INDEX

1 - MOTOVI' THE BRAZILIAN HD SS 125
2 - THE FRIEZES
3 - TANK DESIGN
4 - THE DOCUMENTATION
5 - THE 100.000th CAGIVA 125
6 - BASKET: CAGIVA VARESE
7 - IN MEMORY OF CLAUDIO CASTIGLIONI
8 - HD-CAGIVA V.I.N.
9 - CAGIVA AT THE MOVIE AND TV

1 - MOTOVI': THE BRAZILIAN HD SS 125

The Harley Davidson SS 125 was sold in Brazil also. The brand name was Motovi SS 125. The bike was assembled in Manaus to circumvent Brazilian law era that banned the importation of cars from abroad in order to revive its economy. Below: a picture of Motovi SS 125 and a test drive reported in the Brazilian magazine "4 Rodas" No. 205, August 1977.

Other Cagiva motorcycles were manufactured in Brazil under the brand Agrale. These are mainly Elefant and enduro models in general.

2 - THE FRIEZES

Below are shown friezes of AMF-HD SS 125 and SST 125, an eagle with US flag colors. Brand Cagiva modified this frieze with his elephant and italian flag colors. 

3 - TANK DESIGN

First of all many thanks to mister Sven Döhler the owner of http://www.aermacchi-world.de site, to giving me the authorization to publish the Harley Davidson fuel tanks pictures. Below is shown the evolution of design tanks, referred to 6F SERIE (Harley Davidson / Cagiva) from year 1975 to year 1984.

1    2    3

4

5    6   7

Starting from left, above:
1) SS 125 year 1975
2) SST 125 year 1978 (SST 250 since year 1976)
3) SST 125 year 1979, first series, brand changed from HD to Cagiva
4) SST 125 from year 1980, to year 1983
5) SST 125 year 1983, Low Rider
6) SST 125 year 1983, Aletta series
7) SST 125 year 1984, Official, last series.

4 - THE DOCUMENTATION

With the purchase of the bike were provided the owner's manual,the booklet of coupons, the motorcycle warranty and the battery warranty.

5 - THE 100.000th CAGIVA 125

In this short article Cagiva announced it has pulled down from the assembly lines the 100,000th SST 125. It happened on September 9th, 1981. The article is actually misleading because it looks like Cagiva has produced 100,000 units. More precisely, the article refers to the Cagiva SST 125 with chassis number 6F-100000; in terms of units produced it is the Cagiva SST 125 number 20.000. In the image below we see immortalized next to torpedo Cagiva equipped with engine 125, record holder launched of speed. In short, two important milestones that underscore how the house was at the forefront in terms of production and in sport in general. In the background there are several Cagiva SST 125 parked in the square about to be loaded on the truck that will distribute throughout Italy.

Image taken from Motociclismo magazine, n. 10, October 1981.

6 - BASKET: CAGIVA VARESE

The Cagiva company was present in the world of basketball, both as a sponsor and as owner of the Pallacanestro Varese. In 1981 sponsor of the team that took the name of Cagiva Varese, until the year 1983, when it passed the sponsor to the food company Star. In the 1982-83 season shining star Kevin Magee (Gary, September 24, 1959 - Amite City, October 23, 2003), scorer with 887 points. Magee will lend his figure for advertising Cagiva motorcycles.
The Castiglioni family became owner of the team, keeping it from 2000 to 2010 with mixed results.

Image: the athletic jump of Kevin Magee

7 - IN MEMORY OF CLAUDIO CASTIGLIONI

Claudio Castiglioni (Varese, 1947 to 17 August 2011) was an Italian businessman. In 1978, with his brother Gianfranco, he took over the premises of Harley Davidson Schiranna (Varese). It was in that year that the house of Milwaukee decided to abandon the production of lighter bikes in Europe (production began in 1960 with the Aermacchi and then with the American Machine Foundry). The production of AMF-HD motorbikes ceased on 31 July 1978. On 30 September 1978, the company was put into liquidation. On 20 October 1978, the Cagiva adventure begins, having Castiglioni brothers acquired the settlement and continued, with a brilliant marketing operation, the production of models already HD branded, so that the same motorcycles became much in demand to become true icons of the 80s. Everything is born thanks to the passion of the two brothers for the world of motorsport and racing. Cagiva debut from the start in the world of competitions, both in motocross with its WMX and in the circuits of the Paris-Dakar and Rally. They have been part of the team riders like Edi Orioli, Alessandro "Ciro" De Petri, Corrado Maddii, Pekka Vehkonen, Dave Strijbos, Eddie Lawson. In the second half of the 80s Cagiva will acquire the brands Husqvarna, Moto Morini and Ducati in order to deal with larger market shares. It was thanks to Claudio Castiglioni and his staff of engineers and designers that Ducati raised its chances, producing historical motorcycles such as the Monster and 916. The dream of Claudio Castiglioni, however, was to revive the brand MV Agusta that was acquired by the company in 1991. The Cagiva company will send the brands Ducati, Moto Morini and then Husqvarna. In 2008 Claudio Castiglioni will sell the company Cagiva to Harley Davidson and after only 14 months, the same Harley Davidoson will sell to Castiglioni again, bringing the brand in Italy. Claudio Castiglioni died prematurely at the age of 64, leaving the helm of the company to his son John, who has continued motorcycle production under brand MV Agusta. A Claudio Castiglioni we must acknowledge that he was a brave man and multifaceted, having invested much of its resources, not only economic, in the world of bikes. Reviving the HD market was definitely not an easy task, but the trump card was to be able to welcome the passion of all motorcyclists, in particular he has been able to hit the target the needs and dreams of the young riders of the time, making them passionate about the world of two wheels so as to bring the company Cagiva at the highest levels of Italian motorcycle market. The approximately 45.000 motorcycles SST 125 produced as brand Cagiva are a record still unbeaten. Claudio Castiglioni is acknowledged to have been able to transform what was "American Style" in "Made in Italy".

Images:
Left, above: a SST 250/350 and Claudio Castiglioni riding an RR 250 prototype, (photo: Cagiva museum).
Riight, above: Castiglioni Bros; Gianfranco at left side, Claudio at right side (photo: Cagiva museum).
Center, below: Claudio Castiglioni and his son Giovanni (photo: from internet).

8 - HD-CAGIVA V.I.N.

9 - CAGIVA AT THE MOVIE AND TV

A short list of the various Cagiva models appearances in films and television.

Fantozzi contro tutti (1980)
Comedy with Paolo Villaggio (Ugo Fantozzi) and directed by Neri Parenti. In the Conte Cobram episode (the cyclism race), you see appear for several times four Cagiva SST 250 drived by the bodyguards of Count.

Ragazzi Fuori (1990)
Dramatic film directed by Dino Risi. Film about youth problems, set in Palermo. In the scene below the guys are running on board of their vehicles including a Cagiva SST 250. In the images we recognize a Piaggio Ciao and a Piaggio Vespa.