Time to get honest - the garage has become a home for waifs and strays, and a snotty upstarts thumbing their noses at my lack of spannering talent. There's also no room to work on anything once the cars are squeezed in, so a cull is coming
I've never been a horder, or (believe it or not) one for looking back (as opposed to plucking the truth from history's murky clutches). The bikes I want are a trailie for teaching the kids to ride, a middleweight for the Giro (if I can shake the ennui for the Terni Club's rather diluted version) a summer cruiser and a winter ride.
That means either the Darmah or the Sei goes because they effectively do the same job, and the little Gilera 175 Sferica. I've kidded myself that the Gilera will be made road legal and Giro'd: but it's one of maybe 4 or 5 ever made and even if I could face a 1,000 ride on a 175, do I really want to do it on a racebike thrown into a mix of tiddlers, big singles and modern sportsbikes? No. So it goes.
Darmah or Sei? Well, it's not my only bevel and the Sei's just so wonderfully ridiculous that I'd like to have it sorted and get to know it better. That means the Darmah joins the Gilera in the van to John Fallon of Made in Italy motorcycles; £8k for the Gilera, £6.5 for the Darmah. Goodbye and goodnight, and yes I do seem to have something in my eye...
As well as using the proceeds to get the rest of the garage's contents in tip-top condition I also want to fund a publishing project: fun as Benzina is, I'd like to help get a couple of books into print. I'm lucky enough to have the time and (a little) liquidity, and encouraged by Julian Barnes saying that making his (Booker winning) book a thing of beauty was the only way to compete with Kindle and blogs, next year will see some new ideas. And hopefully more riding and less tinkering with truculent old Italians
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