Our first Mazzilli My life with a 1973 Mazzilli 125 RCS

My life with a Mazzilli 125 RCS began sometime in 1998, with the exact date being lost in the electronic dust of time. A friend on the vinduro email list posted a photo of a Jawa-powered Mazzilli as a mystery bike. I could tell it was Italian, so I sent the photo to a fellow Ducati enthusiast in Italy

MY LIFE WITH A 1973 MAZZILLI 125 RCS

Words and photos by Rick Yamane

asking if he recognized the bike. He replied that it was a Mazzilli and a very fine motorcycle. Being the Italian bike fan that I am, I decided right there and then that my future now included ownership of one of these bikes!

So began my quest that would see me buy a few other rare bikes just in case I never found a Mazzilli. So that logic saw me buying a ’74 Jawa 350, a ’76 SWM 250 and a ’73 SWM 125. Of those three, the Jawa was eventually sold but the two SWMs remain as part of my Italian collection.

Finally, I think it was in 2005, after a few dead ends and missed opportunities later, I got a lead through a Canadian friend, Helmut Clasen, who had an Italian friend, Giambattista Tarditi, who had one for sale. I immediately contacted him as the opportunity to buy one probably wasn’t going to arise again. This bike was freshly restored and even had the hands of the ‘Master’, Giorgio Mazzilli, involved.

A deal was struck and after the exchange of money and shipping time I was notified by Virgin Air my shipment had arrived, cleared through customs and I could go and pick it up. A short drive up the peninsula to SFO (San Francisco Airport) and I had the boxes in my truck and I was heading home. Excitement would be an understatement! As soon as I got home I went to work assembling this amazing machine right off the tailgate. Of course this was as much a necessity as it was excitement, since I didn’t have a forklift to get the boxes off my truck!

Within a few hours and with the shorter, late summer days, it was nearly dark when I finished with the help of my porch light. I wheeled the Mazzilli into the garage, putting aside the actual ride and running preparations until the next day. I don’t remember much about the following weeks as I was also chasing an AHRMA National MX Title and had parental health obligations. But I had a goal to ride the Mazzilli at the 2006 ISDT Reunion Ride. I ended up missing that goal as I didn’t get the Mazzilli ready for the Reunion that year and instead, rode my SWM. I did take the Mazzilli with me though to the Reunion Ride as all my vinduro friends were very keen to see my new pride and joy.

Italy produced a rash of great dirt bikes with Sachs engines in the '70s and Mazzilli was one of the better brands of the era.

Main: Like other Italian low volume producers, Mazzilli used some of the best suppliers of the period, such as Sachs, Ceriani, Akront, Magura, Metzeler and Grimeca.

Insets: 1. Six-speed Sachs. 2. Tank and bodywork are fibreglass. 3. Rick uses the Mazzilli as intended. 4. Mazzilli also produced a Jawa-engined bike.

So that gave me a year to ride the bike a bit, before the next Reunion Ride. I put on a pair of NJB shocks and replaced the OEM Metzelers with some Cheng Shins. I also like Renthal aluminum bars for their shock absorbing qualities so I installed a set and capped those with some Pro Grips. As well, I had to replace the clear plastic fuel tap water traps but could not find new ones, so I spun a pair up from aluminum tubing. They’re not see-through but they don’t leak. The stock parts were tucked away in case I ever do a ‘back to original’ restoration. Lastly, I fitted a Powerdynamo ignition, having lost all faith in fifty year-old Motoplats several years earlier and having begun a relationship with MzB to import these units.

The bike’s first outing was the 2007 Reunion Ride in New Blaine, AK wearing number 232. It earned a Gold Medal with a first in class.

The Mazzilli is an amazing, well-built and well thought out motorcycle. There’s hand grips on both sides of the rear frame loop, and cable guides welded near the steering head. The frame is a combination of round and rectangular tubing with steel plate providing the swingarm pivot points. The wonderful frame is equipped with 32mm Ceriani forks and Girling shocks. Top quality Magura controls were standard

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fitment and were the benchmark for the day, ditto the fitment of Metzeler tyres. The wellshaped tank and fenders are fibreglass with a very Italian flip-up gas cap. Somehow, I recalled years earlier, seeing an example of the brand in an issue of Cycle World. It was mentioned in it a regular monthly column called “Report from Europe” and it talked about the Mazzilli and how it was so finely built. I was already a fan of the Sachs powerplants, an iron-barreled Sachs Enduro having been my first real motorcycle. How could I have known that thirty-five years later I would own one.

The next time I would ride it in competition would be 2010 in Combs, AR scoring a second in class and a Silver Medal. The next three events though would be disappointing. In 2012 at Zink Ranch, I would DNF. In 2014, again at Zink, we would miss a course marker and end up in disqualification for missing a checkpoint. Then in 2015, in McArthur, OH I would have carb issues at the start which put me in penalty and after getting off, I stopped to clean the pilot jet only too break a vent tube which ended my day before it even got started.

There is talk of a 50th Anniversary Reunion in MA, the site of the 1973 US ISDT. If it happens, it would be a good time to get my ’73 Mazzilli out as it would be a 50th Anniversary for us both.

So, after my personal story, let’s have a quick look at the Mazzilli’s brand history and some of the specifications. The brand is named after its founder, Giorgio Mazzilli, who himself was an experienced enduro rider. Mazzilli only ever produced enduro bikes, never motocross models. He started dabbling in putting together his own bikes in 1965 and he attained some decent results.

Bikes built under the Mazzilli brand though really only happened during the period 19701975. Mazzilli’s off-road machines were produced in capacities from 49cc to 248cc and the majority used Sachs engines, although there was a model in ‘72 powered by a Jawa 125 engine. In any given year of production, numbers were very low, with a hundred or so bikes typically leaving the factory in a twelvemonth period.

As mentioned earlier, Mazzilli incorporated the best available components of the era such as Magura, Metzeler, Ceriani, Akront and of course, the Italian staple for hubs, Grimeca. The last batch of bikes in 1975/’76 also used Preston Petty mudguards and had alloy tanks. The final 125 models also had the new seven-speed Sachs engine (22cv@9,200rpm), a slightly longer wheelbase at 1,430mm (56”) and weighed a couple of kilos more than the earlier models but were still quite light at 95kg (209lbs).

The only question remaining is who wouldn’t want a Mazzilli in their garage - aren’t they just one of the coolest bikes on the planet?

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