Italy on £1k Italian bikes

We’re off to Italy on Monday – on Italian bikes – in an under-a-grand challenge. Wish us luck.

You’ll be able to follow the progress of this shoe-string challenge to Lake Garda as it happens with regular online updates.

Motorcyclenews.com Used Bikes Editor Angus Farquhar, MCN Road Tester Adam ‘Chad’ Child and MCN Deputy Editor Ped Baker faced the challenge of buying and equipping their chosen mounts for just £1000. They have to be Italian.

Download video and audio of Chad describing his bike – and his chances – below.

Angus has gone for a Gilera Runner XVR 180 scooter, Chad’s on a well-used and death-rattle coughing Ducati Monster Dark 600 and Ped’s got a clean-looking Moto Guzzi V50 for his money. They’ll be camping along the way – so have to take tents etc, too.

Post your guess on who’ll do best by following the link, right.

Rules of the challenge: The £1000 price has to include any work that needs doing to make each bike road-worthy. They lose 25 for every £1 over the £1000 spent in preparation or on repairs.

The bikes must be sold by August 9 (they will appear in our Bikes For Sale and MCN Auctions sections). Riders lose 1 point for every pound they sell for under their original purchase price.

They lose 25 points for every hour late each rider is for each evening rendezvous. They lose 50 points for every instance of outside assistance but gain 200 points for actually making it there and back.

You’ll be able to read our full report and the result in a series of forthcoming MCN issues – out on August 10, 17 and 24.

NOW Download the video and audio below. Some users may find it best to ‘right click’ and ‘save target as’ to download the files to their computers before playing back