R
R2B2
Guest
....... and I mean remarkable.
As you may be aware, I went to Milan on Sunday morning, not vacationing, but working. A courier job to a tecnology company there, so I drove down in a Renault Kangoo van. While in Italy, the van suffered a rear wheel bearing failure and I went from pillar to post trying to get it fixed - nobody wanted to know. I ended up in this little town at a small independant garage who was the first to recognise my plight and offer to fix it. However, he couldn't get a new bearing locally and had to send out for one to be couriered in. It wouldn't be there til six in the evening and it was now ten in the morning, so I had absolutely no choice but to wait. I walked the town for hours, drank coffee everywhere and ended up back at the garage cos there was simply nowhere else to go. And this led to one of the most amazing sights I've ever seen regards motorbikes.
This guy had a regular size workshop, two car lifts, one pit and tools on the wall on hooks, nothing out of the ordinary, but the workshop bit was only part of a much larger building that looked like an old factory. I wandered into the workshop to get out of the sun and noticed glass cabinets here and there with trophys in, cups and shields etc, and pictures of him with bikes, and what looked like pictures of him with bikers or even racers cos they had all the gear on. There were signed pictures from Agostini, Phil Read and others. I thought christ, this blokes an ex racer but I didn't recognise his name.
Then I spotted a bike on a bike lift and wandered over to look at it. It was an old CZ in bits and I thought he was repairing it. We couldn't communicate very well but he could see I was interested in the bike and asked me if "I like". I said yes, but not CZ's! He beckoned me to follow him and we went thru this door into another large room and I was stunned at the sight before me!
There were rows and rows of bikes. Old bikes, very old bikes (vintage), racing bikes, sidecar outfits (old and relatively modern - 70's?), millitary bikes, French bikes, small bikes (like mini-motos, but old), childrens bikes, scrambling types bikes, everything you could think of. English BSA's, velo's, things with Villiers engines (I saw a James and others), Ariel's (square fours and Arrows). BMW's, Jap bikes, old. Lots of Italian bikes, vintage and racing, Old ducati's, Motoguzzi's, MV Augusta's etc, etc (several MV's in fact). Several old Honda's very much like the one posted on here the other week in the "what is it" post. Hondas that I've never seen before, old. Quite a few Russian/Eastern block type bikes. There were many I've never heard of, i.e. there was a bike with an emblem on the tank with like a "wing" on either side with a big capital H in the middle. Some were in "new" condition and some not - but they were not rotten with rust because of the dry climate there? I was stunned - there must have been upwards of a hundred bikes in that room!! I spotted a few others in various states of repair and it was then that I realised that the trophys were for restoration and not racing!! They were ALL his bikes. He collected bikes for restoration!!
I ogled this lot for about an hour and he came back and beckoned me into another room. Fuck me, there was the same again but this time all mopeds and scoooters!!!! Mopeds with engines on the front wheel, above the back wheel, some driving the back wheel conventionally, some assisting the pedal sprocket with a leather segmented belt. Again, makes I'd never heard of, but most of them vintage. There were quite a few bearing the name MOTOM in a circular badge design, and other Italian makes - I can't remember the names. There were quite a few with German looking names, and again Russian type names.
AND THERE WAS MORE!!!
He took me into another room and it was full of old pushbikes!! Rows and fooking rows of them!! On racks on the floor, hanging from rails on the ceiling, one facing one way, the next the other way to save space. Some had tiny little enginges on smaller that yer fist. Some had electric lights on with old hub dynamo's, some had what looked like old oil and even carbide lamps on the front. Some were restored and looked like NEW! There were big bikes, small bikes, some with different sized wheels, PENNY FARTHINGS, some of which he said were English. There must've been over a hundred push bikes in that room.
I've never seen anything like it in my life. This blokes private collection must be larger than a lot of museums. I had my camera in my bag, but I did'nt even ask him if I could take pictures, I was so awed at it all I didn't want to put him in an awkward position of having to say no! Out of respect for the security of this guy's collection of bikes I'm not even gonna say what town I was in, much less mention his name. If I did and something happened to his bikes I would never forgive myself.
I was talking to this girl that came who spoke some English (his neice I think - she brought his lunch) and she told me he'd been collecting old bikes for decades, and that was all he was interested in.
I hope this post captured the spirit of what I saw - I truly consider that I have been honoured to see all that. Sorry the post was so feckin long but I just had to tell it like it was....
