Judging from the amount of people who coped with the wet weather last Saturday the 24th of November, classic Ducatis can still count on many fans, despite all modern clamour coming from Bologna these days. On this day The Motorcycle Company (TMC) in Bergambacht, Holland (classic British and Italian bike dealers, situated between Rotterdam and Utrecht) organised a day especially for classic bevel drive Ducatis, attracting people from as far apart as northern France and the utter north-eastern regions of Holland, some of them even arriving by classic Duke themselves!

Top of the bill was theng by local classic racing ace Piet Kramer of a crate with the historic Ducati logo. Although the showroom was crowded with people by then, they held their breath at what would emerge from the crate. This turned out to contain a brand new beveldrive Ducati 900 Mike Hailwood Replica of 1983/4 vintage. The bike hadn't seen the light of day for about the last 18 years after leaving the factory. This bike, which is on sale now, was offered to TMC recently through one of their Italian contacts. Not believing what they heard, they immediately rushed off for Italy, where they finally secured the bike. For those interested, TMC can be reached through , or by E-mail under:
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Throughout the day everyone joined in naturally, discussing what they saw while enjoying a drink and a bite. The famous Bologna brand's history was presented by means of a show of some 20 bikes (ranging from a 1948 Cucciolo to a 1983 900 Mike Hailwood Replica), which were presen-ted inside with informative texts. Also a free leaflet with a summarative history of Ducati was at hand. Although part of the collection came from Harm and Robert of TMC themselves, quite a few people helped out with bikes on loan, some of them brought along that day spontaneously.

In the back of the shop TMC promoted its programme of Ducati beveldrive parts on offer, varying from rare second hand jumble parts, through the programme for racing and restoration of Mario Sassi's Old Racing Spare Parts (of which TMC are importers for Holland), to the newly acquired exclusive importership for Holland and Flanders of technical bits for beveldrive Dukes from VeeTwo Australia. All in all good news for beveldrive fans in the low countries!