A further 255cc version was prepared and was solely used by the official riders.
All bikes were equipped with the new frame, conic Grimeca hubs, regal Magura controls, 32 mm ZTI Piuma Marzocchi forks and aluminium Akront rims for the ES series while the ER series had the traditional fork and iron rims. 
The over structures were made of plastic, except for the back mud-guard which was still made of fibreglass.
In 1976 the aluminium tank was first mounted on the official bikes.
The colours resembled the ones adopted in the past, the cycling parts and the over structure were metal grey, the outside engine carters were black only for the seven-geared models and the tank was varnished in different colours according to the capacities: three shades of red: one for the 50 cc, one for the 100cc and one for the cross models; green for the 475 and brick red for the 250, all with a metal-coloured base. 
Unlike the high expectations, the problem of the year, which involved negatively all the brands powered Sachs, lied in the fact that if the six-geared engine turned out to be more and more fragile as compared to the high powers they could reach, the new seven-geared engines, instead, turned out to be not powerful enough if compared to their bulky dimensions and the huge weight of their components. 

The entire season swung between successes and failures and led to an unavoidable eventual split with the German manufacturer.   
Despite the hopes on the new engines failed, the SWM’s technicians had a solid base they could work on, so they started a careful job to change and improve the bikes, and this together with the bikers’ skills let to very satisfying results so that SWM could still be on the top of the podium.
The weights were kept under control by using light alloys while the titanium screws stood for reliability.
Gualtiero Brissoni ranked first in the 125 class as Pierluigi Laureati did in the 125 class of the Italian Championship; these good results were joined by Pietro Gagni’s second ranking in the 50 class, Maurizio Radici’s in the 100 class and Pierluigi Rottigni’s in the 175 class.
Sergio Sala ranked 3^rd in the 250 class.
Furthermore, SWM turned out to be the 1st in the special Industry Team ranking.