Testa Calda

No we haven't become an affiliate of Tractor Weekly magazine, but we love this unrestored Landini; it's Italian, and it's got a motor!

At almost every mostra scambio/swap meet I've been to in Italy over the last 20 years, there's always a group of blokes with their old Landinis, and they always put on a great show. Testa calda means literally hot head, and it refers to the practice of heating up the cylinder head and the diesel within it of these single cylinder behemoths with a flame, then manually starting the whole thing with a deft few rolls of the massive external flywheel. They can run backwards or forwards, and the owners wow bystanders by switching from one direction to another, and getting the motor to tick over at massivley reduced revs, bit like the Guzzi single owners. The Landini tractor revolutionised Italian agriculture, and the earlier machines are now highly sought after.

I spotted this one at Mugello autojumble earlier this year, believed to be from the late '40s. Built to last and with lots of nice details and castings all over it, much like many Italian motorcycles from the same era.

Watch the video to see how it's done:

 

California

It's minus 5 outside - wish I was under some in sun in California right now

Is it a fetish? Part One

It's already a thrill getting bikes featured in the magazine on Chris's Bike Exif website, but then I got an email from Caroline at Vitesse Moto who had seen the mag mentioned on Exif and liked it. "We make boots", she wrote, "would you like to try some?". Well, of course I would, being pretty broke most of the time, and also having a thing for boots, of all kinds (I don't wear shoes). Seeing as currently there's no product review page in the mag, this seemed like an honest offer, and I could offer nothing in return.

They arrived, the ones I had chosen - brown, and more like work boots rather than black motorcycling boots. Beautiful - in fact I put them straight on and wore them out to meet friends in a pub for a drink. They're the kind of boots that I'll chuck on when I don't want to wear full leathers, or to just jump on my ratty old Guzzi California for a ride locally. Thank you Caroline and John, I'll let you know how I get on with them.


Check out Vitesse Moto here

Novegro mostra scambio/swap meet/autojumble

Dorian emailed us after getting back from Novegro, one of Italy's biggest mostra scambio events - 


Hi Adam.

 

"Novegro as a bit wet and miserable this time. Apart from some sun on Friday afternoon (it's always worth getting there early as most of the serious trading happens before it's open to the public), it was WET, WET, WET!

 

No luck with a MV kickstart I'm afraid, in fact there wasn't much good stuff around at all. Prices are going up all the time and I was flying anyway, so not able to carry much.

 

The MV 125 Monoalbero engine was a nice find, but at 15.000 Euros it was staying put!

 

All the best, Dorian"

Wow that's damned neat neat neat

This is the incredibly ordered wiring on John W's Guzzi Cafe' Racer - wish I could be that tidy

Amateur Lambretta racing

Check the shoes..

Benelli Six

Never ridden one - like to though for the mag - any offers?