La Dolce Vita –
The Sweet Life
Greensburg residents ride in Italian style
with Westmoreland Moto Guzzi.
BY PAMELA PALONGUE
L
ife is a sweet ride indeed on a Moto Guzzi motorcycle. This
enduring Italian brand has outlasted many other competitors,
with almost a cult following since 1921. And thanks to the Koshir
family, Greensburg residents have had their own little taste of Italy for
decades.
Don Koshir, Sr. discovered quite early on that he loved motorcycles.
He and his brothers rode them, worked on them and knew all
about the mechanics of them. He took a job selling parts for Indian
Motorcycles in 1957 and eventually wound up purchasing a franchise
for the British motorcycle company, Triumph, in 1959. At that time,
the entire franchise only cost about $1,100.
Even Don’s wife learned to ride. Once, when his brother Vic was out
of town, Don decided to take his motorcycle out for a spin to teach his
wife to ride. As it turned out, she was a natural and was a great rider
almost immediately. A friend filmed the whole episode of her learning
to ride on the borrowed bike, which was later shown to the whole
family with great pride. When Vic returned and caught a showing of
the film, he was less than pleased that his bike had been used to train
a novice rider. But all’s well that ends well, and he soon forgave their
impulsiveness—especially since the bike wasn’t damaged.
Koshir was very successful at handling the Triumph brand, but one
day he took a Moto Guzzi motorcycle in on trade and that began a long
love affair with the sleek Italian brand.
“In 1971, Dad took a traded Moto Guzzi to Columbus to sell,”
explains Don Koshir, Jr. who now runs the business. “He just fell in
love with the bike.”
20 724.942.0940 TO ADVERTISE | Greensburg-Salem
The elder Koshir admired its effortless handling and
liked the idea of having a touring bike on a sport bike frame.
Soon after, he decided to start selling and servicing Moto
Guzzi motorcycles.
When Don, Jr. came along, he too began riding
motorcycles at a very early age. He not only inherited his
father’s love of motorcycles, but his ability to work on them
came naturally as well. He started hanging around his father’s
shop at the age of eight, and began taking bikes apart and
putting them back together again to be like the grown-up
mechanics.
“Once I got into some trouble because I left the wrenches
greasy,” says Koshir. He learned from that experience however,
and never left the wrenches greasy again.
Don, Jr. also tried his hand at racing motorcycles, starting
around age eight or nine. He won so many trophies that his father
took some of them and recycled them as trophies for other young
kids at the drag races at Westmoreland County Fairgrounds.
Eventually he took over the family business and has become
quite successful himself at selling and servicing motorcycles. Don,
Sr. is gone now, but his love of motorcycles and riding them still
live