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motorcycle touring holiday Germany Europe classic Ducati Bimota Superbike experience
Looking for some new destinations for our Italians tours next year we found the Nicolis Auto, technical and mechanical museum nearby Verona.
The line up motorcycles in the entrance hall attracts us first on arrival.
Not a Ducati Elite, but a 175cc which would make it a 'Silverstone' if it was sold on the British market.
Differences apart from the capacity are a painted as oppossed to chrome tank front part and a single muffler instead of the Elites' exotic 1 into 2 silencers.
Still however with the 'beautiful' 'jelly mould' tank with the 4 tabs used to strap a pad on for the rider to rest his chin.
Gorgeous little 1960 125cc Negrini Sport.
Not only Italian bikes, here a 1933 AJS.
Iso is famous for the sports and Grand Touring cars they built, but they also made 2 wheelers such as this Isoscooter from 1952.
A Benelli Tornado heads the line up in the coffee corner.
Some of the museums variety such as this 'fairground' jet plane.
A one off prototype Ferrari F333E armoured car made in 1970 is part of a small but unusual military vehicle display.
423 of these Moto Guzzi S.T.M.E. 3x3, variable pitch tracked vehicles were built between 1960 and 1963.
The engine was the base for all future Moto Guzzi V twin motorcycle engines.
A 1921 Indian Chief sidecar outfit in the main hall.
Amongst the hundreds of cars in the museum is this stunning Ferrari FXX racer in the foyer.
A 1950 Fiat 1100E with cabriolet bodywork by Castagna in Milan.
This 1949 Zanussi 1100 Sport is probably a one off from the small independant maker.
Just the second post war Maserati built with a body by Pinin Farina and a 6 cylinder 1500cc engine.
A 1931 Fiat 1100 Barchetta with body work by Rocco Motto in Turin was raced in the 1948 Mille Miglia but was eventually used by a doctor to visit his patients !
A 1960 Maserati GT3500 spider Vignale with design by Michelotti.
A 4 litre Ferrari V12 engine is still the early short block Columbo design.
A 1994 3.5 litre Ferrari F4 A 94 Formula 1 engine used in the 412T1 which was driven by Gerhard Berger and Jean Alesi that season. 
A lightweight Italian 'corner' with Benellis, Gileras and Moto Guzzis among countless less known brands.
A special fire fighters bicycle among the enormous bicycle collection at the museum.
Finally on the 4th floor of this enormous museum we find yet more motorcycles; this Norton Manx was riden by Derek Minter to win the 1962 English championship.
A gorgeous 1956 Mondial 175 Corsa.
A Bimota KB1 with 1000cc Kawasaki engine next to an RD500 Yamaha which has been heavily modified with a GP style frame.
A 1990 Gilera Saturno Piuma developed for single cylinder racing classes.
Next in the line up is a 1978 250cc MBA GP bike.
This 1976 Ducati 900SS has recieved some modifications for reliability such as the additional oil filtration and cooling circuit which supplies filtered oil directly to the camshafts.
One highlight of the museum for us was finding this 1980 Bimota SB3 racer which has been developed in the Ferrari racing department at Maranello with numerous improvements to the frame and running gear.
The perforated and braced swingarm is clearly the same as on our friend Nigels' SB3 frame.
Nigel has been searching for information about his frame for a year or two.
Hopefully this new find will help to build up the 'missing' team bike.
It's finds like this that make our tours all the more exciting.