We recently got a chance to take a look at the rare Italian motorcycles on display in the retail space at RFR’s 285 Madison Ave, called "The Art of the Italian Two Wheel.” The bikes belong to the curator of the show, designer and movie producer Stuart Parr, who goes way back with RFR principal Aby Rosen. The two met in 1987, when they both lived in a very different Tribeca. (It’s the same year Stuart got—and crashed—his first motorcycle.) They’ve been pals ever since. Twenty-six bikes of 1960s and '70s vintage are in the show, including rare models from Ducati, MV Agusta, Laverda and Magni.
Some noteworthy bikes in the show include a 1974 Ducati 750 SS, considered the most collectable of all production Ducatis, and a MV Agusta 600, a limited edition street version of a bike that dominated 500cc Grand Prix racing in the 1950s and early '60s. Stuart says they’re all ridable and he rides several on a regular basis. “It’s nice to go out and go to lunch and get 10 minutes of wind whipping through your hair,” he says, despite the fact that crashes happen; he says he last went down about nine months ago in Brooklyn.
Stuart says Aby (shown above) has always had an eye for design, and that the show was a way to show off that interest while the space finds a tenant. RFR recently outsourced most of its office leasing work to JLL, and in early February launched a new retail division headed up by VP and director of retail leasing Jordan Claffy.
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