THE ROOTS OF THE RIDERS LAND
Romagna, a piece of ground overlooking the sea and embraced by mountains.
Year after year from the early days of the 20th century the people who live here always had a strange attraction for the two wheels. Starting from the bicycles passing through the first example of “motoleggere” till the modern superbikes. Most of them built in private garages, with a lot of passion, sacrifices and sometimes with innovative ideas! Facing the laws when it was forbidden to ride in downtown. Facing the fate, with those tire and protection gears, not present. And a piece of that madness spanned though years to get in here. Every September the MotoGP lands in Romagna. Every year, if you are here, you'll always a chance to take part in this great Motorsport event. MotoGP, the Master Class, it brings every time tons of fans, riders, and petrolheads. And during that week a lot of conventions and conferences enrich the days before the Main Event.
One of those was Pulsioni, and it talked about the history and the people and the facts that permeate the Romagna land. Laura D'Amico, the author, but first of all, a friend of mine, collected all of these stories inside a book, that got the same name as the talk show, here a copy of the book. And in my opinion, it’s one of the two most important manifestoes about Motorcycle in Romagna. The second one was written in the mid of the 70s by Luigi Rivola, a real Virgilio of motorcyclist movement in Romagna. He started from the bottom, the last years of the XIX century, to describe the clan of the two wheels. From bicycle to the motorcycle, passing through the first race on the oval tracks, Imola and Santamonica. Sold out for years.
The second event represents the roots of the passion for two wheels. A red thread of fate that connects Romagna to the motorcycles. The Roots of Riders Land it’s the name, and inside the amazing landscape of Malatesta Castle, I found probably the most representative bikes of the last 40 years. Nuovo Motoclub Renzo Pasolini organized this amazing exhibition with the intention to show pieces of our story. This was not self-congratulation: it’s the reality. That concerns us all. Like drops in a stretch of water that create concentric circles, extending themselves toward the infinite, every rider, from the national race till the most important world series, they act in the same way: spreading passion, sacrifices, anger, hunger, joy in every direction. Echoes from a piece of land settled between the mountains and the sea.
Ladies and Fellas:
The Roots of Riders Land. Starting with the Divas.
And the forerunner is the oldest: Paolo Aluigi's Yamaha TD2 m.y. 1970
Daughter of the street-legal DS, the TD, and TR series represented the "back to basic" aim of Yamaha. In 1968, abandoned the water-cooled V4 way, Yamaha decided to focus its energy on the most reliable and not expensive air-cooled parallel twin. The TD2 was a great racing machine, able to gain the significant power of 44hp at 10000rpm. And it was also affordable, it cost as a Norton Commando. Described as "absurdly simple" was really efficient: a TD2 won in 1969 the German GP at an average of 100mph. Paolo also told me that the aim of every rider is to reach max performance on his bike: and so, after many miles, it's necessary to change only a few things. Like: the Ceriani forks, Fontana brakes, and if really really, really indispensable, a 6-speed german gears. The TD/TR series were efficient and reliable bikes, as long as you did the maintenance work.
Morbidelli 125 GP 1976/1977
Giancarlo Morbidelli, main character in the motorcycles GP in Italia in the 60s,70s, and 80s was first of all a real race addicted, and with the help of the engineer Jorg Moeller, through the mid-1970s, introduced probably one of the best 125cc. This parallel-twin was able to gain 41hp at 14500rpm and a top speed of 235kmh. Weight? Insanely light: 80kg. With bikes like these, Pileri in 1975 first, and Bianchi (from Renzo Pasolini Motoclub, of course)for the next two years won the World Riders and Factory Championships 1976-1976-1977.
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