Driving down a side street near my house I spotted this for sale, a 1971 Aermacchi Harley-Davidson Rapido. It turns out the man was selling it for $100, so I couldn't turn it down. I brought my brother back with me to pick it up and we each chipped in $50 to take it home. The little Harley was in pretty rough shape when we got it back. After a few days of sorting through the hot wired, dry rotted electrical system we finally got the bike barely running. After that we started dissasembling it for restoration. Now that it's done, I take it to many classic bike shows where it gets lots of looks. It's a great little bike for around town and up at the cottage. Overall, it's been a fun project and a great learning experience.

Rapido Project

Click Here Finished product, turned out to be a great looking bike for what we started with.

Click Here Reassembling, the fun part. All that hard work finally pays off.

Click Here Here's a few pictures from before we bought it, and the day we brought it home.

Click Here Disassembling the frame and cleaning up the wheels.

Click Here Polishing the fenders, gas tank, and chrome.

Click Here A few parts being prepped for painting. That's my brother working the sandblast cabinet.

Click Here Pictures of the frame.

Click Here Tearing apart the 125cc 2 stroke engine. As you can see, condensation must have collected in the crankcase severly rusting the clutch and clutch plates. Nothing a little CLR can't fix.

Click Here Here's the clutch and some hardware that were soaked in CLR (Calcium Lime and Rust remover).

Click Here Pictures of the NOS, new old stock, and a few other parts I bought on ebay.

Rapido Magazine Articles and Advertisments

Click Here A few Rapido Advertisments.

Miscellaneous Rapido Pictures

Click Here Pictures of a few Rapidos I've collected on the internet.

Special Thanks For Parts and Help