs and Garellis from the period. Everywhere you look around the Superquattro there are references to the model’s 60s origins, with little in the way of electrical niceties and very basic construction techniques used throughout. No such luxuries as a battery or even autolube; nothing electrical works until the engine is spinning and oil has to be added to the petrol making long journeys an exercise in planning. You either carry a bottle of oil around or hunt for garages that sell it and take potluck.

The suspension, too, is basic; the front forks possess no damping action other than internal friction and rely totally on the weight of the rider and bike to keep the springs under control. The rear shocks do feel a little more sophisticated and offer some subtle damping but even so we are not talking advanced suspension by any stretch of the imagination. Starting the engine is carried out either by bumping it off or by kicking the pedals backwards. This action engages the starter Bendix and the motor should spin up sufficiently to start it. After this process the pedals are largely redundant and allowed to swing free, their only other task in life appearing to be bruising the odd shin or getting in the way at a crucial moment in the bike’s operation. According to the owner’s manual you can disengage one pedal so that it sits 180 degrees apart from the other and, by putting the engine into first gear, pedal the Malaguti instead of using the engine. Quite how you are supposed to do this without feet fouling the footrests, rear brake and gear change levers, is beyond me but they were required by law so are present.

Once on the move the tiny Malaguti provides a firm ride and, size apart, the red machine doesn’t feel at all like a moped. The buzzy engine is rigidly mounted in the steel frame and this makes the bike vibrate throughout the rev range, the bars and footrests are mounted solidly, too, and these vibrations find their way to the nervous system as if they are being inputted directly. The higher the engine revs the higher pitch the tingle, it’s a bit like a rev counter, without the dial read out.

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