For most of May I have worked part-time and have really enjoyed the new balance between working and non-working days. This new working pattern stemmed from the fact that 30% and I had planned to spend a few days down on The Gower at the beginning of the month. That mini-break got cancelled, so, with the agreement of my Boss, I rescheduled my three days of holiday across the entire month. Basically I tacked them on to the weekends. This gave me three four day weeks and one three day week, as I took advantage of the two Bank Holidays.
Although I was allegedly not working, my days was already looking fairly busy. I had arranged for "the impulse buy" to be serviced and MOT'd down at Arden Motorcycles in Alcester. We also had a couple coming back for a second viewing of The Pile. As a consequence I was either schlepping to and fro between home and Alcester or tidying up the house and garden.
Today I thought I'd jot down the story of the impulse buy...
TP and I like to go the Motorcycle Live event in Birmingham. It takes place every year around the time of his Birthday and, as we both love bikes, it's an event that we can both enjoy together and relate to it on equal terms. 30% likes to call it "male bonding". I suppose I see it as a maturing of our father/son relationship.
We attended the event back in 2018 and, frankly, we were not overly impressed with the styling of the 2019 models being presented. They looked very similar to each other and their ultra-modern styling didn't appeal to either of us. We found ourselves drawn to the more retro designs being produced by manufacturers such as Triumph, Royal Enfield ... and Moto Guzzi.
We lingered at the Guzzi display and both agreed that every one of their limited range of models was a delight of Italian design and individuality. Their transversely mounted, air cooled V-twin engines are a prominent feature and were proudly incorporated in to the designs. It is fair to say we both rather liked them.
For the preceding few years Moto Guzzi had been very successful with their V7 model range and one model had really caught my eye. In 2016 they went from the V7 ii to the V7 iii and produced a limited edition model called the V7 ii Stornello. It is a Street Scrambler design with a red, tubular frame, white paintwork on the tank and brushed aluminium mudguards. It was a lovely bike, but there were only one thousand of them spread across the whole planet.
Our experience at the Bike Show rekindled my interest in the Stornello and, shortly after the event, I casually entered the model in to a Google search field. I found a beauty about sixty miles away and, on impulse made a call to the Seller. It was eighteen months old with only 1600 miles on the odometer. The previous owner had bought it new, ridden it for a while and then px'd it against another bike. After a very short discussion with 30%, I put down a holding deposit and arranged to view it...
By early December it was delivered and I couldn't wait to see the look on TP's face when he came home for Christmas and saw what his idiot Father had gone and done.
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Post script: The purchase of the Guzzi was really the death knell for the Bonneville. They both had the roughly the same amount of power, but the MG was much lighter and consequently performed and rode far better than the Bonnie ever would. Its limited edition status also gave it an individuality that the Bonneville could never attain.
I would have added a picture in this entry but the Stornello is embarrassingly filthy, so that will have to wait until after I have "thrown a bucket of water over her".
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