Saturday, May 24, 2014

Party Party - the night before the main conference

All Japan Le Mans Conference is not just a day event. In fact, 80 members stayed in a traditional Japanese Inn called Nakadana-sou.



It is not easy to find a hotel or an Inn to accept such a big party of motorcycle riders. The female manager of Nakadana-sou herself is a rider and this is the 2nd time she kindly accepts the big party after the 4th Le Mans Conference in 2012.

Entrance of the Inn has become a conference reception
 With some of the members' bikes are displayed

Mint condition early LM1 and  V7 sport with Kawasaki Mach


 Ice Blue LM1 is cool

A T3 and 2 loops


Registering at the reception, you receive a name card and a Pin badge


 T-shirt in 2 variations, Le Mans and Loop, are also available 


After checking in, I went to the authentic hot spring to refresh



Then Guzzi lovers just watch bikes and talk about bikes


I love this blue painted T3. It's so beautiful.  The owner Taremayu-san came from Kyushu Isaland 1000km away. Unfortunately he had some engine troubles and could only run up to 70kph, and on the way back he stalled.



More Guzzis in the 2nd parking


And the third

  

The white LM mkIII with gold lines on the side cover is mine

4th parking. Somehow quite a number of Guzzista also own BMW RS. Is it so in your country also?




Finally, dinner time.
 80 members got together



All we talk about is Moto Guzzi and other motorcycles.


Each member is requested to bring a present which will be randomly exchanged.
 Present could be a Guzzi part, miniature, something silly, sometime something erotic...

  
He has got an Italian flag! We all love Italy and Italian bikes.

I got a lubricant anda pair of Guzzi guards.

The chairman Ducaman gives a speech. He is the man who started the conference 6 years ago.
 It must have been a great effort for him and the host members to organize such big event with 80 accommodation.



 At 9pm, we move from the restaurant to a hall in the Inn. Night is long and we continue drinking and talking.


On Sunday morning, we took a group shot. Fabulous moment that I felt united.

And it was not easy to move 80 motorcycles from the Inn to Mototeca Coffee shop where we held the main conference.

The story continues...


Thursday, May 22, 2014

All Japan 6th Le Mans Conference

One May 11th, 2014, more than 120 Moto Guzzis got together in Karuizawa, a resort in the center of Japan.




It definitely is the largest event in Japan with Moto Guzzi, and is not sponsored by a manufacturer or any company. 6 years ago, a few members started a gathering and it continued to grow bigger and bigger every year.

Actually, it was my first participation. I only started riding a Guzzi V7 Stone in August 2013, and bought a 1984 white Le Mans mkIII 5weeks prior to the event. So, I am the one with the shortest experience with Moto Guzzi among the 138 participants of the conference, but the event was so impressive even to a new comer like me.


More than 8 loops. How many loops are there in Japan?



7 genuine Le Mans Is and 5 converted-to-mkI-look Le Mans IIs.

More than 13 Le Mans mkIII among which 4 were white





3 whities in a row
The left one is mine.



Thumb up!

Another white LM3 is repainted with a beautiful pearl white


Each participant is given a peace of post it to vote by putting it on a front fender of the bike you like most aside from your own.


Best bike with the largest number of post it  in each category such as "The Best Loop", "The Best Le Mans", "One that came long way with troubles" and so one. Winner is awarded by the Chairman, Mr. Ducaman (left) with a memorial sticker.

She won the most number of the post it.
Very impressively painted V50


Total of 138 bikes with more than 120 Guzzis
Japan's Guzzista spent couple of  hours enjoying conversations under the sun about Guzzi.

But it was not the all part of the Le Mans Conference... continued



Introduction - a start of Moto Guzzi life

Hi. I own two MotoGuzzis in Japan and just had a wonderful experience with more than 100 Guzzi lovers getting togther in Karuizawa, a resort town, 150km away from Tokyo.

I finished 5 years assignment in the UK and returned to Japan last year.  I used to have a Honda CB750(RC42) and tried several Honda bikes and found none to satisfy my feeling. Like the old air-cooled CB, what I wanted was something handy, something human, something that makes me want to ride farther.

 A magazine ad of Moto Guzzi Japan caught my attention. A brand new V7 Stone was given a  priced tag of only 898,000yen. What a joke! A Moto Guzzi is cheaper than Japan made 750s? Thanks to the soaring yen, it was not a joke, but a benefit of exchage-rate.

I went to a dealer and tried a test bike, and became an owner of a black Guzzi V7 Stone.


The Guzzi has a human-heart beat. I took it to curvy roads,  metropolitan highways, every weekend some weekday evening.


At the end of the year, I went to ride with friends to a famous fish market. There, at the parking, I saw some old Guzzis.
 Ambassador


A modified California called Florida


Lodora!


I was quite impressed with these Moto Guzzis and found their blogs and was even more impressed how much the enjoy the old Guzzis. The beat and the vibe they described in their blogs made me so interested. There seemed to be a deeper world of Moto Guzzi than what I had experienced with the latest V7 stone.

I could not stop my emotion to step into that deep forest. Yes, the old Guzzista in Japan call themselves residents of an abnormal forest. And I was so tempted into it..

I found a white Le Mans mkIII in a nearby Guzzi specialit shop, and could not help to make a downpayment.


It was about 2 months ago and was the start of my life in the deep forest of old Guzzi.

The bike was perfectly prepared by the Moto Guzzi specialist shop in Tokyo called RIPARARE, and was handed over to me at the end of March.


The old 850cc Guzzi engine knocked me out. The sound and beat makes you feel the bike is alive.


At the age of 50, a new chapter in my life started.