Gatto del Cheshire

Hi again. It was a long time since i wrote my last message. Just after that time, I had a small accident; two ribs broken, some damages to my bike and a general depressed state. So I decided to store the bike in the garage and wait until the end of winter (which was very rainy indeed this year). I replaced the instrument support (I must complain, the instruments are too exposed in case of fall), but I did not replace the windshield which got broken in the accident: too fragile. I replaced the 7-yr old tyres, as hard as marble (that is probably the reason of the accident); I replaced the sprocket by a new one with one more tooth (the engine sound is less frantic now and the speedometer is more precise). I installed an engine protector, that looks fine and will probably protect better the instruments in case of fall. And I improved the feature of my sadly black bike by adding some coloured plastic stripes in order to make it more futuristic. It looks like this now, and I find it grateful and distinguished:

I read about it. Impressive.

This is my bike after some "improvements": a pannier, a binnacle and some makeup of the plastic chevrons on sides. Now the bike looks a little more "professional" and "important" and I am rather proud of it. Now I can begin to travel without any inferiority complex. If the weather helps (it rains in Milan too, maybe more than in UK) I will collect and show pictures of the best places here around. To the next message.

Welcome Murat. The world is big.

Hi Mark. Need a cat ?

Hi, my name is Giorgio Soave. I live near Milan, between the city and the Linate airport. I worked many years at ENI (a big company which extracts, refines and distributes hydrocarbons, from heavy oil to natural gas) designing new processes and doing research in Thermodynamics. (My name could be familiar to anyone who studied chemical engineering). I retired in 2003. Since then I dedicated my time to grandchildren and, in the short time left, to tourism, often by motorcycle, photography and the exploration of the cultural world by Internet. Until last month, for 9 years, my bike was a Moto Guzzi 750 (Breva), a lovely bike which unfortunately has become finally too heavy for my age (75). I had to decide between increasing my muscles by physical exercise, or giving my bike away. After some unfortunate trials at a gym, I decided to sell the bike to a fortunate friend of mine at a shameful price. It happens, when you loose your love for something (or somebody) you cannot suffer its/his presence anymore. But I decided not to abandon motorcycling; so I bought a second-hand Yamaha YBR 250, definitely more friendly of [sorry: than] the former Breva. It is light and powerful enough (20 HP) for tourism. I did not ask many more HP from my Breva. I love slow riding, that is riding from one town to another (towns in Italy are quite close each other) and stopping there for a meal, a visit to the art beauties, some photos and a sleep (usually in a comfortable hotel, more suited to my old bones). We can call it an italian-like tourism and I like it. This is me. Now I am trying to force my small Yamaha to look more similar to a professional bike: a pannier for my helmet, a windscreen or binnacle, a hexaust with a more "serious" sound, a central stand, etc. Supermario, my trusty mechanic, is working hard on it. I shall let you know the results. I hope not to bore you. Goodbye everybody.