1971 – At the end of the 1960s, the four stroke Italian engines perished, and at the same time the two-stroke ones, mainly made in Germany, were becoming very popular.
Farioli’s KTM experienced positive results winning three Italian titles in 1971. This event did not go unnoticed, also because the market was progressively spreading and was ready to make the off road bikes become a means of transport for the masses.
The turbulent growth of this sector led a lot of new manufacturers on stage.
SWM was born from Piero Sironi’s passion and his friendship with Fausto Vergani.
Piero Sironi was an entrepreneur and a great lover of off road riding while Fausto Vergani was a famous rider and an efficient mechanic.
The idea was born during a pleasant dinner in a winter night and the coming spring was spent on a beautiful project, the powering of Sachs 125cc.
One of the pros of this new bike was the frame with stainless steel tubes in chromium molybdenum which carried lightness, simplicity, clean lines and sturdiness.
The innovative back big double cradled fork with a rectangular division and a vertical middle rod in the upper part where a big and highly modern filter box was located; the filter box, the sides, the plate holder and the mudguards (the front one inspired to the Morini’s similar models while the back one shaped like the Gilera models) were made of plastic reinforced by incorporated fibreglass.

The other features shaped 32mm Marzocchi forks, coupled with Marzocchi’s shock absorbers, Tommaselli controls, Campagnolo stainless steel hubs with middle drum, Redaelli iron rims and Metzler pneumatics.
Although it was the first unit and a lot of small details were changed and improved as time went by, it immediately turned out to be valid and as a matter of fact, the models mass manufactured had only a single difference the silencer was placed in a higher position and derived from the Hercules’s one.
On the basis of the good results achieved, the project went on and the first series of complete prototypes was studied, that is 50,100 and 125 cc, named Off Road and featured by an amaranthine frame with silver over structures although they already carried Lanfranconi tongue fish silencers and the gonfleur holder was strategically located under the tank on the left side.