My work Guzzi: Classic or just old?

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Purchasing classics there

There are whole wars over what 'classic' is. The most official description is 'older than 25 year'. And that is actually strange.

Because a quarter of a century is not that old for motorcycles

Certainly because the motorcycles of a quarter of a century plus a bit are generally not seen as work asses, but as 'fun' things. Because let's face it: an almost thirty year old 'motorcycle' with 26.000 kilometers on the clock? In the meantime, let such a thing be dated, but technically he is still very far from his fatigue limit. What? A Honda Pan European can easily turn three tons before it is really tired.

25 + motorcycles are therefore generally regarded as motorcycles

Not as a classic. The only 'classic factors' that are seen in it are the exemption from ownership tax and the possibility to insure the engine cheaply. Motorcycles from just recently 25, 26 years are often also very attractively priced and they date back to the time before motorcycles also got stuck with all their electronics through their axes. And they usually still look like you would expect from a motorcycle.

In the past not everything was better

Classic motorcycles from the sixties and early seventies make it very clear how far technology has progressed. Because a modern motorcycle? It controls and brakes fantastic and can usually 'drive better' than its driver. And there the younger classics are more on the line of old motorcycling, which was sometimes 'working'.

I have never been able to get on a serious modern motorcycle near the border area where the bicycle part started to report that it was close to 'death or the gladiolus'. On a Honda CB750 OHC, that limit was attainable for me. Such an old CB on modern tires, smooth damping and suspension plus a second disc in the front brake is an engine that you as an experienced motorcyclist can still be very smoothly on the road with.

A tool, an article of use

But the experienced Moto Guzzi Cali III who is my 'car' and I are nicely matched in terms of power and steering capacities. The thing - with Dell's Orto's instead of the injection that became available in its year of construction - is therefore 25 +. But whether that makes him classic? Ah, it's a Guzzi. That speaks to his advantage.

But he has grown a whole lot from the state in which he once left the showroom. For me as the owner, he has evolved towards me and his deployment area. The Guzzi is a tool for me. We run a lot of - trouble-free - kilometers every year. There are people who think that the fat Vtwin is immensely neglected just because of the fact that he sleeps outside and eats brine in the winter.

Hipsters see it differently

And that the lived buffalo recently almost made a few hipsters in 020 tears because of its authentic deeply lived appearance and unique patina? Well, if that's your thing and you don't want to invest ten winters in the brine, you can always contact Frans Mandigers. Take a look at FB what it does….

The Good and the Ugly

In the meantime I have a Guzzi who can sleep inside plus my work ass. It's just old. But he still has to work. Just like we all have to do later. But sometimes I think: If I had to do one of the two away: Would that be the "old" or the "Real Classic"?

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