Finger lickin' good

Not just good, but finger lickin' effin' superb - I went today to shoot Peter Koren's Ducati XR 900 flat tracker - and it is just fabulous. You will just have to read the full story on this bike, and that means getting hold of Issue Four when it's out. If you read the mag regularly you'll know by now that I have a penchant for specials and home-built bikes, not just stuff or stories you've already got in your reference books on your shelf at home, and this 860-based special is one of the best I've ever seen. It's bikes like this that give me renewed enthusiasm for putting the mag together.

I'm so excited about Issue Four because it'll be packed full of very special motorcycles, and I guarantee you're gonna love it......

Another great little film - Deus V Twin Festival

The wonderful http://www.rustrockets.com put me onto this one - nice film, lovely V twins, Italian, American and British, and great music too - reminds me of bands I used to play in when I was 15


Deus Ex Machina - Festival Of The V-Twin from Deus Customs on Vimeo.

They were right all along

When my other motorcycle-riding friends who I used to ride with regularly started to drop off the scene because they'd had kids, I used to think "Yeah, but I'll always ride my bike regularly no matter what!" How wrong I was. How right they were. 19 months into fatherhood and I love being a dad to my little girl dearly but this year the only chance I've had to ride my bike was to the MOT man in March. I have to look at photos of it on my desktop to remind me what it looks like. I'd so like to ride off onto the continent for a couple of weeks this year but it just ain't gonna happen..

Photo of my S3 nicked from Nick's Guzzi Cafe' Racer Build blog here

A kind of passion

This is a beautiful little Spanish film soaked in atmosphere and accompanied by suitably atmospheric music by the wonderful Johnny Cash at a classic bike race event made by Squadra Sutge

The blog is full of stuff to look at too, though sadly I understand very little of it.




A KIND OF PASSION, a tribute to classic motorcycles and the people who love them from Squadra Sutge on Vimeo.

Wish we were there

Two events we'd love to have been at - the old Time Show 2011 at Forli' back in March, and the ASI Motor Show at Varano, near Parma that was on this weekend - we reported on last year's ASI show in Issue Two of the mag. Really miss this stuff from when I lived in Italy...

A few photos and some Italian practice for you at the links below:
http://civorrebbeunamoto.blogspot.com/2011/05/asi-moto-show.html
http://www.motoblog.it/post/28715/old-time-show-2011-un-salone-che-profuma-di-storia

Gone

Gone somewhere else for few days. You can still buy mags at the website but they'll be posted out on our return in about a week. Cheers!

More MV marvels make me happy

I know I rattle on about it a bit but I've got an obsession with unrestored stuff, and my rusty old MV 175 as featured in the magazine 'project bike pages' continues to supply satisfaction in spades. These thin clips made from aluminium, painted red (now faded) and perfectly folded onto the frame downtubes to keep the genny wiring place are wonderful - placed neatly on the bike 55 years ago, and never removed until I got my grubby mitts on them. Goes without saying they'll be going back in place, no plastic cable ties here. Sometimes the smallest things in life make me so happy...

Tutti Frutti

Always good to be seen by other road users

Ace Cafe Italian day goings on...

After an early start for us, Italian Day at the Ace Cafe' on Sunday was brilliant - the sun shone down, the bikes turned up and everyone enjoyed themselves. We sold lots of mags, made loads of new contacts for even more future feature bikes and chatted to old mates. Thanks to the fine efforts of Dorian and Lois we had a rare 1967 MV 600cc on the stand - watch out for a feature on it in Issue Four - and even rarer MV 125 Monoalbero Corsa in unrestored and as last raced condition - and these bikes really drew a throng.

Most surreal moment of the day was witnessing and then hanging on the end of 8-times World Champion Phil Read's gazebo which wasn't weighed down at each corner by an ex-works MV and tried to fly into the murky waterway behind the cafe'. The day was saved though his canvas and his ego were a bit bruised.

Best moment of the day was tucking into the Ace's cheesy chilli chips and a pint of cold lager. Here's some pics of some of the bikes there. Shame no real old stuff but a great turnout anyway...

Forgot to say, can anyone spot the imposter?