The “Milan-Verona in 18,000 km westwards”, planned by Claudio Zanoni and happily supported by CR&S, closed brilliantly on 29^th June.

The tour crossed 16 countries in just 20 days, for a total of 17,746 km and was effected alone by Claudio on a VUN “Marathon”, which showed no sign of breaking down; on the contrary, it has revealed itself to be excellent for travelling, with a very low tyre consumption and reduced wear and tear, to the extent that not the slightest maintenance was necessary to complete the tour.

Claudio describes the undertaking in his own words:

The idea cropped up in October 2008, after I received an e-mail from Roberto Crepaldi. A day on a ‘bike was described by a keen group of “Vunici” (the highly select club of owners of the motorbike built by CR&S).

The enthusiasm that was conveyed in this account explicitly conveyed how owners of a VUN were justly proud of having been amongst the few motorcyclists on the road that day, despite the fact the weather had been flagged with natural disaster status because of the intense snowfalls.

It was the passion conveyed in these few, simple words that stimulated my own project.

It all began with a single consideration: in recent years, the motorcycle sector aimed at tourism has been growing increasingly. One brand stands head and shoulders above the rest, and with targeted advertising campaigns has led a large proportion of motorcyclists to believe that without a ‘bike with a large engine, one cannot dream of setting off on a journey, whatever the destination. And it was thinking about this that I thought the moment had come to show how one can embark on an extreme expedition using a motorbike designed for a completely different use, stressing how it is the will and desire for adventure that are the essential elements that drive a person to undertake a voyage, independently of the means used for the purpose. I was reminded of the VUN and the “Vunici”, so bold and proud to go against the stream; the ‘bike is small and light, a niche product, and it had all the aspects needed to demonstrate this theory. And to show off its as-yet hidden qualities, it was necessary to exaggerate, going beyond those limits that are unjustly raised for all motorbikes in this category.

I remembered the tours I have taken around Europe with different types of motorbike, and then I fantasised about the possibility of retracing them with this one, but all in one go. Very soon, this fantasy became a fixed idea, and for several days I thought about nothing else except for the feasibility of a European tour to be done in the shortest time possible. A challenge within a challenge, therefore.

And so everything began to take shape until I defined the journey I would undertake: Milan-Verona but westwards, crossing 15 countries and three of the furthermost points of the European continent, finding as many points of interest on the way as possible, in terms of tourism, history and nature.

The whole thing to be done in 30 days.

Covering a distance of 18,000 kilometres.

Alone.

Claudio Zanoni