A niche Italian manufacturer that specialized in high performance, small displacement bikes between the 40s and the 70s, Mondial made their name with World Championship road racers in the 50s, and motorcycles like the Mondial 200 Super Sport. The company went out of business in 1979, but was brought back to life in 2000 by a Italian newspaper tycoon, and the result was the Mondial Piega 1000, a motorcycle never officially imported to the United States – here’s one that’s available in the UK.
There’s an interesting backstory as to how Mondial got Honda to supply engines for this bike. In 1957, Soichiro Honda approached Mondial about the purchase of one of their racebikes (which had just won 125cc and 250cc World Championships). Mondial gave Honda a bike, which was used to set the standard for Honda racebikes of the future. Nearly 50 years later, when Mondial was looking for an engine to power the Piega (after Suzuki pulled out of the deal), Honda repaid the favor. This was the first time Honda allowed use of their engines in another companies’ motorcycles. The Mondial Piega uses the SP-1 motor from a RC51, but Mondial developed a proprietary exhaust, injection system, and airbox to bring power up to 140 at the crank. Build quality was supposedly excellent, and you had the reliability of a Honda engine. It was destined to be great. Unfortunately, finances proved to be a problem, and after only 35 were built, the factory was placed into bankruptcy. Deals were worked out and a third party came in, eventually producing approximately 120 (accounts differ on the exact number produced, but the original intent was to produce 250 for homologation reasons). Interestingly enough, 11 bikes were apparently stolen from the factory – rumor is they were looted by employees trying to get compensation for lost wages – and the Italian police are still looking for them! With that said, sometime around 2005 a new company called Gruppo Mondial s.r.l bought the rights and has continued to sell the Piega (and expanded to other models)
This specific Mondial Piega 1000 is brand new with 0 miles. Not sure what else I can tell you!
Find this Mondial Piega 1000 for sale in Norwich, UK with a BIN of $26,252
Or if you’re feeling especially fancy (and presumably live in the UK), the same dealer has one of the 10 Final Editions also available. It’s going for $34,772
This bike-uriousity brought to you by Zack B!