A Capriolo.....

[gben]

A 100cc Capriolo, a really rare motorcycle most have never heard of. Made in Italy in the 1950s and very early 1960s, they were only sold in the USA after the company went out of business and a USA distributor bought the contents of the factory out. I think the company went out of business about 1960, but the USA distributor sold them through the early 60s as being whatever year they could market them as. The engine is absolutely unique, having a "face-cam" design, where the overhead-cam is a spinning disk with bumps on it that the rocker-arms ride on to actuate the valves. Only two or three mass produced engines in history had this camshaft design. This bike was bought with a clear title from the widow of the original owner who advertised it locally in a garage sale after her husband died. She mis-spelled the name of the bike in the advertisement, but I knew what it was because I had read about these bikes years ago in magazine reviews and made sure I got to the sale a bit early to have a good chance at it.

 

[dubsey55]

Super cool little bike! Love the jelly bean tank. These early italian bikes are sweet. Progress report???

 

[Fritz Katzenjammer]

Nice little machine! That engine unit looks just like my old Gilera... actually, a lot of it looks like my old Gilera. I guess its because so many of the components came from common suppliers, like the lights and the muffler. I remember reading about this make and it odd cam system, a neat solution to the age old problem of getting the movement from the crank to the valves. Looks like the body work is all there, which is the biggest problem with restoring small Italian bikes.

you have to love the little Italian commuter bikes of this era, I think there must have been a law against making something that wasn’t pretty and sporting.

My Honda lawn mower developed a leak from the cam cover after having something strike the engine. When I lifted the cover to reseal it I was amazed to discover a plastic face cam working a pair of stamped metal rocker arms. It sounds nasty, but twenty years on its still works perfectly.