#Shineray

One of my favorite leisure activities is to type an old-timey year, like 1980, into the Craigslist “Motorcycles for Sale” search box and see what pops up. Mostly, it’s either a lot of overpriced junk, overpriced “expert restorations,” or overpriced incomplete projects which are likely incomplete for very good reasons. A reliable, running bike at a reasonable price? Needle, meet haystack.

We’ll forgive you if you’ve never heard of SWM, as neither had we. And figuring out how the story gets from Italy in 1971 back to Italy today is a convoluted and fascinating international journey.