Trials Australia Forums

Rod, Yes they are called Domino levers now but they are the same as the Tomaselli used to be. I know the old levers fit into the new perches and visa-versa. David, the white Piumas had aluminium axles, the rear engine mounts are tubes instead of heavy steel plates and a few other changes to make them lose some weight which they really needed. They still have that very wide engine though. They are also about 3 inches shorter than a Sherpa as well and they get heaps more traction.

Poor ole Italjet, they tried hard to bring the weight down from 96kg dry on the all green model to just under 92kg dry for the white tank (marzocchi fork) model, but that big lump of an engine wasn't going to allow them to get much lower.
Have a look at the pics I took of the rear hubs, 0.5 kg saved here alone between green and white models.



They arrived at the right time here in Australia when there wasn't much choice from memory, Sherpa T's were scarce if available at all, Fantic and SWM were maybe starting to filter in, Montesa Cota's being the only other choice I believe.

Rod what did they do to that hub to lose so much weight?

Purely the metallurgy from what I can see David, size and shape are the same.
I think they simply over-engineered their first foray into Trials with that stunning green and gold machine which ultimately pissed Schreiber off because they didn't listen to what he wanted and were more concerned about the production machine, which is the lump of lard we are discussing here, they do look good though.

Hi Everyone,

David Lahey wrote:What is about the Green and Gold that makes the difference?

David, it seems the Green and Gold gets looked upon like it has more than One head:
Whereas the Green and White model seems a bit more socially accepted:

This one must run on BP Ultimate as you can see an Orange tint in the belly Tank!
What is about this GREEN MYTHICAL BEAST that stimulates all the inaccuracies?

Bully fanatic wrote:David, the white Piumas had aluminium axles, the rear engine mounts are tubes instead of heavy steel plates and a few other changes to make them lose some weight which they really needed. They still have that very wide engine though. They are also about 3 inches shorter than a Sherpa as well and they get heaps more traction.

Graham, thank you for another Myth! 1 inch = 25.4 mm, so 3 inches = 76.2 mm, are you just repeating some age old statement without checking the Facts?




1290mm - 76mm =1214 mm and I am pretty sure mine is as it came out of the box at 1330 mm with the axle in the Centre of the slots. Obviously there may be a variation in models as they evolved.

OK, so it must be time for a new theory:
Maybe 2 old Geezers ( I am guessing as they talk in inches ) watched someone struggle through a tight section on a and then a better rider breezed through on a and one commented to the other: That must be 3 inches shorter than the !

Or maybe it is a Chinese Whisper and it started by a Geezer saying the short rider is 3 inches shorter than the tall One?

Or someone had the steering turned when they measured It?

I remember thinking that your 325 Piuma felt a lot like a Bultaco M199 except that the front wheel didn't seem to be as far ahead of the rider

As usual I'm dumbfounded, I think whatever your smoking down there in NSW is exceptional and you should share some with us Queenslanders !

I got that length from parking a green next to my and eyeballing how much shorter the was compared to my . The M158s and the M182s were the shortest Sherpa T I think. Their frame was different and the fork tubes were also shorter. It might not of been three inches but it was a couple of inches. They are shorter than a normal late model Sherpa T. That was with the front axles in a straight line.

I just measured my Bultaco's wheelbases and they both came out at around 1335 with the axles a little further forward than the Piuma above - 199A and 199B. I had a Piuma back in 1984, I am pretty sure that's the year they came out here in Australia, but unfortunately that also coincided with the release of the TY mono. So by the end of 1984 and certainly by mid 1985 pretty much everyone was riding Yamahas. The Piuma was a much better bike than the original green bike in nearly every respect and you could even buy a kit to swap the brake and gear change over. I lengthened the clutch lever on the engine case and ended up with a nice light clutch and the brakes were also better than Bultacos, a really nice bike but a little too late onto the market place to make any impact.
Cheers Greg

The all green Italjet became available in 1983 in Oz, maybe even late '82. The TY mono was yet to be released, I only know this because myself and many others were happily competing on the Green Lump's for about a year before the TY 350's hit our shores, I was one of many to be on the waiting list for a new TY. Prior to their arrival for the general public to purchase, Steve Holzhauser from NSW would occasionally venture North over the border to show off what Yamaha Australia had given him to show off, so we all knew what was coming. From memory it was a TY 250 that Steve H was riding, but when they became available to the public they were all 350's (red frames) initially. Good times.

So from memory the lighter Piuma's did hit the market only just before the TY onslaught, but the all green's had a run of about 12 months or more when not much else was available.