2026 Bikes of the Month
January 2026
1955 Bianchi Tonale MSDS F3
By Jon Jacobson
I’ll start out by saying I’ve been stalking this bike for nearly 30 years. I read an article about the Bianchi MSDS in the Italian magazine “Legend Bike” in the early 1990’s and decided then that one day I would own one. So I began researching them and found that it was going to be a lot tougher than I thought!
Now for some history. This motorcycle was produced to compete in the hotly contested 175cc MSDS/F3 class in Italy - essentially MSDS means “racing motorcycle derived from production machine”. At the time, Bianchi had a 175cc OHC street bike called the Tonale that they felt would be a good basis for an MSDS machine, so they tasked their chief engineer, Sandro Columbo, with turning it into a winner. The rules stipulated a carburator size, that the engine had to maintain the same outward appearance as the production machine, and that a minimum of 50 of the racing machines must be produced - other than that, you could do what you want. So Columbo designed a special lightweight frame, special forks and brakes, special lightweight bodywork, and reworked the engine internals to produce a machine on par with those produced by the other manufacturers of the time.
The machine was introduced for the 1955 season and did quite well in the popular long distance races that year. In the Motogiro d’Italia, Bianchi riders placed within the top 20 and proved the design was reliable if not fast. In the Milano-Taranto race, Osvaldo Perfetti placed 2nd in the 175 Sport class and 5th overall, only beaten by three 500cc Gilera Saturns and a DOHC Morini Rebello. These encouraging results carried the Bianchi team into 1956, which proved even more successful. In that year’s Motogiro, Perfetti won the 175 MSDS class where a Bianchi won every single stage. In the Milano-Taranto, Bianchi rider Daminelli won the 175 MSDS class with 8 Bianchi machines classified in the top 13 positions. Probably the most impressive win came in the 1957 175cc F3 race at Monza, a support race of the Italian Grand Prix. 5 Bianchi machines took the top 5 places, beating the cream of the crop from all the other factories.
I contacted the Registro Storico Moto Bianchi in Milan to try to find out more details about my particular example but they weren’t much help. They seem to be much more interested in Bianchi motorcycles produced before WWII, when Bianchi was one of the largest producers of motorcycles in Italy. They have no post war serial number info. What I did find out via other Bianchi enthusiasts in Italy was that they estimate only 50 machines total were produced, the minimum required to homologate the machine for the MSDS class in the Italian national championships. Of those 50, only 3 are remaining:
One complete original machine owned by Corrado Cossettini in Udine, Italy.
One in Japan with incorrect front forks fitted.
And my bike which has incorrect forks and brakes installed.
I found out via a Moto Bianchi Facebook page that my bike was purchased by Bianchi collector Giorgio Fattori from Cesena, Italy as a rusty wreck, with heavy front end damage in the late 1980’s. He rebuilt it, replacing the unusable and irreplaceable original forks with a set of 35mm Cerianis, modified to resemble the originals. He also replaced the damaged Bianchi-designed brakes with similar looking brakes from a 175 Mondial. This is how the bike is configured now. Sometime in the early 1990’s, Fattori died and the Bianchi was sold by his family to Guy Webster, a motorcycle collector from Ojai, CA. This is the first time I physically saw the bike and I inquired with Webster if there was any chance I could buy the bike from him. My inquiry was not received well! After Webster passed away, collector Robb Talbott bought the Bianchi for display in his Carmel Valley museum. Again, I unsuccessfully inquired about purchasing or trading for the bike. While visiting the museum late last year, Talbott told me he would be closing the museum due to health reasons and all the bikes would be auctioned off via a 3rd party. Now was finally my chance! Luckily, I won the bidding war last month and picked the bike up just after Memorial Day.
Buying a museum queen can be a risk so I am happy to say that, after cleaning the carburetor and correcting some wiring issues, the bike runs great! I do intend to ride the bike in the California Giro and our Small Bike Rides after further correcting some smaller issues.
February
Project 2000 Shovel
By George Canavan
Life and Times of a ’65, ’76 ’99, ’11 ’25 Jammer Rigid Shovelhead, a Journey
Prelude
The nice thing about being a member of the Comstock Chapter AMCA is that all those swell guys and gals have a totally eclectic approach to the vintage motorcycle affliction.
We have your Brit bike contingent, the V Twin followers, the leather-belt drive set, the Bling Bros, the Desmodromic Valve Actuators and more… Each following is populated by the faithful who have done their deep silo studies to develop the tenants of their belief systems. Each and every one of them secure in the knowledge that they are on the right team.
