Why?
Because I am an Italian living in Belgium, speaking English for work but forced to speak French for all the rest. I say forced because I still have a lot to learn, and everyday is a challenge - especially when you would like to express super-easy concepts but you fall short of words to do it.
That's exactly my approach to French right now.
I live in Brussels - better, in Anderlecht - since October 2016. Before moving to sunny and shiny Belgium, I always lived close to Rome. Italy is amazing, and I don't say it just because I am Italian. Honestly, I don't miss at all commuting every day and working in such a chaotic and hyper-stressing environment like Rome: the eternal city is definitely much better for tourists than for locals. But it comes without saying that Rome, as well as my whole country, has unparalleled beauties to offer to people who love to be surprised and astonished.
Bikers do not make any exception.
Since I was 16, I have always ridden motorbikes. I started with an amazing and lovely Yamaha YBR 125: more than a motorbike, it was a piece of iron full of problems and with a ridiculous power. It was absolutely less performing than any other 125cc on the market, small (especially for a big guy as I am and always was) and unstable. But it was my first motorbike, and first motorbikes are like first lovers, we all know that. It made me feel for the first time the incredible taste of the wind during a spring day on an unknown road. It brought me around the streets of my region (and a bit beyond), and with it I discovered so many incredible places that I had never heard about.
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| YBR125 on the Lake of Castelgandolfo (Rome, Italy) |
In a nutshell, it made me step up from the typical kid riding a 50cc scooter to a biker. Big word, for sure disproportionate considering the size of my YBR, but I felt exactly like that. Riding 100, 150 or even 200 km in one day with that iron thing was a huge achievement: more or less, I could say, like going to an Elefantreffen (the winter rally for crazy bikers taking place in Germany every year) with an hyper-equipped BMW. When I sold it, after 4 years and 27.000 km (almost of them ridden during the last year), I felt like if a piece of me was going away. So sad.
After the epic YBR, I moved to a Suzuki Marauder 250. At that time (and somehow still today), I was fascinated about customs. Chrome, noise, filth: it was all part of an imagery that I cultivated since I used to watch Renegade on TV, before dinner, when I was a kid. So, when I found this second-hand motorbike, which really seemed to be in great conditions and was sold for a great price, I said to myself that it could have been a good chance to fulfill my dream.
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| Marauder 250 at the repair shop (as usual) |
However, the motorbike was sh*t. In one year, it spent more time at the repair shop than with me on the road. I will not indulge on the numerous troubles it had. The real problem is that it made me feel unsafe and thus unwilling to ride my way. It was supposed to be the motorbike for the first long journeys, but it turned out to be a piece of iron much worse than the smaller and less powerful YBR. Just one (trashy yet proud) remark: in all of this, I managed to install a stereo (!) that I bought from an American company. Two waterproof speakers mounted on the ride bar, with music coming from an mp3 player. I felt incredibly cool with my rock music so loud along the street. Today I would feel ashamed as hell - but I cannot swear that I would never do it again. I am trashy inside, after all.
After the nth mechanical problem, I decided that the Marauder had exhausted its chances. The following "horse" that I rode was a Honda Hornet 600 - a real monster, compared to the previous ones. 102hp for more than 200km/h maximum speed. Nothing to compare with my previous motorbikes - but, in line with the tradition of Honda, immediate feeling and no sense of discomfort.
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| Hornet in Sardinia (Italy) |
With the Hornet I really started to travel. I explored Italy from North to South, islands included. I tried to avoid highways as much as possible and I discovered incredible places especially in the centre of Italy. However, although the motorbike was excellent, comfortable and super-performing, I was never really satisfied. I am not a fan of speed. I don't like fast- and hard-cornering because I am not a pilot, but a motorbike-and-street-enjoyer, if I am allowed to use this expression. For this reason, the impressing Hornet never really conquered my heart. It was cool, powerful and reliable, but it was not my motorbike.
I discovered what my motorbike could be when Honda released this new medium-cc series of model called - in a romantic way for those who knew the original series - "CB". CB were amazing motorbikes produced starting 1979 which shaped the role that Honda played in the motorcycle world in the following decades. After the CB series stopped being produced in the 2000s, Honda decided to give new life to this historical name by marketing three new models, namely CB500R (the sporty one), CB500F (the naked) and CB500X (the crossover). The latter was the one. I had never taken crossover motorbikes really into consideration, but as I saw it I decided that it would have been my new steed. Period.
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| CB500X along the Cinque Terre route (La Spezia, Italy) |
I know, I know: I am not a consistent guy. A naked (or whatever the YBR was supposed to be), a custom, another naked and then a crossover. I never had very clear ideas and tastes, or I always wanted to try something new. You can choose. Whatever the answer, I can say that, so far, the CB500X is the best motorbike I ever had. In just 2 years I rode 40.000 km (previously, 32.000 km in 4 years with the Hornet). I used it for everything: daily commuting to work, going out with friends, regardless of weather or temperature. With a top-case and two side-bags I felt invincible. Better than the Hornet, the CB could also do a bit of offroad (but just a bit - I am not even a fan of that and, honestly, I have no idea of how to ride safely when asphalt disappears). I travelled a lot: every Sunday, I was always checking the map and choosing new places to visit. It really made me feel again, for the first time after the YBR, a biker with an incredible desire to put on my helmet and leave.
And then what happened?
Then it happened that I had to move to Brussels. A city in a country where the sun never shines and where temperatures and weather, especially during the winter, do not easily allow for Sunday trips on two wheels. With a lot of sadness in my heart, I sold my motorbike, which was in amazing conditions, to my ex tango teacher and I resigned myself to an indefinite period without a motorbike. In the new city it would have not made sense to bring my old bike. Also for this reason, I was not enthusiast to move - and, if I have to be honest, I am still not happy to live here.
After one year in which I could not know for sure whether I would remain in Belgium and for how long, I got the job I wanted but, at the same time, the certainty that Brussels would be my home for long years ahead of me.
Do you know what I first did? Yes, you know.
I bought a new motorbike, of course. And, no particular surprise, I bought the same that I had before leaving Italy. Okay: not exactly the same, as it is the restyled model and it is no more red but grey. But still, the CB500X is back with me. And with my favourite motorbike ever I want to travel this rainy country and neighbouring places, and start again the discovery of places that could take my breath away.
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| The new CB500X in Wallonia |
I know that Belgium is much more than Brussels and the other major cities - Brugge, Gand, Mechelen, Antwerp, Liège. And for this reason I want to explore it all and convince myself that, although I will never enjoy Italian landscapes and warm and nice weather, I can still feel again as a motorbike-and-street-enjoyer, as I said above.
And I would like to share my trips. Maps, pictures, stories.
For those who love motorbikes in the BeNeLux, but not for those who wear a leather suit on Sunday just to travel on state street and play the cool guys. For those who are curious about places and use the motorbike to live the journey and not only the destination.
