Moto Guzzi Superalce 1946

Moto Guzzi Superalce from 1946. Four-stroke, single cylinder 500cc. Weight: 187 kg, top speed 110 kph. Vehicles used by army were painted gray. Guzzi motorcycles were first used by the Italian army in the late 1920s, and the first model designed specifically for military use, GT17, was introduced in 1932. GT17 was based on the civilian GT16; it inherited its 498cc inlet-over-exhaust engine, three-speed gearbox and sprung frame. 4810 GT17s had been delivered until 1939. In this year Guzzi developed for the army a lightened and improved four-speed version, the GT20. It was renamed 'Alce' (elk) soon after its introduction and would serve as the Italian Army's main military motorcycle during WW2, in excess of 6000 being delivered up to 1943. In 1943 Alce was updated with the more powerful overhead-valve engine of the GTV/GTW in single-port configuration, becoming the Superalce, which remained in service with the Italian Army and police well into the 1950s. Moto Guzzi continued to produce the Superalce until it was replaced by the Moto Guzzi Falcone in 1955.

„A very large part of WWII was fought from the seat of a motorcycle. The United States took to the back of the 1942 Harley-Davidson WLA while the German army overtook BMW's production line. And while motorcycles were one of the better ways for soldiers and troops to quickly and easily maneuver through the mayhem, they did have their downfalls. Once the soldiers made it to the fighting, they were forced to dismount in order to use their guns. But it was the Italians who took to solving this inconvenient problem. (...) So in 1943, Moto Guzzi started producing the Superalce. With a very similar 500cc single cylinder, four-stroke engine as the Alce that the Italian army had been using since 1938, the most noticeable alteration was the addition of a handlebar mounted Breda M30 machine gun. Though the gun could only be fired while the motorcycle was idle, it allowed soldiers to fight without having to dismount their bikes.

It is said that there were attempts to mount a 9mm Beretta M38A sub machine gun that could be fired while moving, however this never saw mass production. Other motorcycle companies such as Harley-Davidson combated the dismounting issue by adding a side car to their motorcycles that a second soldier could fire from while in motion. But these additions only made the motorcycles slower and harder to maneuver. ” (from www.bikebandit.com)