Moto Madness

Up till now we've been having mostly "Emily days" - food, coffee, talking with the local shopkeepers about health and childhood obesity, etc.

This weekend we had a Paul day - we went to a motorcycle fair in Reggio-Emilia with Vincenzo!

Who is Vincenzo, you ask?  Vincenzo is my new motorcycle friend, who I met in a local Yamaha dealer as I was moseying around.  He's an enthusiast who rides a Honda Transalp, he's very nice, and for bonus points he looks just like Jean Reno in "The Professional":

So early Saturday morning we piled into Vincenzo's van and headed off to the fair.  And oh, what a fair it was. 

I wasn't sure what to expect, and upon entering it quickly became clear that I couldn't have imagined it beforehand.  There were hundreds, maybe even thousands of stalls, selling everything from the most basic parts like pistons and spark plugs, to complete, concours-quality classic race bikes. 



Parts here, getcha parts here....

Sweet old Benelli - check out the pipes

Super clean Duc 

 A Kenny Roberts 250cc race bike!  Vincenzo told the guy I was American, and he started trying REALLY hard to sell it to me....only problem was he wanted about $50,000

Shaft drive, surprising on something from this period!

A typical chaotic transport truck

Oh yeah, there were also things like meat slicers and tools thrown in for good measure.  In short, it was a Man-Fair, the likes of which I have never seen before.  And apparently Man-Fairs over here are cherished, because it was attended not only by people from all over Italy, but from all over the world!  There were Swedes, Germans, Brits, Spaniards, Czechs, you name it, they were there. 

Pictures don't do this old Moto Guzzi justice...it was simply awesome

Some cool Yamaha race bikes

Also, they love Hondas over here, especially old CB500s and 750s!

One other thing about Vincenzo, is that he knows EVERYBODY in the motorcycle community over here.  So of course, we bumped into many of his friends, a few of whom we met up with for lunch.  After gathering at the designated spot, one of them started digging in his backpack....

Next thing we knew he had laid out a feast of salami, cheese, bread, and beer!  It was all delicious.

Our lunch crew....


And of course after lunch there was still a TON more fair to see:

Mechanical art

"I'll take the Moto Guzzi with the matching salami slicer"....where else but in Italia?

Dirt-cati?  Huh?

Speaking of Ducatis, here's one: great shape, slightly used, may need a little polish.

No need for the shirt, you can tell he's a Colorado man....

All told, I noticed a striking difference from any motorcycle gathering I've seen in America.  Many of the parts for sale were rusty, old, obscure, or all of the above.  But most of the attendees had two or three of these found treasures tucked under their arms, ready to take home and install on whatever pet project was incrementally nearing completion.  Parts, engines, and entire bikes that some would deem fit only for the junkyard were eagerly pored over by keen-eyed collectors and restorers, willing to invest the time and effort needed to restore them to glory.

And the finished bikes that had been lovingly removed of rust, painted, polished and pieced together from those found parts were simply amazing.  The small-displacement Italian bikes from the 50s were especially impressive, marques that I had never heard of before like Parilla (which I especially like) and Mondial. 

I've noticed that the Italians seem to have a deep appreciation for a "cosa bella", a beautiful thing.  It doesn't need to have the most current performance, or the newest technology.  But if a motorcycle has exquisite design, if it invokes passion, if it stirs the soul in some way, it will be cherished long past the point of its practicality.   

Anyone want to go in halfsies on an old, obscure, temperamental, beautiful work of mechanical art?

Concours-quality Mondial

Finally, my favorite, a beautiful Parilla:

I took a lot of pics, the rest are here: