Cagiva / Merlin DG 350

When Bultaco was in trouble in 1982 / 83, some people around Ignacio Bulto left and founded Merlin in Spain, using Cagiva 350 street / enduro 2 -T engines.

Some prototypes had flexibel exhaust trubes. The works riders Lluis Gallach and Juan Freixas had some remarkable success on this still heavy bike, but were
admired, because of the cast special wheels.

In Switzerland, the machine was shown at the Zurich 1983 Moto exhibition by the then rising star new Cagiva brand.

However, only a handful must have been sold in Switzerland. I could once try one but was not impressed compared to my Cota 349 Mk4.

The Cagiva DG was quite heavy, not much torque at low revs and not easy to ride for me.

The 350 engine was big, but the rear was really small and in good hands maybe competitive.

Here a scan from the Swiss price list and a bad copied leaflet I collected at that time.

I don't know many thing about the Merlin, but I guess some 100 were built and sold in Spain and some in Italy as Cagiva. We were admiring the Gallach machine, wondering,
if the new spokes could be dangerous for injury of feet etc...

Trialsport 1982
the later unsold machines might have been conversed to Enduro machines	an early version with a flexible tube exhaust
1983 Lluis Gallach on the DG 350
1983 Lluis Gallach World Champion round in Fully, Switzerland (pic taken by me!) on DG 350	SSDT 1987
1985 Lluis Gallach World Champion round in Grimmialp, Switzerland (pic taken by me!) on DG 3.50	1985 Grimmialp, one of the last Twinshocker
Juan Freixas about 1984	Juan Freixas
2010: shocks look a bit longer than original, which is mostly a good improvement	Philippe's Cagiva DG 350 in Moudon 2010
wow, what a hugh cylinder... 342 (80x68)	The proud restaurator Phil Steck
1984Gallach Replica with innovative cast spokes	a pic from a spanish collector, the tank is slimmer on the 1984 version
a beautfully restaured Merlin from Spain	nice chrome
This machine was for sale for EUR 3500 at the AFATA Trial Roche en Brenil 2008	in action at a spanish twinshock trial
wow, what a nice bike, looks slim here in silver, a piece of art	a pic seen at Todotrial.com, a Puma prepared Merlin ?

With the arrival of the monoshocks in 1984, the Merlin twinshocks had a disadvantage, but still competed

Then the first Merlin mono called Fius arrived, looked a bit ugly and built in a hurry.

1986	1988

1988 Eddy Lejeune was riding his ending career on the Merlins, but sadly, Merlin was about to die.

Finally, Merlin was bought by GasGas, which were the rising star and took over the Merlin production capacity.

Here a Test from Dirt Bike Rider August 1983: Cagiva DG 350:  350_DBRider_Aug_1983.pdf

Here a scan from spanish Moto Verde  DG 3.50 / 125