Both bikes came to me by chance. The Honda CB125 single was in an old barn painted a crap shade of yellow and had been ridden off road for quite a while. The farmer told me that he had an old bike that would not run. I was hoping for a Vincent or something, but it was a bloody old Honda with a MX tyre which looked like something sharp had ripped off chunks of rubber.
The Gilera 150, an OHV single, had been left outside in the garden, after it had developed electrical problems. I offered him a hundred quid, but he said no, he would swap it for my Simpson 70 because he didn't like the thought of buying a Japanese bike with the money and he didn't mind commuting on a small bike. I still see him now and again; he claims the bike is still going well.
I offered a fiver for the Honda and it was mine. It wouldn't start, of course, not until after I'd torn the motor out and replaced a slack camchain. £7 poorer, she fired up and did not run too badly. The engine strip was straightforward enough, if nothing else these are simple pieces of engineering before the days of balance shafts and four valves per cylinder. Did some work to the electrics, cleaned all the shit off... first ride to get the MOT. It seemed to have an extremely high first gear, top end was around 65mph but it didn't feel very happy with loads of noise and vibes.
It took me to work for two weeks until the coil burned out - I had wired it wrong. A secondhand one cost four notes. Parts are usually quite easy to get hold of from breakers. A long model run helps there and many bits from the ubiquitous CG125 will fit.
The bike had more weaves and wobbles than a Kawa H1 with the swinging arm spindle loosened off. The swinging arm leapt about and it cost £37 to get a backstreet merchant to whack in some new bushes, the old swinging arm having seized in too solidly for me to extract it.
The lights were crap and the flashing orange thingies were long gone. The seat was so rock hard that l splashed out twenty notes for a replacement - the crude, worn out suspension didn't help, it probably wasn’t much cop brand new. Even with the swinging arm fixed it didn't exactly glide gracefully around corners as if on rails but it was so light that it rarely came close to gravel rash time.
Consumables were reasonable, although a rear tyre only lasted 8000 miles. Fuel was around 80mpg and I couldn't afford to change the oil more frequently than every 2000 miles. Chain adjustment was the wrong side of frequent.
The engine was generally reliable but I recall one night when it was raining heavily and the motor cut out on a hill. I kicked hard many times and nothing, so I turned the bike round and tried to bump it down the hill, but no joy. I left it to stand for a while, then I tried again. It started but was misfiring badly with the odd backfire thrown in to wake up the peds. So, I thought better get back quick before it stops.
On the last corner a bloody stepthru overtook me. Back in the shed, Meatloaf turned up high, I put in new points, which I'd been meaning to replace for months, and a new plug. A week later a poxy twat in an FSO pulled out of a side road.
Bike a write off. The insurance coughed up £180 and let me buy the bike back for thirty notes. For a while, I hustled it around the local coal tip, I loved doing wheelspins in that dust. I rode it like a speedway bike. A bunch of kids in an old Fiat 128 were racing around like lunatics. I beat them around the track but in the middle, where there is a mile long straight, the effect of a bent fork and buckled wheel on rough slag let things get out of control, and they were able to get past. I had the last laugh, though, one of their tyres ended up in shreds. The last I saw of the Honda was when some bloke came along with a tenner for the engine and decided to take the whole bike for £35.
Unlike the CB, the Gilera is a very rare machine and a rather attractive one at that. It looks like a grown up version of their racy 50cc moped which was fast when the learner laws first came in and mopeds weren't restricted to 30mph.
The engine is all fins with no external pushrod tubes to give the game away. It turned out to be the ideal runabout, simple, fairly cheap, reliable and economical. It’s the most reliable bike I've ever owned and did 21000 miles with nothing more than an oil change ever six months and the odd set of points and plug.
It does an indicated 90mph flat out and blows GP125s and TS125Xs into the weeds on both straight and twisty roads. It made the CB feel like exactly what it was - a clapped out heap. If Triumph had installed a similar engine in the Tiger Cub they would have sold millions. All I did to get it running was rip out all the electrics and bung in some old Jap components. The points were not too bad, it was just everything else that was crap.
Its most immediate Wop rival was the Ducati 160 Monza, another rare bike in the UK, and one with even worse electrics not to mention a comparative lack of reliability.
The handling was better than the Honda, thanks to stiff forks and a frame that had a much better build quality... the tubular construction was as near to a work of art as you’d get on a commuter. The bike would happily cruise at around 65mph and returned 85 to 100mpg depending on how much throttle abuse was employed.
If I had a few grand, I would go out to Italy and collect together 20-25 150s, some in good nick, some for spares, bring them back here after paying the 27.5% in car tax and VAT (29.3% actually, you pay VAT on the car tax as well - Ed) and make a fortune. Sell good ones for say 500 notes and people would jump at the chance - I have had offers of 600 notes for mine but it's too good to sell. Buy one before the classic mob gets hold of the idea.
The only problem I've had has been the battery which sometimes drains overnight. Finish is OK, better than some Jap bikes, although I did have the frame powder coated. Starting is easy, three or four kicks, chains last about 10000 miles - I am on my third set, tyres seem to last forever - the back say 14000 miles and front 18 grand.
The choice between the two machines is very easy to make. Apart from purchase price and rarity, the Honda just doesn't get a look in. You can actually believe that Gilera used to win races whereas the Honda is more a testament to that company's ability to churn out thousands of stepthrus. It's possible to have fun on the Honda but it goes against the nature of the bike. The Gilera is much more fun and more practical!
Such is the versatility of this machine, that it was quite at home on Pembrey race track. After the meeting was over, they opened the gate to let bikes and vans into the pits which are in the middle. I went past a Vincent with Dell’orto carbs and a mean exhaust note which soon pulled away sharply. Then came a GP125 with an Allspeed pipe. He gunned it down to the righthander where I pulled past him on the outside and was really motoring it down the straight, through some more curves whereupon I missed a gear and he pulled out quite a lead. Down the last straight where the old bus reached 90mph and passed him on the line... the marshalls were waving black flags wildly and threw some harsh words at us when we came to a halt. Now, when’s the next meeting.
Paul Thomas