Hello from Monferrato!

[paolo]

Hello everybody!  I'm Paolo, 62 yrs old.   Bought a second hand '20 Tenerè  three months ago from a friend who switched to AT1100.

I had my first bike, a Benelli 2C125SE when I was 17, kept it just the time required to get the car driving licence and a car.  A few years later I bought a Suzuki gsx400fws from my brother, which I rode for not more then 10.000 km in ten years, then I sold it when my daughter was born.  I wasn't particularly fond of bikes, I had never ridden offroad, I'm more a car guy (I regularly do trackdays).

 

Three years ago I felt it was time for a two wheel again: I live in a small village in hilly countryside of Monferrato (northwestern Italy), with plenty of white roads just out of the doorstep.  White roads up the hills, along the valleys, in the woods.  Roads which I knew by foot and on MTB.  I just realized that a motorbike would allow me to go farther, quicker and with less fatigue.  I therefore bought a Caballero 500 Scrambler 'cause I wanted something easy and light that I could ride on road and offroad.   Made a few trips with it: down to the seaside in Liguria, up the alps on military roads, and obviously on the white roads around my village.  This led me to find out that, beyond easy white roads, there are also woodtracks and singletracks.  And, as inexperienced as I was (and still am), the Caballero wasn't ideal: I layed it down many times, broke both brake levers and clutch lever in more than one occasion, found myself panting to lift it up in some 'uneasy' situations.  I therefore decided to sell the Caballero and buy something more suitable: an used CRF300L.  Much more  capable offroad, still usable on roads for short trips (up to 100/150 kms), but absolutely not good for passengers (both my wife and my daughter, 25, appreciated trips with the Caballero).  I enjoyed the CRF a lot offroad (last year  several offroad trips in Monferrato and on the military roads of the piedmontese Alps), but I missed the occasional trip to the seaside with my wife.    I therefore sold the Caballero and bought the T7 from a longtime friend.  It came with barkbusters, HPCorse exhaust, gel seat, GiVi rear case, wrapping, tidetail, led indicators and spare Karoos 3. I added sidebars and had it lowered 2 cms, that's all.

Both my wife and my daughter like the T7 much more than the Caballero: more confortable, smoother engine, less on-off, grab handles within easy reach.

But, who cares of them both!  I like the T7 a lot!  Very easy and fun on road (Pirelli STRs give me a lot of confidence), recently had a roadblast on the Ligurian Alps with a couple of friends (AT1100 and Tiger 800) and I never had to ride beyond my (scarce) capabilities to keep their pace (they both are much more experienced than me).

Last sunday I took it for my first offroad experience on white roads nearby.  It had rained the previous week: no problem on light gravel roads with puddles, I feel it very stable on dry on almost dry surfaces, but had some difficulties in the muddy sections in the woods...  I found myself on a very muddy downhill slope and, both with ABS on and off, I had to paw very slowly for hundreds of meters.  I think STRs are very good on road, more than acceptable on dry offroad, but don't handle the mud (unless you're a pro, which I'm definitely not).

I'm now happy with my two bikes: short hard offroad trips with the CRF, road trips and easy offroad with the T7.

 

Well, I' think I've written even too much for a noob, I thank whoever goes through the struggle of reading this long presentation.

Before joining I lurked the forum for a while: I like the attitude of the members and I found many interesting subjects.

Happy to be here!

 

 

 

[AZJW]

Welcome from Arizona.   I had to look up the term " White roads" as I hadn't heard the term used before. Gravel eh? The pictures I saw of your area looked fantastic and looking forward to seeing more of the countryside in your part of the world. 

[thepointchris]

Welcome from the place of the Strade Bianche! Enjoy the new horse and be safe, and post often. 

[Tenerider]

Welcome to the club! I've always dreamed of riding strade bianche with my cyclocross bike, but even more with my T7!

Italy is a fantastic place for offroad riding - it's definitely on my bucket list.

A lot of us agree with you on the STRs. Fantastic onroad, ok on gravel (as long as there are no round stones) and definitely not good in mud.

[qInvention]

Welcome on board @paolo !

please post often and show us pictures of your area.

Greetings from Luxembourg