Let me tell you about my experience in the 2007 Vermont MotoGiro USA Rally www.motogiro-usa.com/ with my Honda 70 engine restored by Enzo. This rally is sponsored by the United States Classic Racing Association www.race-uscra.com/ and sanctioned by the American Motorcyclist Association www.ama-cycle.org/. Participants must be members of both organizations.

I’ve always had an appreciation for the classic bikes of the 60’s & 70’s and wish i could own more than the 2 that i have from that era When I open a motorcycle magazine, I search for articles about classic bikes first. Those articles are my favorites. I really liked the May 2007 issue of the AMA American Motorcyclist magazine www.home.ama-cycle.org/membersonly/magazine/issue_dl.asp

It has an article about the 2006 Vermont Classic MotoGiro USA, an event I had never heard of. The article is about a bunch of 1960s bikes riding through the fall colors in Vermont. Does it get any better than that?

The article gets me thinking: I’ve still got that first bike – the Honda CL-70. Dad bought it for me when I was 14 years old. Now, 37 years later, I’m a Dad and I have a son in college in Vermont. That rally sure would be fun . . . . I wonder if I could take that old bike to the next Vermont MotoGiro USA and also visit my son in Vermont?

Enzo tears the engine down and puts it back together so it looks and runs as good as new. He does not do halfway measures. My starter shaft has splines that are marginal, so Enzo replaces it. My shift drum is found to be broken. It is a part that seldom breaks and is discontinued. Enzo tells me not to worry. He’s prepared to get the part welded and machined or get one from a junk engine if necessary. Turns out he doesn’t have to do either – he finds a new OEM part that has been on someone’s shelf for decades. Problem solved, thanks to Enzo and his contacts and sources.

Enzo also provides a new chrome clutch cover as his contribution for the high profile rally! The engine comes back beautiful. The rest is up to me.

My wife’s part of the garage is taken up with the assembly project. Fortunately, she wants to go to Vermont too, so there aren’t many complaints.

During assembly, I get Enzo’s reassuring advice by phone and email. The engine is done, but I need advice on other things. Enzo talks me through installing wheel bearings and swing arm bushings. I misplace an exhaust spacer needed to close the exhaust and start to panic. The rally requires the bike to be street legal. A quick call to Enzo. He takes an exhaust spacer from his own personal bike that very afternoon and overnights it to me so I can make the rally! Enzo seems almost as excited about the rally as I am. He assures me he will help with any problem if he can. He loans me some spare carburetor jets in case I need them.

So that’s how I get to Vermont, fourteen hours by interstate from my home in Virginia. On the cool Saturday morning of the Motogiro start, the parking lot of the Grey Bonnet Inn at Killington is filled with wet classic motorcycles. It’s raining steadily on Enzo’s new engine. Well, I think of it as Enzo’s. It’s actually my old engine which is about to get muddy and dirty zooming around rural Vermont. I think of it as Enzo’s because he made it like new in every way that matters.

I’m looking out the rain streaked window at the busy activities prepping the bikes, tending them like eager horses on a brisk morning. I hear the rally organizers spreading the word: “The rider’s meeting is postponed one hour due to the rain.” I fold the route sheet carefully to fit in the clear map pocket on the sleeve of my jacket.

Finally, the time comes for the delayed riders’ meeting in the cozy, warm Grey Bonnet Inn.

Next, they send the bikes off at thirty second intervals in the cool rain. Enzo’s engine pulls like a racehorse for 225 miles over two days, up hill, down hill, on paved roads, gravel roads, dirt roads, in the rain and in the dry. On long paved up hills, I’ve got my nose to the handlebars, feet on the back pegs, throttle wide open. I’m constantly checking the rally directions in the map pocket on my left sleeve; checking the wristwatch strapped to the handlebar; and trying to be on the lookout for the posted rally arrows marking the route.

I see bikes pull out because they start throwing oil, or because they won’t start, or because they break down. I’m grateful I had Enzo to prep this engine. All day that rainy Saturday and all day the next beautiful Sunday, the bike never hiccups once and I never doubt the bike will finish.

A 1966 Moto Guzzi single 125cc rides with me during much of the rally. The Moto Guzzi engine is larger and also recently rebuilt, but that bike goes about the same speed as mine up and down the Vermont hills. It’s more exciting to ride these small old bikes at 45 mph than to ride a modern large bike at much faster speeds.

As the rally goes on, my confidence grows. I think to myself that it’s almost not fair that the other bikes did not have Enzo!

This is a timed rally with penalties for arriving at check points either early or late. There are several short obstacle courses of traffic cones – each assigned a certain number of seconds to complete. There are time penalties for setting a foot down or hitting a cone. Riders must adjust their speed to meet and not exceed the assigned times.

At the banquet Saturday evening, I talk with the other riders about the various classic bikes. One of the larger bikes (a Triumph, I think) is leading with less than seven seconds in penalties. Most of us have penalties measured in minutes, not seconds. My little scrambler is the only Honda 70 in the event. I am told by others that the little bikes like mine are the true spirit of the MotoGiro.

Late Sunday morning, the rally route brings me through a forest on an uphill, muddy road. At the summit, I break into a bright clearing with a long view of stunning mountains. The air is crisp and clean. Stretching to the horizon is the beauty of autumn in New England. It doesn’t get any better than this.
That afternoon, I’m proud to finish the rally and proud of the bike. I make mistakes as a first timer, make a few wrong turns, and my finish is nothing to brag about. But it is a great event and I have had lots of fun.

Meanwhile, my wife has been touring central Vermont on her own in the pickup truck. There are lots of nice things for her to do. For some reason I cannot understand, she is not fascinated by old motorcycles buzzing around with old geezers like me (mostly) riding like mad at top speed.

Afterward, the icing on the cake, we visit our son at The University of Vermont.

What a wonderful weekend. Thanks, Enzo. I could never have done it without you.

Joe Bowen
Tazewell, Va.