Despite its Italian name, the Piatti scooter was of Belgian (and later, British) manufacture, being originally produced in 1954 in Belgium by

D'Ieteren D'Ieteren Group SA/NV is a company, based in Belgium that is engaged in automobile distribution and vehicle glass repair and replacement (VGRR) and other industrial activities related to spare parts. History Founded by master coachbuilder ...

. Its name came from its designer, Vincent Piatti. In 1956, production also commenced at the Cyclemaster works at

Byfleet Byfleet is a village in Surrey, England. It is located in the far east of the borough of Woking, around east of West Byfleet, from which it is separated by the M25 motorway and the Wey Navigation. The village is of medieval origin. Its win ...

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

, England.''

The Motor Cycle ''The Motor Cycle'' was one of the first British magazines about motorcycles. Launched by Iliffe and Sons Ltd in 1903, its blue cover led to it being called "The Blue 'un" to help distinguish it from its rival publication ''Motor Cycling (mag ...

'', two-page road test, 7 March 1957, pp.298-299. Accessed 15 June 2019 However, the increasing availability of affordable small cars in Europe affected sales of the Piatti (and other scooters) and production eventually ceased. According to Erwin Tragatsch in a brief entry on the Piatti scooter in his ''Illustrated Encyclopedia of Motorcycles'', Cyclemaster "failed to find many customers for this product", and manufactured only a small number before British production terminated. The Piatti scooter has the dubious distinction of being, in the words of

Bob Currie Robert Frank Currie (26 April 1918 – 25 July 1988) was an English motorcycling writer and road tester, who later became a magazine editor and book author. Mainly known for his UK journalism work with ''Motor Cycle'', a UK weekly motorcycle m ...

(author of ''Great British Motorcycles of the Sixties''), "the worst scooter ever perpetrated."

Notes

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External links

Alan Abrahams, 'The Piatti Scooter'
Motor scooters Scooter manufacturers