1. Danish Morini Meeting

Werners article from La Strega (only in german)

Finally, the day arrived for the first Morini meeting in Denmark. And let me say from the get go - it was a fantastic weekend. The prelude though, was of somewhat vague character. Would anyone at all show up or would we only be three people staring at each other? The week before I had heard from nine people that might wanted to come. On top of that the last ones of those sort-of-commitments came in the week leading up to the meeting - a couple of them the day before!
For that reason I was a bit downheartet about it all, and at times I was thinking about cancelling the meeting.
But so great I didn't! A census showed that around 25 Morinis had been to the meeting. Not at all bad for a first-time meeting. And by the way, never before in Denmark had there been so many Morinis in one place.

For me the meeting began thursday (actually, long before that with all the preparations in mind). Thursday, because while I was doing some preparations, I heard the unmistakeble sound of Morinis. Passing our house two Darts came flying by. That was the first time I ever saw two at one time, and I thought to myself "now it's on!" The day after was the official day for arrivals and the first ones where in fact the two Darts with Iris and Hartmut in the seats, and what was even more interesting: they where from Germany and hadn't given notice of their arrival!

In all defense I have to mention that the actual first to arrive was my father-in-law, who rode all the way from Ringkøbing on his 1957 Nimbus.

As the day passed, one came after another - Niels with his Morini in a van, Rasmus with his on a trailer, to or more followed all the time accompanied by the lovely sound from Lambertines V-engine.
And even more non-registered turned up.


In the dusk the last pre-registered turned up, a small group of germans, and with 11 participants we had already passed the expected number - and I knew that more would turn up the next day! There was served a sturdy meal of chili con carne, the bonfire was lit and a cosy atmosphere started spreading.
The germans, that actually outnumbered the danes, where eagerly sharing their experiences. They are numerous and are very well organized and through that have a lot of knowledge and experience. So you really had to pay attention and bring back the german lesson from the school days to get as much as possible out of the meeting.

After midnight the participants started to retire to their tents to get some sleep in the cold May night. (The temperature dropped to 3°C in the night!)

The next morning the bonfire was brung back to life and coffee was served so there was something to reheat oneself by, and after the sun evaporized the morning mist, the skin color in the attendants faces returned to normal. A quick count after the previous nights cheerful atmosphere lead to a conclusion: more beer and coffee was needed! We bought two cases of beer and more coffee. That should do it - at least so we thought.

Bo Madsen, the dansih Morini importer, had promised to come in the morning, and the time was spend in anticipation of seeing the new ones; the Corsaro and the 9½. In a phone call though, he regrettably had to inform that he wouldn't be able to come until later in the day - as he was just closing a sale on a bike. His business of course has to be cared for, so we arranged that he and his associate should come after our visit to Egeskov. Evenso, the morning flew by with chatting, adjusting the Morinis and welcoming even more Morini riders. A german came with his 250 Settebello on a trailer. Hard to comprehend, but so nice to know that there is the will to ride that far for such a small meeting.

Stefan og Hartmut working

One of the highlights for me: 16 Morinis en route for Egeskov

After dinner it was time for the rideout. And I must admit it was a touching moment beeing in front of such a beautiful entourage.
The route to Egeskov is one of the best I know: lots of curves, hilly and with beautiful sceneries. The ride was (of course) more time consuming than expected. It really does require quite some skills and experience to "herd" 20 Morini riders. But even though I did set the pace a little high and therefore left a couple of riders behind - that we then had to wait for, I still think that everyone was thrilled about the ride. In any case, there was plenty of opportunities to ride the Morinis like they are supposed to be ridden - on small winding country roads.

Egeskov obviously offered more to see than the time at hand allowed, but of course the motorcycle museum was thoroughly investigated.
I felt the need to shorten our stay even further, because during the stay I got a phone call from Bo: They were waiting in our garden, two more german Morinisti had also arrived - and they needed beer! The where instructed in how to deal with our dog to get access to the beer. That way they where able to "endure" until our return.

Saab'robe - Charlottes car turned into a storage room!

Well, eventually we headed back home. Now a bit slower to keep track of everyone. But alas, aorund half way home we had the first problem. Elisabeths Yamaha refused to go any farther. A terrible grrrr-noise changing gears, was the infromation I got. My thoughts and calls said gearbox problems. There was nothing else to do than to leave it there and pick it up later with a trailer.
10 km's farther: second failure: Lars' 3½ just stopped running. A dead battery was the judgement call and since his Morini runs with Boyer-ignition he's dependent on a working power source. We also had to leave his bike and pick it up later.
Lars got a ride on the back of Hartmuts Dart and finally we could return without any further problems

Back home it became obvious that we needed more beer and just to be sure more meat for the barbecue! Good decision, because even more turned up. The number of Morinis was now around 25 and to that number came 5-6 non-Morinis. On top of that a couple of curious neighbours came by and most of my family also appeared.

The new Morinis were thoroughly studiet. Especially the 9½, that many of the visiters hadn't seen before.

The barbecue was lit and in the meanwhile Lars and Niels took off in Niels' van with Martins trailer to pick up the two left behind bikes. As they returned they could tell that the terrible sound from the Yamaha came from a very worn chain sprocket. Phew, was my thought, good thing I didn't have to spend several days repairing a broken gearbox. Take a look at the foto - I've never seen a sprocket so worn. Almost unbelieveable that the bike was able to ride until that point of wear.

Lars got the battery from the Yamaha and was able to ride again.

After dinner, the most official part of the meeting came: the award ceremony.
The most beautiful danish Morini, " The Special Prize" (the one with the longest Morini ownership) and the farthest ride to the meeting.

"MC Søren"

After voting the outcome was rather obvious (even though I'm proud to say that my Morini had a lot of votes). Niels' beautiful Morini in Valentini-style was awarded the prize. The delicate details, beautiful craftsmanship and polished surfaces left no doubt about the winner.

The proud owner - for obvious reasons!

The Special Prize was given to Lars who has had his Morini since 1999.

The dansih winners, Lars og Niels

Heiner with his pipe - 1150 km!!!

 The farthest ride was made by Heiner Eisenbeiss who rode an incredibel distance of 1150 km from Burgthann in Bavaria (I think it's worth to mention that he also was one of the oldest attendant at the meeting!)

Well, the evening was continued chatting by the bonfire. One of the subjects were on the special meening of the day: the 5th of May, the day of the danish liberation. Norbert noticed it and later wrote in ital-web.de that it was his hope that we would have the germans in fonder memory than 60 years ago! - But I know that this friendly "invasion" of very nice people from our neighbouring country was meet with enthusiasm and joy. So they are welcome - jederzeit!

Sunday after breakfast the camp gradually started breaking up and almost everybody said goodbye wishing for a repetition next year. I for my part would also like to thank for an overwhelming weekend.
My wife and I agreed that this was best event we've had since our wedding, so it was definately a great pleasure for us. Thanks to all participants, to our family; especially my sister-in-law Charlotte, my parents-in-law Ruth and normann, that were helping us through the entire weekend so I had more time to be "outrovert" - Thanks also to those who "just came by".

Probability of a repetition next year? - Let us say high!!!