The classic scooterists club magazine

A pedigree scooter - Moto Rumi Formichino

Scooters in the 1950s were designed as utilitarian transport. They might have been perfect for getting to work or nipping down to the shops, but most were pig ugly. Scooters from Piatti, TWN, DKR and Maico were all prime examples of function over form. But there were exceptions – some scooters were even sexy. Who can forget the photo of a leggy Audrey Hepburn riding side-saddle on Cary Grant’s Vespa during their Roman Holiday? But nothing came close to the Moto Rumi Formichino for combining style and performance. So why on earth did they choose a boat anchor as a tank emblem?

Rumi made its name making castings and machinery for the textile industry, but in early 1940 it branched out into something completely different – miniature two-man submarines and torpedoes for the Italian Navy. After the Second World War it had to find something else to do with its engineering workshops, so it decided to take advantage of the boom in lightweight motorcycles and set about designing a completely new machine.

The first bikes rolled off the production line at the end of 1949 and boy, were they stunners. With plunger rear suspension, telescopic forks and full-width hubs the chassis was state-of-the-art, but what really caught the imagination was the 125cc engine. For a start, it was a twin – and a 108-degree two-stroke flat twin at that. It was way ahead of anything the competition had on offer and in recognition of its nautical background, Rumi chose the anchor as its logo.

The low-slung, forward facing engine featured a crankcase cast in four parts – that foundry experience came in handy – with the central sections bolted together horizontally to support the crankshaft and gearbox. The two side cases bolted vertically to the centre section to carry the geared primary drive and crank-mounted clutch on the right and the Nassetti flywheel magneto that also powered the lights and horn on the left. A mechanic only needed one T-bar driver to undo all Rumi’s own-design ‘clover leaf’ Allen-type screws and split the crankcases.

The twin used crowded roller big ends and full-circle crankshaft flywheels. Two of the three main bearings were pressure fed from the gearbox through drilled oilways. Barrels were cast iron, with alloy heads. The pistons were deflector-type with two transfer ports for each cylinder.

The original 125cc motorcycle used a 15mm Dell’Orto UB carburettor, but the following year Rumi brought out a sports model with a 22mm carburettor that revved to 6000. A Supersport version followed, with high compression cylinder heads and twin racing Dell’Ortos stacked vertically over the inlets. You couldn’t get more downdraught than that. The Supersport engine was tuned to deliver 8bhp at 7000rpm and could top 115kph.

Rumi moved into the scooter market in 1951 with the Scoiattolo (Squirrel) but it was up against stiff competition from the new fully enclosed Lambretta LD from Innocenti, and Piaggio’s Vespa. Rumi slotted that great 125cc twin engine into a pressed steel monocoque body with bolted-on footboards and legshields. The Scoiattolo used telescopic forks and swingarm rear suspension. Early versions used a three-speed box but a four-speeder was available in 1953. There was even an electric start version, but to be honest, the Rumi was left wanting. With 14-inch spoked wheels instead of the Lambretta’s and Vespa’s eight-inch hoops, it was stuck between a motorcycle and a scooter. Something had to be done.

That something was the Formichino. The ‘Little Ant’ was launched in 1954 to critical acclaim. Metalpress of Bergamo, part of the Rumi empire, cast the rigid, light alloy body. The rear section forming the mudguard and seat support, bolted to the back of the engine while the centre section was spilt vertically in two halves and bolted to the front of the engine. This centre section also covered the steel petrol tank and the steering head bearings.

A full-width spindle behind the gearbox carried a massive cast casing of the final drive chain that also doubled as the swingarm. Even the front mudguard and headlamp nacelle were alloy castings, but they were not structural components. The only sheet metal parts were the footboards and legshields.

One neat idea was that the CAV headlamp unit inside the nacelle was connected by Bowden cables to the steering, so that the reflector turned behind the fixed glass of the nacelle unit when you turned the handlebars.

With the engine forming a structural part of the frame, the result was an extremely rigid structure with excellent weight distribution. But in spite of the advanced design, the suspension was undamped. The leading link front fork used two simple coil springs while the swingarm was controlled by four rubber rings in compression. Tyres were 4 x 8in on pressed steel split rim wheels, bolted to the stub axles on three studs. Both brakes were 125mm drums with 30mm linings.

With a compression ratio of 6.5:1 the engine delivered a healthy 6.5bhp at 6000rpm, making it the fastest 125cc scooter on the market – the Lambretta LD gave only 4.8hp at 4200rpm, while the Vespa produced 5hp at 4500rpm. A four-speed box was standard, while the other Italian scooters made do with three ratios.

Besides being the most powerful engine on the scene, the Rumi was also exceptionally smooth and new owners would rev the nuts off it before the engine was fully run in. To reduce the risk of seizures, the factory fitted a stop screw to the carb top to limit throttle opening, only to be removed by the dealer after 3000km. Then the Formichino would reach 80kph on the flat, and cruise all day at 65.

Starting a Rumi should never take more than three kicks, even in freezing conditions. Just open the petrol tap by turning the lever that pokes through nacelle casting on the left and flood the Dell’Orto. Close the choke if the engine is cold, but leave the carburettor alone once the engine warms up. Take it easy when you kick a Rumi over compression as if your foot slips off the forward-acting kick-start you could boot it into first as the rocking gear pedal is right underneath. Fortunately you’ll be sitting on the Rumi when you try to start it. If you flood it, select second gear and paddle off.

