Mondial 175 OHC

Mondial Turismo Veloce
Mondial Sport – Mondial Gran Sport

With Phil Aynsley

Mondial is best known for their very successful Grand Prix 125 and 250 bikes (125cc World Champion in 1949, 1950, 1951 & 1957 / 250cc World Champion in 1957) the company had its origins with the F.B. company.

The company was founded in 1929 by Giuseppe Boselli (who was earlier involved with GD and CM motorcycle companies) together with his three brothers.

They manufactured three-wheeled delivery vehicles up until the factory was destroyed in WWII. In 1948 Giuseppe purchased an advanced DOHC 125cc single designed by Alfonso Drusiani and soon after hired him to run the new racing department.

Mondial produced small numbers of high performance, small capacity road bikes from 1948 through to 1960. After 1960 the company ceased production of their own engines apart from the two-stroke 48cc motor and bought in 125cc two-stroke motors from Sachs and Minarelli.

The Sachs/Minarelli engines would be used until the factory closed at the end of 1979, although from ‘66 to ‘70 the company resurrected their 1950s 160cc two-stroke motor for use in the Sprint model.

The company’s range of OHC 175cc singles produced in the late ‘50s were quintessential Italian sports bikes and available in three models, the TV, Sport and Gran Sport.

The Turismo Veloce was the base model, introduced in 1956, and was Mondial’s second large capacity design to enter production (the 1951 200 was the first). The OHC was driven by a chain and a four speed gearbox was fitted.

Output was about 14hp which gave a top speed of 110km/h. This example has a few non original parts – the seat is the wrong shape and has a suede section not found on the original; the shock absorber lower sections should be in metal and the tool box should painted in a solid colour.

Compared to the TV the mid-level Sport had a revised cam, larger valves and a larger carburettor among other upgrades. The frame was also quite different. While it was introduced in the same year as the TV, this is a 1958 example.

The Gran Sport was only built in very small numbers and was intended for use in the Italian Formula III road races.

While externally the motor was almost identical to the Sport, it was in a considerably higher state of tune and had a more over square bore/stroke of 65 x 52.5mm rather than the standard 60 x 62mm.

It was introduced in 1957. All three of these chain-driven OHC models were discontinued in 1958, after lower cost OHV replacements began production in 1957.