Italian Harley Davidson Man

An Italian’s love for Harley Davidsons

This good old friend of mine, Rodolfo Roiati, lives in Rocca Priora

(a nice mountain town right outside Rome, placed in the Roman Castles)

right around the corner from my me, has his 9th motorcycle of which

most were Harley Davison.

Rodolfo is 65 years old retired employee from the Regional Bus Company

(COTRAL) and happily married with two daughters and with 50 years of

bike riding on his back (or should I say “rear end”). Rodolfo started

as a young lad with small motorbikes working all his way up all up to

the Harley Davidson. He had 3 Harley Davidsons 1340 cc. A sporters 1200

cc, two Road Kings 1450 cc. and, somewhere in the middle, a Moto Guzzi

“California” (1992) with side car shown below. Now he is a proud owner

of a pure white “pearled” colored Harley Davidson 1450 cc… just gorgeous!!

He is also a member of the Alitalia Motorcycle Club, Harley Davidson

HOG Club, goes in all the Italian and European meetings. He is a biker!!

All the way!!

But let me ask him for a small and friendly interview while we’ on

the road to a bike meeting in Castel Gandolfo (the Pope’s summer residence).

A friend of his has a restaurant which he sold and will change owners

in while. Being an Harley Davidson man himself, he invited all the “wild

bunch” for a last (free)lunch. So we are meeting in Frascati, another

town in the Roman Castles about 12 miles from Rome.

Let me tell you that 99% of them are Harley Davidson men. All the

rest are welcome, of course but they all looked like Harley Davidson

men!!

Lets start with Rodolfo!!

• Q: “So, Rodolfo, isn’t it a shame that the

  Harley Davidson restaurant is closing and the owner is retiring??”

• A: “Mike don’t’ event mention it!! We all had

  great times over there and all of us are just about crying!!”

• Q: “We’ll be mostly Harley Davidson over there…

  why??”

• A: “Just one of our meeting points in the Castelli

  Romani area (Roman Castles an area right outside Rome) he’s a good

  old friend who retires from his business… but doesn’t retires

  from his Harley Davidson.

• Q: “OK lets leave the sentimental side for

  a second and have a short talk about “bikes”.

• A: “OK…shoot!”
• Q: “Tell me the difference between a Harley

  Davidson and other bikes like, for instance BMW!”

• A: “BMW is the Rolls Royce of the motorcycle

  industry while Harley Davidson is the Ferrari.

• Q: ” But you get a sore butt on a Harley Davidson

  on the long rides?”

• A: ” You get a sore butt on any motorbike when

  you take long rides!”

• Q: ” What will you buy after this Harley Davidson

  you own now?”.

• A: “Another Harley Davidson and I’ll keep going

  until I “croak like a frog!”.

• Q: ” I know that the Alitalia Harley Davidson

  HOG CLUB, has asked you to join them in the USA for the 100 years

  of the Harley Davidson founding. Is that correct?”.

• A: ” Yes, Mike, but its out of my money range

  even if the bikes were going to be shipped just about for free.

  They had in mind a trip across the entire USA… something I cant

  afford. Not yet anyways… we’ll see in the future.

Rodolfo is an “easy rider”. Never speeds nor does take useless risks.

Very in love with his Harley Davidson, he cleans it every day, especially

the chrome fixtures. All parts he added are Harley Davidson original

imported from the USA.

Well, Rodolfo, keep it up and thanks for all the beautiful rides

we had and will have in the future.

by Michael Axel McCain