Our Story

So yep that’s me and you are probably wondering how I ended up here …….. There I was a lightly travelled Englishman in the depths of Oregon at the start of our 3rd coast to coast motorcycle trip. We (my best friend Alex and I) arrived in Eugene Oregon to stay with our old friends Frank Tyler and Dave Morgan for a 2 week bike tour to shake down our latest bike purchases.
Dave and Trish had sold their motorcycle dismantling business and so it was with great surprise when we went to view our latest “weapons of choice” for the forthcoming trip that we discovered a whole heap of motorcycle parts and motorcycles in parts. I wandered round in awe and soon noticed the vast majority were Italian bikes and parts. Dave informed us that these parts were from his buddy Dwyane Dulong’s estate. Dwyane had passed away suddenly, and his sister was overwhelmed with dealing with the probate and legalities.
I wandered around some more and noticed a sweet back end of an old black tatty Guzzi poking out of a line of old bikes. This was the bike we now know as the Eldy. She is a very original 1974 Moto Guzzi 850 Eldorado. She had been Dwayne’s main form of two wheeled transport for many many years. No-one really knows how he came by her, whenever I ask people, they just smile and say dunno but that was how we knew where he was or where he was going, as that old bike had a special sound (it still has by the way) and you would hear him coming. So, I asked the question is it for sale. Dave said with a grin “probably, but not to you”. A little irritated I asked why and the response was that Dwyane never wanted her restored and shiny. So I stuttered that I wouldn’t restore it and Dave promised to pose the question to his sister when it was the right time. So there it was the start of Willy Wonkas Everlasting motorcycle purchase with a 3 year wait. We rode our holiday ride around Oregon in 2019 left our bikes at Daves to come back in 2020, on the way home we stayed in a small town called Grants Pass not knowing that Grants Pass would become significant to me later.
It took 3 years to get back to Eugene and in those 3 years Cancer came, changed my life forever and thankfully left. Covid came and went twice. Lock downs happened and the way the world worked and played changed significantly. Back home the Eldy was never far from my mind and plenty of leg pulling from mates about never getting it and it would never happen etc etc.
Out of the blue I got a facebook message from Trish saying I had better re register my interest in the Eldy as Dave was getting ready to sell her. I duly did so, and we agreed to wait until we arrived to complete the 3rd USA coast to coast adventure. We rocked up in Eugene excited for the trip, but I was doubly excited to see the Eldy. Dave had performed a gearbox transplant and flywheel re-section and although cosmetically challenged there she was. Dave chucked the keys at me and said you’d better ride her as there aint a warranty. I can’t say it was love at first sight as that happened 3 years prior. It confirmed to me that this bike was a keeper. We did about 5 or 6 miles and she spoke to me all the way. A deal was struck, and she was mine. I arranged for shipping and the next I knew was a FB post showing her loaded on a trailer with some cars for shipping to San Fran, she was off on part 1 of her journey to her retirement to Sussex, England. A lady posted in reply saying that she would miss the bike and hoped she would be looked after. I replied to Roxanne and my life changed again forever …..