Rossi to Ducati??

According to biker pulp rag MCN, Valentino Rossi has already sorted a deal to join Ducati for two years. Would be great to watch him on an Italian race bike, and to see how he'd compare to Stoner who seems to be the only racer so far that has managed to tame the beasts that are the Ducati Moto GP machines. I'll reserve judgement until the deal is announced, officially.

Circuito di Ospedaletti

Nearly every Italian racer, whether on two or four wheels, as well as a host of stars from other nations, raced at some point at the historic Ospedaletti street circuit at San Remo, on the Italian Riviera. Luca Vieri's beautifully designed blog is full of fascinating photos, stories and facts about Ospedaletti and other aspects of Italian racing through the ages - not to be missed.

http://www.marinadiospedaletti.it

Fantic Chopper

What can be said about the Fantic Chopper? It has to be one of the finest, most bizarre but wonderfully crazy Italian motorcycles, or even just any motorcycle - ever to be produced. I for one would love to have one sitting in the garage. Hopefully coming up in a future issue.

Ruote Fiere Guzzi

This bike is going to be killer when it's finished. Suzuki Gixer forks sit just right and the home built exhaust system snakes around the motor in super style. Check it out here: http://ruotefiere.blogspot.com

Motorcycle of MAS distraction

Another machine spotted on the Firenze to Siena run the other week. A MAS 175cc ohv with rigid frame, girder forks and hand gear change, I'd say late '30s. Another rarity from another obscure Italian manufacturer Motocicli Alberico Seiling, and I like it - purposeful, slanted lines, neat fishtail silencer, bulb horn and front mudguard pedestrian-slicer mascot.

Stuff you just don't see

I went to check out a rally in Firenze (Florence) last weekend, and saw these two bikes, a 1927 Moto Guzzi TT 250cc from 1927, and a Moto Guzzi 250 SS from 1928. They are rare in the extreme, both being customer built race bikes, and they look pretty much unrestored too. The TT was named after the Guzzi that raced at the  Isle of Man TT in 1926. I managed to get some numbers and hope to to return to see these old machines again for a future edition of the mag. I f*****g love this stuff.....

Friends and motorcycles for life

Most of my best friends, wherever they are in the world, I've met through motorcycles. I met up with one of them today, Mauro, who I met 10 years ago when I lived in Italy. He's got a 1968 MV Agusta 250 B which he's owned from new, and we took it out to photograph today. Unfortunately it broke down and we couldn't sort it without tools on the spot, so we had to trailer it home again, yet on the way back Mauro was telling me how much he loved this MV, even if it wasn't reliable at times - huh, old bikes eh? 

Then back at his place, he showed me some old but fantastic period photos including the ones you see here of him as a teenager on his old man's MV 2 stroke 150 with 'motore lungo'. There were also several of his wife Graziella, shown here in the colour snap sitting on the very same MV 250 we photographed today, but in 1970. They met as teenagers, married, had kids and had a happy life - then she died at age just 48 from cancer. I didn't know this previously, and when he told me today, it made me understand more clearly why he's such the kind, gentle person he is, and why the MV is so important to him. When I saw my wife and 7 month-old daughter again when I returned to them this evening, I just felt so lucky.