The Morini V-twin was designed back in the days when men were men and had no problem starting a bike with a kick starter.

An electric foot was in fact considered, but was not used because of the cost and the fact that no one in Italy was producing a suitable electric starter at the time.

When a suitable starter appeared in 1977 it was fitted to the 500's and 350's. Rather than totally re-design the engine to accomodate the starter, a way was found to fit it with the minimum amount of modification.

A larger right hand engine casing was used and a metal drum was riveted onto the end of the generator rotor.

The starter motor was fitted inside the enlarged cover, in the same orientation as the picture on the left. The drive from the starter turns through 90 degrees and drives a small gear wheel. This turns a larger sprocket by means of a chain, this larger sprocket is supported on a bearing attached to the cover.

The drive chain turns a plate on which there are three spring loaded arms with friction material on the ends, like a drum brake shoe.(see picture below) These arms are thrown outwards by centrifugal force and the friction material grips onto the inside of the steel drum fitted onto the generator rotor, so turning the engine. Well that's the theory. Despite roughening the friction material and centre punching a series of dots around the inside of the steel drum to try and increase the grip, the thing is not up to the job of turning over a 10:1 compression engine. It now lives in the big box of spares under the work bench.

Back