Malaguti Grizzly

I love motorbikes, and particularly off-road ones. I started riding motorbikes when I was five years old, with a 1 speed 50cc Malaguti Grizzly. I bought it second-hand, and the first time I tried it it was really slow, so my father and I unmounted it completely, discovering that the pipe was full of old combustion grease (called morchia in italian). After cleaning it it started working quite well, but my father kept modifying it until it reached amazing speeds (at least 70kph) for a bike of that height. During the five years in which I used it almost every piece was broken and changed. I even managed to break the rear mud protection doing a stunt. It was a great first bike, as it always had problems starting up, and all the others seemed very good by comparison.

Rivara

When I got nine the Grizzly became too little for me (and my brother was five, so it was his turn to use it), so my dad bought me a 4 speeds 50cc Rivara. Even if it was marketed as a motocross bike it had a very trial-like engine. It was very slow (only a bit faster than the Grizzly) but it could climb even the steepest hill at slow speed. As it was my first multispeed bike I had to learn to change speed with it, and it wasn't easy. Luckily enough it had a very good starting system which enabled me not to despair.

Fantic 240 and 200

Aroung 2002 even the Rivara was becoming too small. So I started using either the Fantic Trial 200 or the 240, depending on which one was available at the moment. Theorically the 240 belongs to my mother, but she let me use it. They were my first true trial bikes, along with my first Fantic. Furthermore, they're almost the same as the Fantic 125 I now use on road.

Fantic 125

When I got 16 I took the Patente A, which basically is the italian 125cc driving license (it enables to drive/ride both motorbikes and cars up  to 125cc (for bikes) and 15hp (which is  something like 11kw) In order to be able to drive on the road I had to buy a 125cc bike (actually it is exactly the same as the 200, but italian law is stupid). I found on ebay a wonderful Fantic Trial 125 from 1979, the first year in which Fantic did a trial bike. It is a good trial bike, but on the road it is very slow and it deosn't brake quite enough. It also has the drawback of having to mix fuel with engine oil prior to putting it in the tank. The best thing about it is that being an historical bike it can circulate everywhere and at any moment, even when the traffic is closed.

Caballero 50

The Caballero 50 of 1997 is a wonderful motocross bike, capable of doing all sort of stunts. I've had it only for a couple of motnhs, doing which it easily demonstrated to be far better thna the Honda CRE of the same year I also have. It is going to be my brother's bike when he gets 14.

Caballero 125

The Caballero 125 of 1975 was my dad's bike when he was 16. It is a very good enduro bike, altough it is very heavy end little powerful. It is undergoing a restauration which will allow us to use it as an historical bike (and which will allow me to use it on-road, where it is much better than the one I'm using now). This restauration will probably be finished before the end of September, as it is already perfectly working, and onlya few detalis are missing.

Fantic 307

The Fantic 307 was probably the best "old style" trial bike ever built by Fantic, and the last one to win the world championship. It is the bike I now use in the mountains for the really hard trips.