vintage suitcase mini 1974 DiBlasi

#1
This was posted last week by a newbie & I snatched her up because I thought it was pretty neat. I had her out yesterday & actually runs pretty good.Anyone else have one or any info? My internet research tells me so far that its the original r2 di blasi model & they are still being made today.I havent been able to find one for sale to get some idea of value but found out they have a "cult following" & think its pretty collectable.
 

markus

Well-Known Member
#2
Diblasi's are pretty cool, a little darty (don't go cruising around one handed until your really used to it!!!!!) I have a newer R7 and my buddy has the Stainless version R7 We used them pretty regularly on camping trips and car shows when we are traveling around in our VW campers. I ride mine around here often as its tagged and legal. It pushes 30mph flatland and pulls a steep grade pretty good at around 15-20 downhills are pretty crazy though once you hit mid thirties its a pretty scary ride fo-sho!

Yours is very cool and I think one of the first of the design. I don't know how well performance would be on yours, as my motor setup on the R7 is totally different and has a belt driven clutch setup. But cool thing about yours is thats the standard Morini 50cc that was used on a shit ton of italian assembled bikes in the 70's. You can source internal parts fairly easy as there is still a pretty decent selection of NOS motor parts.

Far as the bike itself, well From what I have seen your SOL finding a lot of stuff for them, but good thing is looks like your only needing a seatcover really and that can be done custom. I have seen some early frame parts pop up on ebayuk before so keep an eye out there more than here in the US.

For value, that's kinda hard to say, Most early ones I have seen don't bring much, but most early ones listed that I have seen aren't all that nice. with a seat on it and running good I would think fair market value would be 700-900ish range, If you get it legalized and tagged and it if that model will run close to 30 you might bring in more like the $1400 range which is pretty common price for a used R7 like mine. But I bet if you ride it into a vintage boat or aircraft show with a high pricetag, you'll be walking out (with a pocketfull $$) Thats your target market for one of these bikes :wink:

From our North Florida tour '08....Yes we are geeks
 

markus

Well-Known Member
#6
strange seat base......

yea some of the Italian bikes are like that, The Benellis I own are made that way.

This may or may not help if your gonna try and cover it 66l78rat, it looks like kind of a coated cardboard that makes up the bottom of the cover thats connected to the bottom of the frame via buttons. Not the best pics but if you are going to try and do something yourself let me know and I will pull one of the Benelli seats for more detail if you need it. (those bikes have to come apart soon anyway to restore into one)



 
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