The evenness of the torque is exceptional and in bottom gear the ‘little ant’ can be trickled along at walking pace with the clutch fully home. Even in top gear you could ride at 12kph without the transmission snatching.

But that’s only for masochists because this engine thrives on revs. Although acceleration below 40kph is good, the Formichino comes into its own at higher speeds. Keep the engine on the boil by changing down early to attack hills. The four-speed box is there to be used and this one is a peach. Blip the throttle to go down through the box with clean and light changes guaranteed.

There’s no damping at the single-sided swingarm, so the rubber suspension makes the back end feel frisky over rough roads. The heel-operated brake pedal is effective without locking the back wheel, but you have to squeeze the pencil-thin brake lever to the handlebar for any real stopping power up front.

But even the Formichino was not perfect. If scooters are meant to be practical then the Rumi fails dismally thanks to mediocre weather protection and Dinky toy dimensions. And then there’s the noise.

The large ribbed alloy silencer looks like it ought to be supremely efficient. But in spite of sending the gases through a maze of channels like a mouse in search of a scrap of cheese, the Rumi exhaust note is a penetrating high-pitched scream. The neighbours might not like it if you revved the frantic little twin outside your house before an early start to work, but what the hell – you wouldn’t hear them banging on the windows anyway.

But those criticisms are hardly worth the ink. The ‘little ant’ handled much better than other scooters and with blistering acceleration it would leave contemporary 125cc motorcycles smelling its smoke.

The Formichino might have been the fastest 125 scooter on the market, but ‘fast’ is never fast enough and it wasn’t long before the Sport version made an appearance. In place of the single 15mm Dell’Orto went a 22mm carb. The iron barrels were ditched and replaced with alloy barrels with steel liners.

Power output increased to a heady 8hp at 7200rpm giving the Sport a top speed of 105kph. Hard riders needed more ground clearance to make the most of the handling and performance, so the tyres were changed to 3.5 x 10in. The standard Formichino was insulted with a name change to distinguish it from the 1957 Sport – it was to become the Normale.

For those who wanted to go scooter racing – and many in Italy did – Rumi also offered race kits including twin 18mm Dell’Ortos and separate inlet manifolds (standard on later models), and special alloy barrels with chrome bores. KS made these deeply finned barrels in Germany. They allowed the pistons to run with much smaller clearances and were much lighter. But they couldn’t be rebored, and replacements were expensive.

New colours also became available. Instead of the standard grey you could order your Rumi in gold, silver, yellow, blue or rosso corsa – Italian racing red.

The Formichino will always be associated with the classic French 24-hour race, the Bol d’Or. In 1956 there were classes for Standard, Sport and Racing scooters. Cambis and Ditail won the Sport class at an average of 71.35kph in spite of some troubles. The following year, factory-backed Rumis entered by the Max Raudou Ecurie took the first two spots in the Racing class against machines of up to 175cc.

But Rumi’s finest hour came in 1958 when riders Foidelli and Bois triumphed in a new 125 class that put motorcycles up against scooters around the banked Montlhéry track south of Paris. At the end of the 24 hours they had covered an astounding 2095 kilometres at an average speed of 87.3kph. French magazine Le Scooter put the winning Formichino Tipo Sport through a speed trap immediately after the race, and clocked a top speed of 130kph.

To celebrate the win, Rumi introduced a new model for 1959. Called simply the Bol d’Or it is the ultimate Formichino. It came with chrome bore alloy barrels as standard, twin 18mm downdraught carburettors (22mm Dell’Ortos were optional extras), dropped handlebars and a sports dual seat. With 8.5bhp at 7200rpm the Bol d’Or was the fastest production 125 scooter by a long way, with 120kph easily available. There was only one colour for the Bol d’Or – it had to be gold.

The factory supplied a race kit that included 22mm carbs, polished ports, high compression heads, and tuned stubby megaphone exhausts. Top speed in full race trim was an astounding 150kph.

Rumi didn’t only make two-strokes. Ing Salmaggi, who was employed by Sarolea in Belgium before working for Gilera and Parilla before joining Rumi, created a shaft-drive 54 x 54mm twin cylinder GP racer with gear driven double overhead camshafts. It was tested at Monza in 1952, but the project was shelved through lack of funds.

In April 1960, Rumi announced a new range of motorcycles and scooters with four-stroke pushrod V-twin engines available in 175, 125 and 98cc versions. The primary drive was by helical gear, and oil was carried in the finned sump. Rumi chose a 90-degree configuration for smoothness.

Both the 175 and the 125 had square engine dimensions at 48 x 48mm and 43 x 43mm, while the 98cc motor ran a 40mm bore and 39mm stroke.  Power outputs were claimed to be 8.2bhp at 6800rpm, 6.8 at 7000 and 5.8 at 7500. Top speeds in full road trim were listed at 114, 105 and 95kph.

The motorcycles used a single-downtube frame with telescopic forks and swingarm rear suspension, clip-on handlebars and a jelly-mould tank that had more than a passing resemblance to the Ducati Elite.

The scooters offered the same performance – but with a tubular frame and pressed steel cycle parts that owed more to Vespa and Lambretta than the Formichino. But the new range of V-twins never made it into production. Development costs had crippled the company and Rumi went into liquidation in September 1962.