Then, we have the footloose drifters who suffer from F.O.M.O. FOMO is untreatable. The Fear of Missing Out is the strong propellant for the eclectic collection bug. Mini bikes? “That looks interesting.”. Parallel twins? “Sure, let’s have a look.”. Horizontal twins? “Yup!”. 100 pound, 350 pounds, 600+ pounds? “Can there be that much of a difference? Dunno? Let’s find out.”. British, American, German, Indian, Italian? “Gotta be a manual somewhere we can translate, amirite?” And so it goes on, and on, and on…
The Story
Life of this tale begins with Frank Kaisler, publications founder, Easyriders and Hot Rod Bikes editor, prolific bike builder and Shovelhead luminary. Oh, and from the age of 13, a lifelong V Twin chopper fanboy. If you have ever seen Easyriders or Hot Rod Bikes, you know his work. If you have watched the Lowbrow Customs technical YouTubes™ on the Iron Sporty or maintenance of your Shovelhead, you have met Frank.
Best I can tell, this month’s bike might go back to around 1965 as a used Panhead. About 1976ish, the aftermarket frame, a Jammer rigid, +3” up at the head, became the rolling bones. Then in 1999 it became a mule for a multi-year remake with more parts swaps than any Kardashian plastic surgery log book. What was left became the Hot Rod Bikes “Project Shovel 2000”. A chopper for the new millennium. For about 18 months there were monthly technical feature articles on how to correctly build, with average skills and tools, a hard riding, reliable scooter you could be proud of being seen on at your work, school, or pool hall. Your EDR - Every Day Ride.
At Hot Rod Bikes, there were plenty of surplus take-off parts from the countless parts swapping articles that preceded Shovel 2000. At this point, the bike was what I would call a Tool Bike. A new front end assembly arrives, put it on for an article, how to build a fresh Shovelhead from several boxes of parts shipped from S&S, natch. There was never a time when you heard, “now that we are done with Project Shovel 2000…”.
After the rapid fire swaps of fresh tin, gearboxes, brakes, wheels, electrical bits, etc. Shovel 2K went on to endure countless tech article dyno pulls at Bartel’s Harley Davidson in Marina Del Rey, SoCal. Horsepower and torque curves for a six carb comparo, a dozen headpipe and muffler swap outs, month after month.
And then, how about duty as the Magazine’s shop bike for Todd to ride? Shovel 2K became a seasoned commute bike lane splitting on the SoCal 405 and 710. The build style continued to morph in time with an indestructible PM rear wheel, disc brakes, all season rubber and other elements based on performance and reliability.
At any one time, there were enough non-conforming bits in residence on Shovel 2000 that traffic stops became a tedious tech session for the boys in blue. Even the original Panhead motor was in a Born Free build. The pop-rivet blue tag of Cali pride was attached to the frame. Shovel 2000 would just be known as “RECON”.
The Plot Shift
Just like in real life, as things got to become more interesting, the wheels fell off the magazine. A couple of swift flips in ownership from Petersen Pubs to a list of less serious investors made magazine life very uninteresting.
Frank and Shovel 2000 went their own way as did the staff writers including our family member, Todd Canavan. Time passed. Frank gifted Todd Shovel 2000 in 2008. In 2019, he returned to the Baltimore area where he passed in 2022 at age 70.
The bike followed Todd to gigs at Vance & Hines, Roland Sands Design and S&S in Viroqua, WI. Shovel 2000 had morphed from the Strong Like Bull Dyno Puller into a daily rider. This included, a front fender that just happened to be attached to a HD XR1200 Sportster inverted fork, triple clamp and wheel. An indestructible PM rear wheel that didn’t have spokes to break, all season tires and the XR1200 muffler cans made it onto the build too.
Wife, kids, work, more kids and Shovel 2000 slides downhill from a top billing star ride to a supporting actor role then the occasional cameo gigs and finally, retirement.
The Epilogue
About a decade goes by and now I have the chance to be the curator of this unique mount that I have known for a quarter of a century. Yes, it is not a numbers matching Knucklehead, it is not a Paul Smart 1000 Limited Edition Replica, a Boxer R90S, or even a CHP retired Guzzi. It is just a hard working stiff like the rest of us that has endured >80,000 miles of service. I’m no Chopped Bro or cosplaying “Ventura Style FX” stunt rider. Just a FOMO afflicted guy who answered the question, “Ever ride a chopper?”. “Hell, that looks really interesting! Fit right in down at Big Ed’s Ally Inn on Fourth.”
