1939 Gilera 500 Rondine with Phil Aynsley
I’ve been fortunate enough over the years to have been able to photograph some very historic bikes but late last year I shot perhaps the most notable of all – the 1939 Gilera 500 Rondine.
More than any other design, the Rondine which introduced the first successful across the frame in-line four layout, was the basis for the extremely successful post war Gilera, MV Agusta and even Honda 500 Grand Prix bikes.
Its influence extends into the present day with Yamaha and Suzuki still using the same basic layout for their MotoGP bikes. The odd across the frame four cylinder road bike has been produced over the years as well!
Based on a motor originally designed in 1923 by newly graduated engineers Piero Remor and Carlo Gianni, it took over a decade for the Rondine’s final form to emerge.
Initially it was an air-cooled SOHC design that made 28hp. By 1927 the now DOHC motor’s output had increased to 30hp and it was fitted into a chassis for the first time and indeed the great Piero Taruffi won the 1928 Italian 500cc Championship on the OPRA (Officine Romeane di Precisione Autovelicole, a company set up by industrialist Count Giovanni Bonmartini) as the bike was now known. A poor 1929 season lead the bike being retired from competition however.
In 1933 Bonmartini had Gianni (who had been working for another of the Count’s companies – CNA, on aircraft engines) go back to the drawing board and his resultant redesigned motor bore only a slight resemblance to the original. Instead of the cylinders being upright they were now inclined at 60 degrees and water-cooling was employed. A supercharger was fitted as well.
The Rondine (Swallow) debuted at the 1935 Tripoli GP and won with Taruffi aboard. However the following year CNA was sold to Caproni and they asked Taruffi to sell the six Rondines built, not having any plans for motorcycles at that point. Hence Gilera acquired the Rondine (and Taruffi) and over the next several seasons made many modifications to the bike including the frame.
This bike is the still further modified European Championship winning 1939 version. In its final form it made 80hp@9,000rpm and weighed 170kg.
The Rondine was raced only briefly after the war before supercharging was banned at the end of 1946. Fittingly it was Remor (who had joined Gilera in 1939) who now redesigned his original motor (again) into the extremely successful air-cooled engine that powered the Gileras that dominated the 500cc class from 1950 up until the company withdrew from racing at the end of 1957. Remor himself joined MV Agusta in 1949 and his 500 four that appeared the following year was clearly based on his earlier work.
Thanks to the generous co-operation of the staff at the Piaggio Museum (Gilera being a part of the Group since 1996) I had excellent conditions in which to photograph the bike. If only all the locations I set up in were this civilised!
