Capacity: 498cc

Guiseppe Gilera who was born in 1887 and started an apprenticeship at the age of 15 with the Bianchi motorcycle company as a mechanic.
He went on to further his skills with the Italian branch of the Swiss Moto Reve company including a stage at the factory in Geneva. At the age of 22 in 1909 Guiseppe Gilera built the first motorcycle of his own design in a small shop in Milan. The same year he won a hill climbing race with this machine. In 1911 he started a modest Gilera racing team and participated in many regional races. Starting to get recognition, he met a lawyer who had chronic trouble with his Harley-Davidson; (What, trouble with a Harley?) Gilera’s magic hands cured the problem.
The lawyer was so impressed that he introduced Guiseppe to wealthy investors who financed a startup company manufacturing a side valve single motorcycle followed by a twin.

The 500 Saturno Sport is one of the world’s most famous motorcycles. Designed by Giuseppe Salmaggi, it began to be produced in 1940 in different versions - all faithful to the original concept, with a vertical cylinder and 84 x 90 mm bore and stroke - with over 6,000 units manufactured until 1958. (The girder forks were a little dated for 1951.)

During World War II the Italian Army used many modified Saturnos. After the hostilities the Saturno road machine was equipped with a girder fork in conjunction with an unusual rear suspension designed by Guiseppe Gilera in 1934 comprising vertical levers compressing horizontal springs enclosed in tubes integrated in the frame. The back of these tubes had another set of springs for rebound damping and a set of adjustable friction dampers were connected between the rear fork and the back of the tubes containing the springs. This was quite a sophisticated design since most of the motorcycles of the time had hard tails. This rear suspension was used until 1952.
During 1951 a telescopic unit replaced the girder fork. The telescopic rear suspension was introduced in 1953 with a complete new tubular frame.