About a decade ago, I found myself in my East Village apartment, casually flipping through the pages of Italian Vogue. Amongst the striking images and fashion spreads, one particular photograph caught my eye — a white Triumph motorcycle with a model posing alongside it. As an Italian who had grown up in Italy, my motorcycling fantasies had always centered around Piaggio Vespas, not the now-iconic British Triumph.
Yet, there was something captivating about that image, something that stirred a new sense of freedom within me. The following morning, I took action. I decided to pursue a motorcycle driving license in the state of New York. After months of dedicated effort, I proudly earned that license in May 2012.
With the license in hand, I embarked on a mission. I was on a quest to find the white Triumph from the photograph that had ignited this spark in me. However, upon visiting the Triumph dealer on Sixth Avenue in Soho, I discovered that the specific white model wasn’t readily available in the US market. Undeterred, I opted for a sleek black and grey version.
The summer of 2012 became my season of liberation. Triumph, still in the early stages of rebranding, was not yet a common sight on American roads. It seemed as though I was one of the few who had embraced this newly emerging symbol of freedom and adventure. My first ride took me to the enchanting Sunset Beach on Shelter Island.
Looking back, that single image in a glossy magazine had somehow changed the course of my life. It had
We are what we pretend to be, so we must
be careful about what we pretend to be
