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7 Page – PDF Download – Complete Series – Gilera Arcore Project – Restoration
“A bottle of gin for this rare Gilera
This one’s a bit out-of-the-ordinary, but that doesn’t deter the intrepid Graham Curtis from adding to his list of restoration projects.
‘IT says Gilera on the saddle’ said Pryce, my father-in-law, as he led me out to the barn to see his latest acquisition.
For a man with little interest in bikes, he has an uncanny knack of finding them. This one had been kept in a shed for ten years and had finally outlived its welcome.
Its lady keeper wanted rid of it and asked one of Pryce’s friends to take it to the tip on his trailer. Seeing that it might be of interest, he suggested that we might like it. The asking price was a bottle of gin.
As we walked out of the bright sunlight into the gloomy barn, I could just make out a slim front end carrying a forlorn headlamp with a tangled mess of wires dangling from it.
What I could see had a 70’s look to it and my heart sank. The only Gilera of that vintage I could remember was a ‘sixteener’ special moped. A rapid one, but a 50cc pipsqueak nonetheless.
On closer inspection, this bike turned out to be more substantial than that. With typically square-cut looks for a Seventies Italian machine, the fully finned motor looked to be at least 125cc, and despite the Italian camouflage, it was a four stroke.
Perhaps not a pipsqueak after all.
My knowledge of Gileras was restricted to historical reports of the Geof Duke/Bob McIntyre era and the aforementioned exotic moped. I pored over any books I could find but drew a complete blank on the little machine.
Then my friend Les (an Italian bike enthusiast, who ofter waxes lyrical on unheard-of Italian light-weights) came up with a book containing an article by Titch Allen…”
7 Page – PDF Download – Complete Series – Gilera Arcore Project
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