HENRY FAVRE’S “ADAGIO” WORLD TOUR

Henry, you have a long experience of adventurous travel with Ciao; can you tell us your best experience?

Every time someone asks me how many trips I made, the number increases! I really like to tell them why I feel lucky to live these experiences, started a few years ago when I was a townie messing around with my moped and taking insults from his neighbors. With my legs … or rather, with my wheels, I have been in many places. I do not like to brag about how many kilometers or days away I have done, but in the end, I spent a year traveling.

I ended up in Scotland, Spain and I ate some gorgeous hamburgers in America on Route 66. I can say I saw a tiny part of the world, but I hope I still have many years ahead and miles to go.

What motivated you to realize “Adagio”  world Ciao tour?

 Adagio, the world Ciao tour, is my new project. I do not even know whether to call it a plan and if it’s new. In the end, I merely collected my idea of traveling all over the world, and I created a form of continuity of time travel. I came out of my driveway to the right, and if all goes well, I should go back from the left. In reality, it is impossible to go around the world without returning home for at least a short time. Then I would not even have the money and time to stay away from home for 10 years. Riding around the equator is impossible with a wheeled vehicle. Basically, Adagio is my version of the world tour. There is not really a definition of a world tour. Because…you know; even with the balloon and those famous 80 days, they have not passed by Gressan, the beautiful village where I live. So in the end, I merely gave a title that recalls my adventure and my speed…

Tell us how you organized the trip, and when you left

I minimally organized the trip, I just know that I have to go “Adagio” to “east”. I left home early November, I drank a cappuccino in my parents’ bar, and under the deluge, I reached Milan, where I had a crazy week at EICMA (an unusual event of motorcycles, engines and other things that I can not say here). Once that job was finished, I left with a little surprise: there was my dad with his Ciao waiting for me outside the pavilion.

Do you like traveling alone or in a company?

I admit that traveling with someone is both beautiful and complicated. I went to Rome with a Kymco 50 and a friend, in Spain with a Ciao and a friend, at the North Cape with Ape and a friend of mine, but I found the craziest travel companion for “America in Ciao”: my dad.

Traveling with dad is a crazy thing to do and to tell, but I often worry about him because I know he cares about me; who knows my mother who cares about at home… My dad Sandro is 55 years old. I’m 23, and in case of an emergency, I can handle it. My dad no, he is always distracted. So I think it’s a little bit worrying to have a travel companion, especially your dad. He accompanied me for about 5000 kilometers in America along Route 66. A tough guy.

Come to think of it, dad would be perfect pal sharing the same bike. There would be no anxiety. Who knows … we will try.

What is the place you liked the most?

I never know what to answer, because many people ask me. Although I have seen quite a few places here and there, I have not yet found a place that can be as beautiful as my home, when I come back after a trip.

So, I think the most beautiful place it’s my home.

Tell us something about the people you met …

I met many people on this trip. I ended up in some places that everyone had discouraged me; I do not know why.

Even just to tell friends that I would pass from Albania, everyone took me for crazy. We could talk a lot about people’s prejudices. However, for what I saw with my own eyes, I found only fantastic people. Especially on this trip, I found myself facing very poor and lost villages. But in all that poverty, I found myself very well, because even if you find yourself in difficult situations, they are entirely welcoming with a foreigner or a traveler. They were ready to give me everything, a simple mandarin or even a full tank in exchange for a smile.

So be wary of the television that gives you wrong information and go traveling!

What is the funniest episode that happened to you?

If only you had asked me this question before this trip, I would have replied: “the time that a Mexican tire-maker swelled the Ciao tire to 18 bar” … you can imagine the scene and the consequences…

This time, instead, I found something even more bizarre! I was in Greece, in a country that I can not also read and say because they have different letters from us. Or maybe we are the ones who have different letters from them…

Anyhow… The scene was: Henry with a broken Ciao.

