To say that the 1955 Fiera di Milano (Milan Industrial Fair) was huge, is a bit like saying that titanosaurs were just very big lizards. Those dinosaurs were the biggest ever to walk on land. And the industrial fair? That boasted 1,000,000 exhibits from nearly 50 countries. This was the place to see the latest scientific and technological developments, and that included the most up-to-date motorcycles in the world.
That’s why, when the president of Italy opened the show on April 12, motorcycle enthusiasts made a beeline through the huge vaulted halls to the Motom stand. They knew that only a little more than four months had passed since the Italian industry revealed nearly 200 new models at the International Motorcycle Exposition, but they were mostly 50cc ‘ciclomotore’ tiddlers. True, MV was showing a prototype 175cc single with a hydraulic gearbox and there
