Parilla Olimpia 125 four-stroke
With Phil Aynsley
Parilla’s newly designed line of horizontal engines first debuted in 1957 with the fully enclosed Parilla Slughi – Phil shoots Parilla Slughi at Doffo Winery – use 125 cc 4-stroke version.
Unusually, the engine is available in both two- and four-stroke OHV configurations (125 cc two-stroke and 98 & 125 cc four-stroke) indistinguishable to the naked eye. However, the bikes themselves are easy to distinguish – two strokes painted in blue/cream and four strokes red.
With Slughi’s sales failing to meet expectations, a more conventional design was soon introduced – the Olimpia in 1960. In the US it was briefly known as the Impala. Olimpia remained in production until 1965.
This is a near-complete restoration of the 1960 125 4-stroke model, with power reaching 8 hp peaking at 6700 rpm, with a weight of 75 kg. Top speed is 110 km/h.
Giovanni Parrilla built his first motorcycle in 1946, dropping their second ‘r’ to call the machine ‘Parilla’. Signor Parrilla owns a shop on the outskirts of Milan specializing in repairing diesel injector pumps and he is also an agent for Bosch spark plugs.
