The first weekend of February, on the slopes of Etna, spectacular with a snow scarf, I took part in one panel discussion and tessellated like a Metzeler Six Days Extreme train. We are talking about the tire developed by the Pirelli Experimentation Center in Giarre directed by the landlord Salvo Pennisi. Someone who when he summons you to Sicily to ride a motorbike is like a call to arms: you can’t say no to him. Exactly Salvo The Preacher is the procurer of the enduros that await us, fully rubberized and registered, for this raid with a high rate of arancini and mule tracks. With us are the highest institutional offices in the motorcycle world. The Boss Paolo Magri, President of Confindustria Ancma and managing director of Eicma, declares a certain allergy to electricity by jumping on a Husqvarna TE 300 2T as nuanced as Etna.
More politically correct is the choice of the KTM 350 EXC-F made by IMF President and FIM Vice President Giovanni Copioli, renamed with a great collective leap of imagination The President. At the first stony ground we understand that Pennisi and his picciotti have ambushed us. The immediate attempt to escape by the native clan was nipped in the bud by Paolo Magri, ready to show off his incorruptible skills as a former official Enduro rider. Giovanni Copioli also climbs like an ibex, who, given how fast he drives, doesn’t need to remind us of his enviable curriculum in Motorally and his Romagna origins.
The CRF300RX by also comes out of nowhere Charles Fiorani, The Japanese. The Honda Europe Racing manager hid in the rear, waiting to pull his paw in the Nebrodi Special. As a Rookie, I attend this round table that degenerated into the Trinacria Enduro Trophy, over 60 category.
How can I get paid from them, I, the only under 50 in the race, admitted by way of derogation from the regulation thanks to a case of cannoli? I keep going for six hours of true enduro, rolling over only on the final mule track, in a stoic attempt to overtake despite my forearms having been seized for some time. He arrives and picks me up Fabio Muner, FIM marketing and communication director. He has a nice dented Beta RR 350. We will rename him The Stuntman.
In the evening, in front of a bottle of Etna Doc that stands out among cold cuts and cheeses at the center of our round table, we find the right atmosphere to discuss all the topics that are at the heart of industry, institutions and those like us who do communication. Starting from exorbitant access costs for driving schools, licenses and insuranceespecially since only direct compensation policies can be stipulated (January 1, 2023). Then there is the issue of safety which above all frightens parents and stimulates Ancma, the IMF and Motorcycling to fight for the Government to introduce training courses in schools and an economic incentive for the purchase of certified technical clothing. Inevitable to complain often merciless conditions of our roads. At our table, the industry, well represented by the world leader in motorcycles (Honda) and the European leader in tires (Pirelli), exalts the great opportunities of green mobility but, with the accomplice of the second glass of red, also uncensoredly underlines the obvious contradictions.
He concludes with the scarce availability and rising prices of the raw material, which inevitably has a negative impact on list prices and product availability. How much sense a reshoring of our industry would make! I listen to them, I take note. How much competence and how much effort at the service of the bike crackle at this table. And yet empty chairs remain.
The daredevils who this morning ingarellava on Etna as when they were twenty years are the plastic representation of the biggest problem: lack of young people. We are fifty, sixty, up to seventy years old and a passion for motorcycles that kids don’t know burns inside us. If we think of them we cannot limit ourselves to that hint of regret that characterizes the relationship between fathers and sons when the baton is not passed. Rather, we have to find a way to intercept them, without their passion for smartphones becoming our alibi. Are the 125s we see in the windows really as captivating as they used to be? And is the narration that Motociclismo has been making of our world for 110 years really tuned into their channels? Because there is a glimmer of light, if it is true as it is true that the FIM and IMF register a sharply growing number of under-30 members in recent years. Paraphrasing a much more famous journalist than yours truly, to bring them on board perhaps it would be enough not to treat them as webeti.
This is the editorial of the March issue of Motociclismo, which you can find on newsstands these days. The cover is dedicated to one of the main 2023 novelties: the return of the legendary Honda Transalp. Within the number, the tests of Ducati Diavel V4, Kawasaki Ninja 650 and Z650, Suzuki V-Strom 1050DE, the challenge between the Harley-Davidson Pan America Special and Zero DSR/X. And again, the comparison of mechanical anti-theft devices, technology, tourism… and much more!
