Welcome to the Motorbike pages!

Update June 2, 2004: Click HERE for "Pazzo's Ultimate 650GS screen"

Initially these pages centered around the Lambretta LI175 Furgone (built approx. in 1961) that I bought at an Italian flowershop in 1999, transported to the Netherlands and that I'am restoring since late 1999. The details of this restoration and the (very) slow progress can be found on the Lambro pages. Over time, these pages will contain more and more details on Lambretta, with pictures, and also will contain links to the various clubs.

The Lambretta was the cause for a whole different series of actions. In Netherlands one cannot drive a motorcycle with over 50 cc in cilinder size without a motorcycle license. The question is: What does the Dutch law say about this three-wheeled Lambretta Furgone? Is it a scooter, a motorcycle, a moped, a car, or a special purpose vehicle like an invalid car or other type of Smart? After some study it appeared that the Furgone resides under the vague area of "streetsale cars". This is a category that used to exist many years ago when the baker, the grocer, and the milkman still sold their goods from door to door. In principle, one does not need to have a license for this type of vehicle, but the speed must not exceed 40 km/h and it should only be used within the town or city perimeter.

Nevertheless it was not a bad idea to consider obtaining a motorcycle license "just in case". So I decided to take driving lessons with the goal to obtain my license within 2.5 month. That would allow me to complete my exams, buy a bike, and get some real-life practice before trying to drive to Italy for the 2002 summer holidays. With a good amount of luck I passed the theory exam after a few days' study and with great support from my driving instructor Frans (Hippe) I passed the practical exam two months later.

Now it was time for serious motorcycle business! One week and many internet searches later a little "thumper" was acquired. This BMW F650 GS (where the F does not stand for "Furgone") fitted my plan for a semi-offroad bike (20% unpaved, 80% paved) that will handle well enough on small and very steep Italian mountain roads and is still decent to ride on the highway for a couple of hours. More details on this bike that I could ever imagine to write can be found at the ChainGang site. Of course minor things needed to be fixed on this one year young bike and scheduling a workshop appointment will take minimum two weeks. With help from MotorMarkt de Jordaan (see the references at this nice motordealer info site in Dutch) some back order part delivery problems could be overcome and the machine got ready for the road in time to do the test driving for the long trip. Although the story above was comprised in just a few lines, many events occurred that will be worthwile to describe in detail. Be patient and I'll get to it sooner or later. Being a newbie in this area and with a 'cager' history of many years until I saw the 'daytime headlight' I had to get used to a few things and found out some interesting stuff on the way. All of these startup findings and stories are to be found in my Newbie pages. Tech stories will find its way into the BikeTech pages.

Any news on my bike trips will be posted on the "As the Crow Flies" pages.

Update Feb 21, 2003: There will be no updates for a while. My dear F650 got stolen this morning in Amsterdam $#%&@!

Update March 3, 2003: My bike was found again! A bit worn here and there, but nothing that cannot be fixed. My friendly nsurance covered all the necessary repairs, so at present the bike looks better than ever.

Update July 16, 2003: Everything's fine again with the thumper. I even bought two more bikes. With this purchase I will become the laughing stock of the 'serious' motorbike rider, because they are both motorscooters: A Yamaha Beluga and a Honda Spacy. Let them laugh! If you've been in sunny Italy you know that true bikers are a minority. Bikers with protective apparel are virtually absent. Wherever you drive you will be surrounded by hordes of small, fast, flashy-looking motorscooters driven by boys and girls in shorts and bikini's. They will be gone before the traffic light turns to green, well before you found the time to accelerate your big machine sweating like an ox with your leather gloves and all-body protective gear. OK, they may break a couple of bones once a while and may loose some skin as well, but they sure have fun! Of course I cannot endorse this highly risky practice, so if you see a big Dutch guy driving a 250cc "urban assault vehicle" in shorts, slippers, and an Apocalyptica T-shirt in the area of San Remo it will certainly not be me! General motorscooter stuff is now placed on the scooter pages.

Summer is here, and it's time for "As the crow flies" second edition.

Update June 30, 2004: The second "Crow" trip was another great success, this time I covered all remaining mountain peaks op to the highest official peak in Europe, the col de la Bonnette. Since I prefer riding the bike or scoots over building web sites, the Crow2 story will have to wait some more time. In fact, summer is nearing again and "Crow3" is in the make.

Gert
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