ROMA
CYCLE WORLD IMPRESSION
AT LAST WE HAVE FOUND the motorcycle for people who hate motorcycles. What else but one of these miniscule Roma trail fifties could you sneak in the back door and hide behind the bar when your old lady wasn't looking?
Or, if you aren't rich enough to own a bar, you could sell out your collection of Bazooka baseball cards and model airplane engines, and, having saved up the required $249.50, buy a Roma and hide it from Mum by folding down the handlebars and shutting it in your toy chest.
In yet another application, you could beat an illegal trailing rap by carrying it across the Back Forty, throwing it over the fence and hiding it in your trunk as you drive past the Ranger station. This certainly would be more fun than riding it across the Back Forty anyway, as handling is a bit dodgy, due to rather quick steering and minimal suspension.
All this is because little Roma, of modest girth and weight (about 100 pounds), walks the narrow line between being a mini-bike or a motor scooter. The bike is made in Italy, although the engine is proprietary — a 49.9cc two-stroke Jawa single cylinder of 38mm bore and 44mm stroke, 9.5:1 compression ratio, with Dellorto carb.
There is nothing to distinguish this machine from the Roma street bike in its assigned role of trail bike other than its high pipe, bash plate and larger rear wheel sprocket. We would not subject this machine to rigorous use on the street or trail, but in its function as an "occasional" vehicle, it's passable. Its major asset is that it is both light and licensable at the same time, and comes with California approved lighting that really works. It can be hidden away in the most unlikely places, and would probably prove invaluable to the light plane pilot or the sailor who doesn't want to go the expensive rent-a-car route when he gets into town.
The front and rear suspension may seem gratuitous on a vehicle like this, but it does serve to eliminate the jolts one would get with a rigid-framed mini-bike. We aren't particularly fond of 10-inch wheels (3.50 tire rear, 3.00 front), but they do increase the compactness of the bike.
The Jawa power plant is a simple thing, having only three speeds giving overall ratios of 28.99, 15.21 and 10.28 to 1. The three speeds are adequate, however, as the engine's power band is broad, and the bike is lighter than most street fifties. The engine starts cold with one kick, fuel tap open or shut, choke on or off, no matter what. The gas tank holds a bit over one gallon of oil-gas mix, so cruising range should be about 150 miles. The lights and horn really do work, drawing their power from the magneto/dynamo; there is no battery to dry up or slop around in embarrassing places, like the car trunk or back seat.
The finish on the chrome fenders, double loop step-through (or should we say "over") frame and tank is good, although the kickstand, which was nicely positioned, detached itself from the frame at the welded joint. One of our women folk ventured to say, "I think it's really cute," which is quite a compliment. Everybody knows that women hate bikes. ■
