The grease smeared workshop phone rings, our hero answers, a mysterious Spanish exchange occurs betwixt him and a tattooed, moustachioed mystery man and the mission begins. A cross town sprint past gnarly hip flask hobos to an accomplices den for cash, then on again he dashes, arriving at a lock-up to acquire some alternative transportation to his weary legs. Then it gets interesting… He rattle roars away on the true star of the film, a gorgeous custom 58′ Gilera 150 SS.
To the streets they take, seeing off the local traffic light wannabes and carving the pot holed streets to a soundtrack of The Black Keys, Oasis and four stroke single. Bike left lent against the wall “The Purchase” begins. Our tattooed chihuahua wielding dealer inspects the readies and hands over the mysterious item of our heroes desire and finally the rush can wane. Home he cruises to Pink Floyd’s burning bridges. He saunters into his shed and gently pins the item, a rare Gilera horn, to a work in progress restoration. Mission accomplished. Roll credits.
Meet the men of Coronas Modificadas, a new custom workshop based out of Buenos Aires. It began the way most crews do, a serious hobby, a collection of like minded friends, and a passion for the unique. A Gilera 150 SS certainly qualifies as unique here on The Bike Shed. The groups creative streak resulted in the short film ‘The Purchase’ that showcases this build and Gabriel’s obsessive passion for every detail of these rare little machines.
Gabriel started the crew in 2006 after restoring a variety of bikes for friends who were inspired by his personal ride, an immaculate standard Gilera 150. One friend coveted the little Italian 150 so much that he recruited Gabriel to create a matching machine for him. The problem was the models scarcity, Gabriel had to travel over 700km to purchase the machine in these pictures. Upon being presented with the scruffy single his mate decided it would never scrub up into the original condition he craved so he left it with Gabriel. With the pristine standard variant already in his garage, Gabriel decided to go custom with the unwanted donor.
With the bike on the workbench in his Beatle’s poster clad garage Gabriel cut the frame, changed the dampers and swapped the standard forks out for a parallelogram unit that transforms the front end of the bike. Combined with the high mounted headlight on monogrammed struts the face of the bike is now unique and aggressive. The front fender was jettisoned and the surviving rear was sanded and bobbed, stopping well short of its protruding mounts, a nod to what was.
The tank, headlight and bars were sanded down to bare metal and the frame and wheels finished in gloss black. The monochrome theme is fired by white pipe wrap on the unmuffled header and flashes of bronze in the custom fabricated kick start, shift lever, fork nut, brake and clutch levers.
The tank and body artwork was applied by the brilliantly named artist Digga Crimson, who co designed the Gilera badge/skull and cross wrench combo with Gabriel’s master graphic designer brother. Gabriel now rides his rat Gilera more than its standard brethren, the inevitable custom weight loss sees it eek out an extra 10km/h over the standard model and reach the giddy highs of 110km/h. Not fast, admits Gabriel, but combined with the ever present potential of gearbox explosion and the racket from the straight through pipe creates an inexplicable adrenalin rush.
Many an Argentinian bystander has inquired after acquiring the bike, testament to the countries burgeoning romance with the custom bike scene, but Gabriel is unmoved preferring to keep his Gilera’s as a remarkable odd couple.
