A visit to a private museum whose photos you won't see :)

Early November, the weather is mild, incredibly warm even for the region. Is it global warming? Does nature love bikers? We are but fragile insects in the face of the immensity that surrounds us... Anyway, I have an appointment at Galb Motorworks

for a ride between Lille and Kortrijk in Belgium. We have a date there to visit a private collection of Italian motorcycles (Moto Guzzi, Moto Morini, Ducati, MV Agusta, to name the most famous) from the 60s and 70s. The guys are there with their bikes: BMW R75, Ducati Monstro, Harley Davidson XR 1200, Kawasaki 650Z, Kawasaki W650 Gentlemen’s Factory, Harley Davidson Sportster 1200. We set off calmly on the back roads, crossing the border with a light throttle, apart from a few wheelies from Benjamin on his Harley, nothing to report...

We stop to check the route; we want to waste time and get lost on the country roads, the communal roads as they are called here. Benjamin wants to ride down the field below with the W650. With his Gentlemen’s Factory windbreaker on his back, he tears into the field throttle wide open, fortunately dry and soft. It doesn't take much to get the others to follow suit. It quickly turns into a mess in the wheat field; the bikes slide while the sleeping residences line the field and a few residents are already at their windows. Antoine, Anthony, Benjamin, Nico, and Thibault ignore my gestures trying to stop the winter plowing. Finally, the landowner with his machine puts an end to this nice mess, luckily, because we lost the kickstand spring of the W650 Gentlemen’s Factory. The kickstand drags on the asphalt. I pull the cord from the windbreaker and end up tying it up so it doesn't fall anymore. We meet the Belgian team in a pub in Kortrijk. Pierre, with his Ruby Castel helmet on and on his customized off-road Triumph Bonneville, offers us a drift-style city tour. I'm always impressed to see what these kids are capable of with motorcycles that, at base, aren't designed for drifting, wheelies, and other jumps on embankments and street furniture. Years of motocross for some and track riding for others... In the end, we almost forgot the visit to the private museum, a feast for the eyes but unfortunately, I promised not to take photos because the owner wants to remain very discreet for security and tax evasion reasons :)

In action in this series of photos: Bell jet motorcycle helmets, Barstow 100% goggles, Gentlemen's Factory windbreaker