A Brief History of the Italian Marque
In 1907 Emilio Bozzi and Franco Tosi began marketing Wolsit bicycles. Based in Milan, the company produced the Wolsit pedal-assisted motorcycle between 1910 and 1914. Tosi left the business in 1927, at which time Bozzi changed the company name to Legnano.
The name Wolsit is a contraction of Wolseley Italiana, referring to an association they had with the British firm Wolseley in the early years of the twentieth century.
Wolsit 1910-14 The Legnano bicycle factory used the Wolsit mark for its first motorcycle of 3.5 hp with three-speed gearbox. Circa 1932 the Wolsit name reappeared on a bicycle equipped with a Motosulm NSU engine mounted above the front wheel. Later Legnano built mopeds with their own name.
The translation above is from an unreferenced Italian source which indicates that Legnano's mopeds were powered by NSU. However other evidence suggests that Legnano sold the rights for the Wolsit machine to NSU and that firm first marketed it as an NSU-Wolsit, or similar.
An example of the motorcycle referred to has been restored by Yesterdays NL, who state that it is fitted with a sidevalve engine from T. D. Cross of Birmingham, a Sturmey-Archer 3-speed gear, Zenith carburettor, Bosch magneto and Druid forks.
An Advertisement for the Wolsit ciclomotore from the early 1930s.
ECCO ciò che il pubblico attendeva da tanti anni
Attenti
I numerosi tentativi fatti in passato, sono falliti perchè l'applicazione del motore nel telaio causava lo sfasciamento della bicicletta. Nel ciclomotore Wolsit questo guaio è radicalmente eliminato; la durata e il buon funzionamento sono assicurati perchè il gruppo motore è piazzato sulla forcella anteriore.
THIS is what the public had been waiting for for many years
Take note
Numerous attempts made in the past failed because mounting the engine within the bicycle frame caused the bicycle to fall apart. In the Wolsit moped, this problem has been completely eliminated; durability and reliable performance are guaranteed because the engine unit is positioned on the front fork.
Wolsit Automobiles
S.A. Wolseley Italiana, with its headquarters and factory in Legnano, was created to produce some of the British company’s models under licence for the Italian market. The brand chosen was the simplified name Wolsit. For two years, from 1907 to 1909, cars with 2, 4 and even 6 cylinders were built. But the 1907 crisis hit Wolsit too, and in 1909 they stopped production to concentrate on bicycles, which were to have great prestige up to the 1930s and even later." ~ aisastoryauto.it
Sources: Wikipedia, motoclubstoricoconti.it, aisastoryauto.it, yesterdays.nl, et al.
