Luca D’Alessandro

“It all started for me by going enduro riding with my friends out in the woods near our house in my native Italy. Back then I was riding a Fantic Caballero 80cc from the nineties. Soon after though I moved over to a beautiful KTM EXC 125cc. That was around the beginning of 2000. I remember I truly started loving the experience of getting out into nature, driving off-road and the adventures that can come with motorcycle travel.” – Luca D’Alessandro

Thirty-year-old Luca D’Alessandro lives in Sanremo in Italy and has been riding motorcycles since he was thirteen years old. However, the first ADV bike he’d own was a Yamaha Tenèrè 660 he got in 2008. “That’s when I started understanding what it means to travel and stay out on the road several days. My partner and I have traveled all over Sardinia and North Italy fully enjoying the pleasant emotions that only riding a bike can give you, whether off-road or on a pavement. Up till now, I’ve traveled more than 62 000 mi. / 100 000 km through Italy and France on all available surfaces.”

“The second true ADV motorbike I’ve owned is the new Africa Twin CRF1000L that I continue to use regularly for travel and commuting here in Liguria. But let’s move on to my special Transalp. This edition of the Transalp made me fall in love all over again with ADV riding when I first laid eyes on her in 2015. It all happened when I saw a special edition at EICMA prepared by Boano in Milan. So when I got back home, I started looking for a donor on various used motorbike websites. That’s when I found a very cheap bike without any real problems, but that had been in an accident.”

“Once I got her home I went to work. First I cleaned the bike completely in my garage and then started disassembling her. The whole construction of the Transalp was difficult, but I leaned on the specialized workshop experience of Boano while installing his rally conversion kit. Once the build of the platform was done, I painted the tanks and panels and applied the graphics. It took a year and a half of sacrifices with many hours spent in the workshop, but I managed to realize my dream. My plan now is to participate in upcoming sporting events and to go on adventure travel trips whenever possible.”

Luca’s Rally worthy Transalp is based on the specialized kit designed by Italian racing legend Ivan Boano titled the Ivan Replica. “We’ve re-designed the entire bike to make it easier to handle and fun to drive both on-road and off-road. The new shape of the tank, with the gasoline moved down to the sides of the motor, allows for more freedom of movement in the saddle. You’ve got better ergonomics, and the center of gravity is much lower. This helps especially when riding off-road as you can move your body weight around on the bike which in turn greatly improves riding. In addition to the technical side of it, it also benefits the esthetic that makes the Transalp such a good looking modern Rally motorcycle.” reports Boano.

The front suspension on the bike comes in the form of a specially modified set of Showa front forks from a CRF 450. The rear sees a modified shock from an Africa Twin 650 RD03 along with its swing arm. The distinctive Boano kit comes with a specially designed front tank with a carrying capacity of 6 gal / 23 L. In front of this sits a purpose built support frame for the fairing and the LED headlights. The belly pan is made from carbon fiber while the fiberglass side panels allow easy access for race maintenance. Boano also offers three variations for the seat with a standard, low and high option depending on rider preference. The back end sees a custom subframe along with a dedicated rear fender featuring a race spec LED tail light. Braking power has been upgraded to a CRF braking system from a 450 with increased discs for extra stopping power that work its magic on the upgraded Excel rims. The exhaust was handcrafted by Boano and feeds into a lightweight Leo Vince end can.

This past March Luca managed to make one of his all-time riding dreams come true with an epic trip to the sands of the Sahara. “We organized the trip from Sanremo, in Italy, with a small group of friends who had previously been to Tunisia. We loaded the tracks on our GPS’s, booked the main nights and tied our small bags to the bikes, and then we fired up our engines. Finally, the dream of a lifetime was coming true. Riding our bikes, we boarded a ferry in Genoa and sailed for twenty-three hours to the port of Tunis. Upon arrival, we had to deal with the usual confusing and boring customs practices, but in no time we got cleared, and we set off for the sea of sand.”

Our entire trip saw us ride 1370 mi / 2200 km through rocky and washed out tracks, such as the famous Rommel tracks of the second world war. We rode dunes in the absolute nothingness of the desert and passed through towns like Douz known as the gateway to the Sahara. From there we went across to the oasis of Ksar Ghilane on the western side of Jebil National Park. Obviously, there were long transfers on asphalt and highways, but my Transalp behaved very well. Although the tires didn’t last as long as I’d hoped. The intense riding saw the Metzeler Six Days Extreme’s I was using wear down quicker than I’d anticipated. But they did last all the way around, guaranteeing incredible traction on all the surfaces we rode.

“The best moment was when one morning while driving in the direction of a mountain oasis we saw a herd of camels crossing the road, totally free, the emotion was so strong that I just let out a loud cry of joy.” It was these moments that made the trip worthwhile, even with all the usual hitches. “We definitely didn’t miss the usual falls and difficulties in the dunes, we pushed and shoveled sand for several hours, but the satisfaction of arriving at the oasis repaid all the efforts made that day. I can’t wait to come back, it was the most beautiful motorcycle trip I’ve been on, and I’m already working on new GPS tracks for next year.”

To see more of Luca’s adventures follow his Instagram page.