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What they say about us: Giuseppe Pumelli

THE STORY OF CLAUDIO GUARESCHI'S WORKSHOP WRITTEN BY A FRIEND

It is with great pleasure that I accepted Claudio's request to write a little page on the history of his work, since I was almost the same age as one of his first customers, when in 1953, as was the custom then, he started to attend the Moto Guzzi dealership workshop in Borgo della Posta.

It was a frequency that satisfied his desire to learn about motorcycles, without any remuneration, except for a few small tips for inflating the tires of my bike. For the rest, his passion and desire to learn made him spend all his free hours helping the mechanics of the time.

After only a year, thanks to his father's tips and help, he bought his first moped, with which he immediately won the first gymkhana in which he participated.
With 1957 comes the coveted employment and the first salaries, always invested in motorcycles.
His skill, his eagerness to learn soon made him appreciated not only by the clientele but also by the workshop owner, and in 1967 Claudio finally became a partner in the workshop where he trained.
His brilliant ideas, his deep affection for the Moto Guzzi brand give rise to a good coexistence with the partner that lasts until 1985, when the partner due to age limitation decides to give up his half of the share.

The first step is the construction of a new workshop, always a Moto Guzzi dealer, which sees, in addition to the most modern technological innovations, also the rescue of all the old tools jealously preserved, so that today, the company has the complete equipment for the restoration of antique motorcycles (to be precise, every tool for all Guzzi engines from 1927 onwards).

But this is now old news, although fellow enthusiasts like me continue to have their pre-war Guzzi motorcycles maintained by my friend Claudio.
The workshop today, a sizable shed, represents a modern facility, with a large room for displaying new motorcycles (Guzzi we mean) of which there is always the complete range on display. An equally large repair shop, complete with a test bench, tuning computers and whatever else is needed, access to which is jealously forbidden except to a few friends (including me) who occasionally manage to get their noses into it.

The sons, who also grew up in the environment, are somewhat less present, one engaged in the supersport world championship the other in the Italian one. This does not make them any less competent than their father, having spent all their free hours since elementary school inside the workshop seeing and following everything, and they still devote every spare minute to it.
Another department, access to which is always very difficult, but, when you manage to get your nose into it is extremely fascinating, is the spare parts department, where, not without considerable begging, it is possible to find parts for the most unthinkable and old Guzzi motorcycles, as well as the usual parts for modern motorcycles.

One last word I would like to spend on his wife, the lovely Loredana, obliged from the first days of marriage to find customers at home even on Saturdays and Sundays, forced to travel all over Europe on a Moto Guzzi equipped with sidecar to accommodate her two children and an excellent administrator of the workshop.
Her figure, always smiling and serene, also undoubtedly contributed to the growth and development of a modern and efficient facility that has the characteristic of "keeping customers coming back."

Quasi cinquant’anni di frequenza dell’officina, esperienze maturate anche con altre marche ed altre officine, non possono che farmi esprimere le lodi all’attività di un amico, che ha dedicato la sua vita con passione, ma anche con estrema competenza all’assistenza di uno dei marchi più prestigiosi della storia del motociclismo.
Ma la storia non finisce qui, poichè l’officina è sempre più viva e vitale e spero di essere cliente per ancora tanti anni

Giuseppe Pumelli