Tuesday 12 October 2010

Purple haze all in my brain



Do not adjust your screens. This motorcycle was one of the few interesting new models to see - and probably make your eyes pop out on stalks - at the 1927 Milan Show. It's a B.B., or Brevetti Bocchi, and its purple, well, violet colour to be precise, was chosen as it was the precise traditional shade of its maker's home city of Parma, famous for Parma Ham, Parmesan Cheese and Parma F.C.

Motor is a two stroke, air-cooled 125cc motor featuring a 51 x 60 bore and stroke, with a horizontal cylinder and bronze head, and a crankcase that looks like an ornate biscuit tin.
B.B. motorcycles sadly had disappeared by 1931. I'd liek to say we'll be testing one in a future issue though finding one would be like finding a needle in a haystack, though probably Parma's a choice place to start. Photos borrowed graciously from an old Legend Bike magazine.