Absolutely incredible!
As you may be aware, I went to Milan on Sunday morning, not vacationing, but working. A courier job to a tecnology company there, so I drove down in a Renault Kangoo van. While in Italy, the van suffered a rear wheel bearing failure and I went from pillar to post trying to get it fixed - nobody wanted to know. I ended up in this little town at a small independant garage who was the first to recognise my plight and offer to fix it. However, he couldn't get a new bearing locally and had to send out for one to be couriered in. It wouldn't be there til six in the evening and it was now ten in the morning, so I had absolutely no choice but to wait. I walked the town for hours, drank coffee everywhere and ended up back at the garage cos there was simply nowhere else to go. And this led to one of the most amazing sights I've ever seen regards motorbikes.
This guy had a regular size workshop, two car lifts, one pit and tools on the wall on hooks, nothing out of the ordinary, but the workshop bit was only part of a much larger building that looked like an old factory. I wandered into the workshop to get out of the sun and noticed glass cabinets here and there with trophys in, cups and shields etc, and pictures of him with bikes, and what looked like pictures of him with bikers or even racers cos they had all the gear on. There were signed pictures from Agostini, Phil Read and others. I thought christ, this blokes an ex racer but I didn't recognise his name.
Then I spotted a bike on a bike lift and wandered over to look at it. It was an old CZ in bits and I thought he was repairing it. We couldn't communicate very well but he could see I was interested in the bike and asked me if "I like". I said yes, but not CZ's! He beckoned me to follow him and we went thru this door into another large room and I was stunned at the sight before me!
There were rows and rows of bikes. Old bikes, very old bikes (vintage), racing bikes, sidecar outfits (old and relatively modern - 70's?), millitary bikes, French bikes, small bikes (like mini-motos, but old), childrens bikes, scrambling types bikes, everything you could think of. English BSA's, velo's, things with Villiers engines (I saw a James and others), Ariel's (square fours and Arrows). BMW's, Jap bikes, old. Lots of Italian bikes, vintage and racing, Old ducati's, Motoguzzi's, MV Augusta's etc, etc (several MV's in fact). Several old Honda's very much like the one posted on here the other week in the "what is it" post. Hondas that I've never seen before, old. Quite a few Russian/Eastern block type bikes. There were many I've never heard of, i.e. there was a bike with an emblem on the tank with like a "wing" on either side with a big capital H in the middle. Some were in "new" condition and some not - but they were not rotten with rust because of the dry climate there? I was stunned - there must have been upwards of a hundred bikes in that room!! I spotted a few others in various states of repair and it was then that I realised that the trophys were for restoration and not racing!! They were ALL his bikes. He collected bikes for restoration!!
I ogled this lot for about an hour and he came back and beckoned me into another room. Fuck me, there was the same again but this time all mopeds and scoooters!!!! Mopeds with engines on the front wheel, above the back wheel, some driving the back wheel conventionally, some assisting the pedal sprocket with a leather segmented belt. Again, makes I'd never heard of, but most of them vintage. There were quite a few bearing the name MOTOM in a circular badge design, and other Italian makes - I can't remember the names. There were quite a few with German looking names, and again Russian type names.
AND THERE WAS MORE!!!
He took me into another room and it was full of old pushbikes!! Rows and fooking rows of them!! On racks on the floor, hanging from rails on the ceiling, one facing one way, the next the other way to save space. Some had tiny little enginges on smaller that yer fist. Some had electric lights on with old hub dynamo's, some had what looked like old oil and even carbide lamps on the front. Some were restored and looked like NEW! There were big bikes, small bikes, some with different sized wheels, PENNY FARTHINGS, some of which he said were English. There must've been over a hundred push bikes in that room.
I've never seen anything like it in my life. This blokes private collection must be larger than a lot of museums. I had my camera in my bag, but I did'nt even ask him if I could take pictures, I was so awed at it all I didn't want to put him in an awkward position of having to say no! Out of respect for the security of this guy's collection of bikes I'm not even gonna say what town I was in, much less mention his name. If I did and something happened to his bikes I would never forgive myself.
I was talking to this girl that came who spoke some English (his neice I think - she brought his lunch) and she told me he'd been collecting old bikes for decades, and that was all he was interested in.
I hope this post captured the spirit of what I saw - I truly consider that I have been honoured to see all that. Sorry the post was so feckin long but I just had to tell it like it was....
Absolutely incredible!
