TENACITY ON TWO WHEELS

This Collector Spotlight Embodies The Current Exhibit

Dave Roper is a well-known motorcycle racer and a (“pretty much retired”) motorcycle mechanic. He has raced since 1972, never missing a year and in fact never going more than five months without racing. In 1984, Roper became the first American ever to win a race at the Isle of Man TT. In 2019, he was the subject of the documentary film Motorcycle Man. His racing schedule takes him all over the world, but he makes his home in Long Island and commutes (by motorcycle, naturally) to Team Obsolete, the Brooklyn-based classic motorcycle racing team for which he still works.

Roper traces his interest in vintage bikes back to 1978, when he first met Rob Iannucci, the founder of Team Obsolete. It has only deepened since then. “It seems the older I get, the more I’m interested in earlier times,” he says, observing that what qualifies as “vintage” is something of a moving target.

It was European Motorcycle Day, the annual Lawn Event which draws motorcyclists and collectors from all over New England and beyond, which first brought Roper to the Larz Anderson

Auto Museum many years ago. This year, he generously agreed to loan his 1946 Moto Guzzi Dondolino for the latest exhibit, “STREET RALLY RACE.”

While the bike you will see on display was sold as a 1946 Dondolino, it was actually built as a 1939 Moto Guzzi Condor and upgraded post-war to Dondolino specs. Roper sought it out because it has what he refers to as “the sacred architecture” for a motorcycle: a horizontal engine with the cylinder running parallel to the ground, just like the 350 Aermacchi he first raced at the Isle of Man. “There’s something about that architecture that very much appeals to me,” he shares.

Rarity and provenance notwithstanding, Roper’s Dondolino remains an active racing bike. He has a “what man once made man can make again” philosophy, preferring to honor these machines’ intended purpose rather than placing them on a pedestal for pure admiration. Though he doesn’t believe a vintage motorcycle can be too valuable to use, he clarifies that there are limits, and the Dondolino is not a bike he would campaign regularly.

When it comes to the preservation versus restoration debate, Roper’s take varies depending on the bike. For an active racer like his Dondolino, he says that form must follow function. It can be challenging to maintain period correctness as safety standards have changed and event entry requirements have evolved. Visitors to the STREET RALLY RACE exhibit will be able to observe that Roper’s Dondolino has a belly pan, now a mandatory oil containment measure, as well as hardware securing the safety wiring he was required to add. It also has a period-looking silencer to comply with racetracks’ noise limits.

Will it be hard for Roper to live without his Dondolino for the length of the exhibit (which runs until April of 2024) Not really. Roper acknowledges that he has a “tendency to try and do it all,” particularly when it comes to motorcycles.

Loaning this bike not only means others get to enjoy it; it also frees up time and space to focus on some of his many other motorcycles and projects. “You could say I’m in a rut,” he quips, but, critically, he’s found the right rut.

Ferrari is celebrated in all its glory at this year’s Tutto Italiano on Sunday, September 17. Stop by to marvel at some of the finest cars engineered to give a near-perfect ride.