Uploaded October 2025 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
With the initials RV a series of road motorcycles were marketed by Gilera during the 1980s. Versions in different displacements were made available, from 125, 200 and 250 cm³. The Gilera RV 125 was presented at the Milan Cycling and Motor Show in 1983 and sales started in May of the following year. Produced in the historic factory in Via Cesare Battisti in Arcore (MB) it was also sold with a 200 engine and remained on sale until 1987. At the beginning of 1983, Gilera, strengthened by the investments made by the Piaggio Group, found it necessary to rejuvenate its range to avoid losing market share and, above all, to play a leading role in the growing trend of the 125 roads. The TG1 and TG2, daughters of now obsolete projects, were in no way able to keep up with the competition, even this fairly dated. The best seller Laverda LZ, in fact, as appreciated by young people, was still a motorcycle from the 70s that had been revitalized with water cooling (of the simplest type, without circulation pump) and the various Benelli 2C and Malanca, both bicylindrical, lacking in reliability and charisma. The other successful model, the Cagiva SST, had by now the days counted and the Honda CBX, a four-cylinder single-cylinder, was judged to be too quiet for the hot spirits of sixteen-year-olds in the early 1980s. and Fantic Motor Road, but none of them really had features that could outperform the competition. The first new 125 was due to the Aprilia, which outlined the modern motorcycling standards in its 1983 ST: gritty water-cooled engine, reliable chassis, single shock absorber rear suspension and attractive aesthetics. The Aprilia ST, however, turns out to be a missed opportunity because it lacks some features that the market already required, such as the separate mixer and the 16-inch front wheel, useless on a 125 on the dynamic level, but necessary as a stimulus to the purchase. Aware of the need to make a significant change to production, in Gilera they decide to do things big. The team of engineers headed by Lucio Masut sets to work and pulls a very modern 124.3 cm³ single-cylinder two-stroke engine out of the drafting machines, also the result of the experience gained in motocross with this type of engine. The unit, accredited with 21 horses (on the pinion) is seasoned, if one can say so, with the best of the two technical timing of the era: water cooling with thermostat and forced circulation pump, reed admission, electronic ignition, gearbox six-speed always in the socket, separate mixer with oil pump, electric start and, last but not least, the countershaft to dampen vibrations. The engine is designed to then be increased to 200 cm³ (actually 183 cm³). Around the engine, the Gilera sets up a double-cradle frame of round steel tubes that close on a box-shaped supporting element with reinforcement ribs, also a novelty here. At the front is a Marzocchi fork with 32 mm stems equipped with a primitive hydraulic adjustment system that is advertised as "antidive", but which in reality has very little influence on the suspension action. The fork works on a 16-inch wheel with a generously-sized Pirelli MT15 tire. At the rear there is a single shock absorber, again called Marzocchi, driven by a lever system called Monodrive, derived from the Gilera of cross. The joint runs all over needle bearings and uses two connecting rods outside the frame to compact the dimensions. The wheel is 18 inches. Paolo Martin is chosen for aesthetics; the designer, after a series of sketches and evolutions, sketches out the ideas that are put into practice on a wooden prototype. As Martin himself recounts, the model had a different side from the other in order to offer two choices for the Gilera top.
With the initials RV a series of road motorcycles were marketed by Gilera during the 1980s. Versions in different displacements were made available, from 125, 200 and 250 cm³. The Gilera RV 125 was presented at the Milan Cycling and Motor Show in 1983 and sales started in May of the following year. Produced in the historic factory in Via Cesare Battisti in Arcore (MB) it was also sold with a 200 engine and remained on sale until 1987. At the beginning of 1983, Gilera, strengthened by the investments made by the Piaggio Group, found it necessary to rejuvenate its range to avoid losing market share and, above all, to play a leading role in the growing trend of the 125 roads. The TG1 and TG2, daughters of now obsolete projects, were in no way able to keep up with the competition, even this fairly dated. The best seller Laverda LZ, in fact, as appreciated by young people, was still a motorcycle from the 70s that had been revitalized with water cooling (of the simplest type, without circulation pump) and the various Benelli 2C and Malanca, both bicylindrical, lacking in reliability and charisma. The other successful model, the Cagiva SST, had by now the days counted and the Honda CBX, a four-cylinder single-cylinder, was judged to be too quiet for the hot spirits of sixteen-year-olds in the early 1980s. and Fantic Motor Road, but none of them really had features that could outperform the competition. The first new 125 was due to the Aprilia, which outlined the modern motorcycling standards in its 1983 ST: gritty water-cooled engine, reliable chassis, single shock absorber rear suspension and attractive aesthetics. The Aprilia ST, however, turns out to be a missed opportunity because it lacks some features that the market already required, such as the separate mixer and the 16-inch front wheel, useless on a 125 on the dynamic level, but necessary as a stimulus to the purchase. Aware of the need to make a significant change to production, in Gilera they decide to do things big. The team of engineers headed by Lucio Masut sets to work and pulls a very modern 124.3 cm³ single-cylinder two-stroke engine out of the drafting machines, also the result of the experience gained in motocross with this type of engine. The unit, accredited with 21 horses (on the pinion) is seasoned, if one can say so, with the best of the two technical timing of the era: water cooling with thermostat and forced circulation pump, reed admission, electronic ignition, gearbox six-speed always in the socket, separate mixer with oil pump, electric start and, last but not least, the countershaft to dampen vibrations. The engine is designed to then be increased to 200 cm³ (actually 183 cm³). Around the engine, the Gilera sets up a double-cradle frame of round steel tubes that close on a box-shaped supporting element with reinforcement ribs, also a novelty here. At the front is a Marzocchi fork with 32 mm stems equipped with a primitive hydraulic adjustment system that is advertised as "antidive", but which in reality has very little influence on the suspension action. The fork works on a 16-inch wheel with a generously-sized Pirelli MT15 tire. At the rear there is a single shock absorber, again called Marzocchi, driven by a lever system called Monodrive, derived from the Gilera of cross. The joint runs all over needle bearings and uses two connecting rods outside the frame to compact the dimensions. The wheel is 18 inches. Paolo Martin is chosen for aesthetics; the designer, after a series of sketches and evolutions, sketches out the ideas that are put into practice on a wooden prototype. As Martin himself recounts, the model had a different side from the other in order to offer two choices for the Gilera top.
