1959 Moto Morini Settebello 175 Aste Corte Racer

Despite a few pesky World Wars creating massive roadblocks for him, the Italian Count Alfonso Morini and the company he founded in 1937 would go on to produce a few of the finest small-cylinder racers ever built. Born in 1898, Morini developed an interest in motorcycles early on and was operating his own repair shop by the time he was just sixteen. Of course when he was sixteen, WW1 kicked off and Morini enlisted. Fittingly, he wound up in the 8th Motorcycles Unit, stationed at Padova in Northern Italy.

After the war, Morini would return to working with motorcycles and over time he went from repairing scoots and performing routine maintenance to experimenting with his own designs. After honing his craft and building some impressive two-wheeled racers, another Italian race enthusiast by the name of Mario Mazzetti would take notice of Morini’s work and in the mid 1920’s commissioned him to design, build, and race a single-cylinder 120cc two-stroke racer. The machine would be built under the name “MM” (Morini + Mazzetti).

Morini and Mazzetti posing with two MM machines.

In 1927, Morini would pilot one of his MM oil-burners to six world records at the famous Monza Grand Prix of Nations. records that remained unbeaten for two decades! In 1933, Alfonso would set a new world speed record for the 175cc class with a speed of 162 km/h. MM continued along but by 1937 Morini and Mazzetti would go their separate ways. Morini had no intention of walking away from motorcycles or racing, shifting his focus to the development of utilitarian 350 and 500cc three-wheeled motorcycles.

This project would result in the 1939 M610, a workhorse with a Cardan shaft, dry lubrication, and a separate gearbox. Think scoot up front, and pickup truck flatbed in back, (or bare H-D Servi-Car chassis if you will) and that’s pretty much the Moto Morini M610, which became quite popular. A far cry from the work Morini had been doing just a year prior, but we all gotta pay the bills somehow and it was no different in ’39. Plus, this helped to put Moto Morini on the map.

The industrial 1939 Moto Morini M610 three-wheeled workhorse

Shortly after, yet another one of those darn World Wars would throw a major wrench in Morini’s plans and his operations shifted to producing aeronautical components for the war effort until the company’s factory was bombed in 1943. Morini hadn’t let a World War stop him before and wasn’t about to start then, so he proverbially dusted himself off and got back to work, this time focusing on a new one-cylinder two-stroke bike with a three-speed transmission. Just three years after his factory had been leveled to the ground, the resilient Italian manufacturer was back in full operation, releasing the T125 in 1946. Morini pretty obviously “borrowed” much of the T125’s design from the German DKW which at that point in time was a very popular model thanks to reparations.

Within the next two years, Morini would return to his true passion: racing. This time he churned out a sport version of the already successful T125. Prior to this, Morini had been focused on Grand Prix bikes and racing, but following WW2 Morini pivoted to production-based racing. This shift was a marketing decision, as production-based racers served as much more valuable sales-tools than GP bikes. At the time, long-distance Italian road races drew huge numbers of fans, with some motorcycle historians referring to said races as “Italy’s equivalent of the TT”, at least at that point in time. This led to the debut of the gorgeous Rebello and Settebello race machines, both of which were based on Morini’s road-going 175 models that themselves were already pretty high-performance bikes like the Tresette and Briscola. (The Rebello’s name would end up being unfortunately accurate but that’s a story for another time).

A certain young up-and-comer carving out his place in motorcycle-history aboard a Moto Morini 175 in the early ’60’s.

Though the 125 race-spec utilized the same frame as the production bikes, its power-plant was good for an extra 4.5hp to 5.7hp (depending on who you ask), resulting in a little screamer of a single capable of making 8hp at 7,000rpm and weighing just over 150lbs. The race version of this machine did very well in competition, but Mondial’s 125cc four-stroke impressed Morini who took some notes and went back to the drawing board. The result was a new four-stroke SOHC 125cc engine capable of putting down 12hp at 10,000 rpm, and this machine would be used to win a myriad of events including the 1952 National GP and Spanish GP in the 125 classes.

The Moto Morini T125

Morini went on with his race efforts while continuing to produce T125’s for the public but a new pushrod OHV four-stroke model was introduced that was simply referred to as “The 175” or Settebello (translating to “Beautiful Seven”). In 1954 Moto Morini would begin producing the 175 Settebello and production would continue until ’63. The bike would quickly become a popular production racer and for good reason. The 172.4cc 14-degree four-stroke single featured a light alloy cylinder with cast iron liner/barrel, light alloy head with plated valve-seats and valve-train with rods and rocker arms, using a 22.5-25mm carb (I believe 22.5mm was race regulation at the time). The Italian four-stroke single made a cool 15hp at 8,550 rpm.

Even after more than half-a-century, the original factory paint digs on the Settebello still look absolutely gorgeous.

Wrapped around the 15hp engine was a steel tubular open single-cradle chassis dampened in front via a hydraulic telescopic open-stem fork, and a swing-arm suspended via encased hydraulic shocks in back. The “Beautiful Seven” also came equipped from the factory with 160mm drum-brakes fore and aft, weighed in at around 220lbs dry, and had a top speed of just under 90 mph. Morini also offered supplementary performance track kit components which would essentially enable any of Morini’s 175’s to be brought to Settebello-spec. The Settebello would see various upgrades over its decade long production run such as the use of hairpin valve springs utilized in ’55, replacing the earlier Settebello’s helical valve springs.

According to some Morini owner and enthusiast clubs, Settebellos are responsible for winning more than 340 official races including 4 Italian Junior championships, 14 Italian Mountain championships, a handful of provincial and regional championships, and a hefty amount of races outside of the country. A number of noteworthy racers competed aboard a Settebello, many of them as young up-and-coming riders. Gianpiero Zubani, Gilberto Parlotti, Angelo Bergamonti, GP racer and team manager Roberto Gallina all raced aboard a Morini in their early careers, and apparently same went for some other Italian guy from Lombardy.

In the early 1960’s, Tarquinio Provini – who had been an official factory rider for Morini – would jump ship for a seat on a factory Benelli. This seemingly unsubstantial move would spark a chain of events that would lead to the birth of an indisputable legend. The Count was looking for a new rider to fill the now empty seat on the Morini squad when he came across a young privateer that would end up signing with Morini. This Italian youngster would pilot a Morini to victory at the 1963 Italian 175cc championship before claiming the 350cc Italian championship title the following year and managing to finish just one position short of a spot on the podium at the iconic Italian Grand Prix at Monza that same year. This talented young racer went by the name of Giacomo Agostini.

Agostini competing aboard a Moto Morini 175

This particular example is from 1959 and has had its engine prepared by the renowned “Bori brothers” of Turin, Italy. This example also has an engine head with tilted carburetor, four-speed Monza transmission, Ceriani suspenders, Oldani hub in front, and a Menani hub in the rear. This Moto Morini has also been entered in the “motorcycle historical register” of the Italian Motorcycle Federation.