I could not go on. I remember it was a Friday night and  I had just paid for the ferry that would take me from Athens to Chios, a beautiful little island.

I still had 4 hours to travel 20km and then embark. “What could happen to me?!?”. And six kilometers after, I destroyed everything.

I still had 16 km to go in a rush, in two hours… I tried to push my moped, but its distribution of weights and shape, are not very comfortable.

I immediately thought of hitchhiking, but not in the Instagram way, where there is always a beautiful girl with tits outside and braids, equipped with a tiny backpack and legs in the wind. No, I was Henry, sweating, wearing a ski suit and with a moped…

In the end, a very polite man loaded me with a wrecker: he was going to my own port to load a broken car. I felt really really lucky!

I say hitchhiking because I immediately told him I would not leave him a penny. I gave him a beer and a mandarin actually…. I really appreciated him because he understood I was in trouble and he helped me.

What was the biggest problem you had to face?

The biggest problem was Ciao. I have several years and miles of experience with that moped, so I always know what can break and what can not. Or I thought it.

I usually drive many kilometers on asphalt and a small part of dirt roads. In Montenegro, it was the opposite.

For the more expert, I can say that the torque clutch correctors were nailed because of the sand. So the moped was riding at 10 kmph, but at all the revs that the engine could deliver, compromising wear and consumption.

We are talking about an original Piaggio clutch, with maybe 40 years of life. You can imagine the games of the Ciao brasses. I found a turner, still on a Friday night, in Albania that opened his mechanical workshop only for me. Result? He made me a new bronze and received just a thank you as a reward. Unfortunately, it lasted only 300 km, but at that moment I was the happiest in the world thinking about my new bronze that a few hours before was a piece of a radiator.

Maybe Malossi R&D could study super friction for my Adagio!!

(Really, please, please build it for me!)

Tell us about a typical travel day…

There is no typical day because every day is different from the other. Having no steps and programs in mind, I never know what happens to me during the trip.

Maybe everything runs smoothly, or perhaps I destroy the Ciao, or I lose a bag in the street.

I only know that every day I have to accept what happens, for example, that an Audi destroys your Ape while you’re going to Norway and your Ape means everything to you. But you have to accept it and keep smiling. Otherwise, you did not leave for a trip, and you went sightseeing as a tourist.

Not me.

When will you leave for the next Adagio step?

Adagio is a no bounded project, except by my freedom and my free time. I need a new clutch, but I can handle it. Probably the next spring/summer I will finish visiting Turkey, and I will approach Iran. My moped is now in the Maxsi Motor warehouse, which is a distributor of Malossi components in Istanbul. The great thing is that the city of Istanbul has a neighborhood called Yedpa, where there are all the motorbike and car shops. Basically, in there, you can find everything you need. If you need a new car there are dealerships, if you need a T-Max cylinder or a Ciao belt, you’ll see it.

Regarding my trip, I’m choosing whether to go to Iran or to reach China via Russia. I’m not in a hurry for that decision.

The bureaucracy is perhaps the only thing that requires me to hurry. There are special permits to be done.

What are you currently working on?

I’m working on something that I’m very proud of: the Malossi winter camp. Basically, it is a moment of union between boys, mopeds and Malossi company. There the guys will have fun, will mount new components and will go to peel their elbows and knees. Go on Malossi Facebook or Youtube account and see the first edition videos we had in Cervesina last June. This time will be even tougher. The Camp will take place at my house, in Aosta, with a lot of cold and snow!

So … fire, studded tires and … I can not reveal anything else, or the Malossi communication team will insult me!

Follow the Malossi social media channels, please be wary of imitations and who knows… sooner or later you might be one of us…

The company is always open and welcoming for new travelers through the Malossi GAS project. If you have an original or captivating idea about travels or experiences, please do write to Malossi and they will support you properly! I started that way, with a plan. Then thanks to Malossi, I set it up. And the last hint … forget about Dakar… I want to do it with Malossi colors before I die!