Racing Rhinos

The Morini mopeds were nearly all called Corsarino, and featured this young lad playing at pirate - some models were even called Pirates in the US. Corsarino means "little corsair", a corsair being a more dashing and old fashioned word for pirate. But if it had been spaced out as "Corsa Rino" that would have been "Racing Rhino" a fine name for a moped...


It's odd that manufacturers hate cosy and friendly names for bike these days: Honda virtually built an empire on the phrase " you meet the nicest people on a Honda",. Today we get "Strike/Rage/Grrr I'm-a-killer-on-the-loose" type names, with styling to match. Plus an industry unable to understand why it can't attract new blood to the fold. Wonder why?

Retirement Planning

Couple of Ducati fans have said the Diavel at least let's them finish their riding days on a Ducati. But maybe I've been reading Sideburn too much. because what I'd rather have is a flat-tracked Darmah. The only real issue I have with these wonderful bikes is that they're so damned heavy, so deal with that and you've got the perfect (I think) bevel-twin for your old age,


Just need to get my spannering skills up several levels above my feeble Photoshop skills...

Red Square

Last night 38,000 people squeezed into Bologna’s Piazza Maggiore in Ducati's pre-season party and send-off for Ducati MotoGP riders, Valentino Rossi and Nicky Hayden. Looks like fun, and I can imagine the love in the factory - when I was last there all people could talk of was raising the cash to bring Vale to Ducati.

But is it a case of be careful what you wish for? Friends in high places say Ducati have really raided the piggy bank to get Rossi and the Diavel onto the starting blocks, and both need to fly if Ducati are to make it through these treacherous times. Now I might not have an MBA, but to me that's one hell of a roll of the dice: if the Rossi/Burgess magic wand does it's usual trick, will people really credit Ducati? Or in two years time when Rossi heads to retirement/Ferrari/tax exile will it all be a spent wad?

The Diavel's a more interesting gamble - the rave reception talks of pinching Harley riders, but I think not: I know loads of Harley riders and they like the lifestyle/club aspect at least as much as the bike itself. that's a tough gig for Ducati dealers to compete with. HD riders also like the fact that maintenance involves an oil change and nothing else - the typical £600-£800 biannual Ducati 8-valve belt service is not going to go down well with this crowd.

Me, I'd have stuck with Stoner and maybe built on the Monster. I'd also go down the Harley/Ferrari route of making the dealer experience more club like and the slowly-slowly attempt of relieving the fan base of money via branded goods (have you seen the Fezza store opposite Hamley's? That's the real toy shop). I know the marginal cost of manufacturing makes endless iterations of one or two motorcycles look attractive, but ultimately (I think) it devalues what's being achieved. Reminds me of Guzzis recent decision to double the number of dealers in order to double the sales: guys, go look up marginal propensity to spend in the economic textbooks. Ah, too late - the Chinese are buying Guzzi. Sad but true..

Hopefully I'm wrong and the MBA's are right. But even if I'm right, Ducati fans know that the factory always works the real magic just as the rest of the world thinks it's going bust.

Bikes for sale

Don't normally do this, but these bikes are special. First is a rather lovely Motobi 250, imported from Italy where it had been part of a large Motobi/Benelli collection. It was fully restored to enter Moto Giro 2006. It won the second day's Taglioni class, but hardly ridden lately so up for sale at £2,500. Email through the website if you're interested, and I'll put you in touch.

The Mondial (pushrod) 175 also ran in the 2006 Giro (and the 2002) and was a star on our Race Retro stand. The owner's also got a stroker Mondi that he trials, so this needs a new home. Lovely patina, and as you can see lives indoors. £2,500 seems very fair given the OHC version's £6k plus. Again, email and I'll do the intros.

Finally my lovely 450 Desmo (as seen on pp75 & 78 of Benzina #3) is with John Fallon at a reasonable £8,500 (ahem): started life as a 450 MkIII and had a desmo 450R/T slung in (so you get a decompressor) as well as all the Desmo bodywork. I love it, but it's my giro bike and I feel I need to move into the Vintage class. Torn to see it go, but I'm a believer that if you don't ride them, they have to go. Plus my poor right knee (one op down, surgeon wants another go) means rear sets and meaty kick starts are a thing of the past. That means I should really sell the 900SS, but even Dr Girlie Nice-Smile knows that's taking logic too far...

More of the same - not

Feedback on the last blog made me realise It's not just me, it's the editors (actually it's the so-called "creatives" - now there's an oxymoron) who lack the courage to embrace originality. These are two of my fave Bike covers from the 1970s: Wild Bill Haylock (Bill, where are you in our hour of need?) tested the Goldwing and lost the mag a year's worth of Honda advertising in the process. Can you imagine any writer being prepared to climb off the fence to that extent today?

Urban(e) Bikers

I know I've grumbled about this before, but why are mainstream bike mags' photos so predictable? If it isn't "Look at me, I'm a racer I am", it's cosy garage and contented owner with mug of char. There's a place for these pics, but surely not every third page?


So I love these photos by vespamore-uk.blogspot - really gritty urban pics of urbane anonymous bikers. If Banksy did motorcycle photography this'd be right up his street.

The other thing I like about vespamore is that he uses film. Benzina's period pics are all printed on photographic paper from negatives before being scanned - it give a period feel that digital just can't capture. There's (I think) a wonderful pics of a Morini 350 by Vespamore in Benzina #4 that looks as if it was taken in the Seventies, despite the bike clearly having seen better days. Real people riding bikes they love every day, and not a trailer (let alone a van) in sight. Folk like this are (almost) as great a hero to me as old time racers like Read and Ago. This year I'm sworn to use less SORN

V8 worth the wait

Everything's back to normal, and I've just about recovered from Raceretro: the Guzzi V8 was fab, and sounded more like a V8 than the replica I saw at Spa last year. Owner Giuseppe Todero (son of one of Carcano's original design team) was cheerful and chatty, and although the bike sounded incredible Ago's MV-3 was even better. The first of 8 bikes Giacomo has commissioned the Castiglioni's MV Agusta factory to build, there will be some for sale - but think £200,000-plus if you'd like one. Here's some more pictures
Ago was also very helpful with research for Benzina #5, as was Phil Read. But although they clearly respect each other, there's still serious rivalry. Despite Ready's more impressive back catalogue (to me, anyway) it was Ago who drew the crowds - I felt sorry for the guys who followed him onto the stage: huge crowd evaporate as Ago leaves, as if a DJ had put a duff record on
And a big thanks to those who helped - Stuart at North Leicester Motorcycles, Matt and his Mondial (for sale? Ask me) and Bob Dixon who at the last minute brought his Laverda 500-based racer as well as the 100 Giro bike: he only went and won the post 1970 concours...