我经常遇到的事情：如何满足我拥有的摩托车。而且由于是感恩节，我们应该记得要感谢我们所拥有的，这是我们的居民古兹飞行员尼克·亚当斯（Nick Adams）回来的故事，里面没有为下一台Great Machine所充满Moto Lust！并不是说他不喜欢尝试新的自行车，而是当一切都归结为黄铜钉时，亚当斯先生对他的老式埃尔多拉多（Eldorado）感到非常高兴和感谢。

We all seem to be in pursuit of the perfect motorcycle, but what constitutes ‘perfect’ is different for each of us. Not for me, the latest, upsized, high-tech, gravel-road rocket on stilts or some plastic-clad hundred and fifty horsepower road-burner. I’m content with my mostly-reliable, somewhat tatty, fifty year old Italian girlfriend.

For me, there is something wonderfully liberating about riding a machine whose innermost secrets of are known to me. It’s comforting to be able to visualize all those internal parts I’ve lovingly caressed, whizzing around in a blur. It’s reassuring to know their condition, and soothing to know that when something does go wrong, the fix doesn’t need a dealer or a bank loan, even if a little gentle servicing is required sometimes.

经过寒冷，四月下旬在魁北克的1972年Moto Guzzi Eldorado上旋转了魁北克的Gaspé半岛，当我碰到一条障碍时，我正沿着漫长而乏味的20号高速公路前往安大略省。在德拉蒙德维尔（Drummondville），四车道高速公路上的主要建筑已转移到城镇中。无论是偶然的还是设计，每个交叉路口的交通信号灯都无法正常工作，警察在管理交通流量方面做得不可思议，整个城镇都支持了车辆。

My geriatric Guzzi had been running flawlessly up to that point, but an hour and a half of stop-go shuffling was not doing the clutch any favors. Older Guzzi’s dry clutches are usually robust and relatively trouble free, but as the temperature inside the air-cooled engine started to rise, I could feel the clutch getting balky. As we limped on I would snick the bike into neutral before rolling to a stop, but as the heat built, finding neutral became more-and-more tricky, and once I’d scrunched back into gear to move another fifteen or twenty feet, the bike wanted to lurch forwards. The clutch was becoming like an on-off switch.

最终，我经过了最后一个十字路口，能够重新加入高速公路。随着速度的提高，横跨那些悬空缸的空气将自行车冷却到正常的温度，当我回到家时，我已经忘记了曾经有一个问题。因此，几个月后，当我穿越加拿大到达温哥华岛时，我没有第二次想到Guzzi的离合器。整个安大略省北部和大草原当时穿过山脉，它可以预见，直到我赶上温哥华以北海上高速公路上的停靠周末假期交通。离合器再次变得任意和彻头彻尾的危险。再一次，一旦发动机冷却一点，它就会恢复为正常。从卑诗省到安大略省的返回旅程是交通和无问题的，我没有进一步的离合器问题。但是，这两起这样的事件足以使我的头部厚实，现在该解决问题了。

快进几个月的时间。我的自行车我们re working fine so I’d ridden those while I let the Guzzi recuperate until I summoned the energy to examine the clutch. Getting at the clutch involves removing the rear wheel, toolboxes, side panels, swinging arm, battery tray, gear linkages, brake parts and gearbox. It’s simple enough, but time consuming, and since my bike was still coated in a year’s worth of congealed oil and road gravel, it was a grimy and unpleasant task.

尽管如此，我很快手里拿着离合器板。我可以看到他们仍然有足够的生活，但是表面是釉面的。几分钟的柔和打磨，它们看起来像是新的。一个聪明的人可能会取代他们，但是老古兹骑手以他们的简约为臭名昭著，我当然属于这一类。

几个小时后，离合器恢复原状，变速箱螺栓固定了，我散落在车库地板上的那些部分都回到了正确的位置。我花了一些时间修改齿轮连接，以摆脱200,000公里的磨损和斜坡，然后我改变了从那以后没有接触过的叉子油 - 很久以前，很久以前。

A quick ride up the street in my grease-impregnated garage clothes assured me that everything was working as it should. Time for a longer ride.

The longer ride was only a forty kilometer loop, but it was enough to remind me why, of all the bikes I’ve ever owned, this is the one I favour for long tours. By most people’s standards, it’s not a good bike. Below 3500 rpm the engine is a bit rough. The drum brakes are not up to modern standards, the suspension is antiquated, and the handling, while predictable, isn’t race-track crisp. Regardless of these quirks, it has a magical ability to make me happy, and an unerring capacity to cover vast distances in comfort and style.

像这样的自行车生活是骑手和机器之间不断的对话。tappets变得太嘈杂了吗？我可以通过脚凳感觉到通用关节的磨损吗？那微弱的嘎嘎声是什么？哦 - 只是工具箱键振动在破折号上。这不是您的平均“点和射击”摩托车。它需要参与，甚至有时甚至哄骗。有时，要点和化油器需要调整或清洁，零件磨损，需要更改。这是一项正在进行的工作。

喜欢many riders, I’ve had other bikes. Some have served me well then been passed on for others to enjoy. Some have just not held my interest, even though, on paper they were far better, more modern and more sophisticated machines. Yet my Moto Guzzi Eldorado stays. From time to time I dream about the effortless performance and reliability of the latest machines, especially when I’m fiddling with something at the side of the road in the pouring rain, but as soon as we’re rolling again, those treacherous thoughts fade.

在许多方面，我都认为我们都在寻找那个难以捉摸的摩托车界的最佳选择 - 价格，性能，性能，处理，实用性，风格和个人喜悦相吻合的Nexus。我只是幸运的是我找到了我的。