I'm so gone from that world.

Chinese and Indian tat with old Brit and Italian decals on the tank, bikes so loaded with gee-whiz gadgets that anything that breaks shuts it down for good; I'm done with that.

1) My 2009 Guzzi Stelvio with 75,000 miles since I bought it new has been a good bike, but I'm passing it on to my son who needs more room than his Guzzi Norge has.

2) My 2014 Triumph Trophy SE with 30,000 miles since I bought it new has been a good bike, but the service contract has expired, and you need a whole electronics lab to work on it, not to mention that adjusting the valves is a camshaft-out job. Fay and I are going to take a two week 4000 mile 50th wedding anniversary tour on it this summer. After that, I'll ride it and maintain it until either I can't hold up its 650 lb kerb weight any more, or it needs maintenance beyond tires, brake pads, and fluid changes, at which time I'll auction it off for whatever I can get for it.

That will leave me with just my olde Brits .... But ....

In the meantime, I've commissioned the best Guzzi mechanic on the East Coast to build me a 1971 750cc 4-speed Guzzi Ambassador out of two wrecked bikes I got for free. He's replacing or rebuilding every single moving or sealing or rubber part on it from the crank to new camshafts to transmission gears to Nikasil bores to fork bushings to instruments and cables. I'm building custom seats for it.

I'm not replacing a single cosmetic part on it, which is why I can afford to pay him for the mechanical work. All the paint, chrome, and plating will be original. It's faded but not rusty, and will save me having to polish it and agonize over little dents and gravel nicks.

My goal is to put 10,000 miles per year on it until I turn in my keys. Carbs, points, 4.00 tires, it will be cheap to run, and I can tune it and fix it.

I'll send pics once it's in my shed, later this spring ....

Lannis