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.