Any Special Memories Of Your Ducati Ride-outs/trips To Share?

That’s a great story

 

Great story Noods!

my best trip? WDW 2007 on my 1993 Monster 900 with some mates, ride through France was a bit dull and very wet but Italy absolutely rocked! Oh and after one very messy night I’ve never been able to face Limoncello every again.. lol!

 

Your looking very cool there Noods,i'm rebranding you the 007 forum member from now on in with that suit on.

 

several euro trips every year in the Harz mountains and middle of French France and of course first knee down experience round Brands on a 748 on a Ducati experience day way back when......
You're local Noods we should meet up sometime for ride out when you and the weather are up for it

 

Loads of memorable rides.

One of these was when Ducati Italy brought a load of Panigales to the UK and organsied a track demo day. IIRC there were two days and i chose Snetterton being a track i knew well but had never ridden on.

Still remains the fastest speed I have seen on a bike's speedo with me riding it - 270kph or nearly 170mph down the back straight on the 1299.

 

Took the 1098 down to Nice a few years ago, it's quite a long trip so I did it over 2 days..not on motorways.
Add to that it was during a heatwave and I was about as uncomfortable as it was possible to be, I sent my brother a text halfway down explaining it was like sitting on a pneumatic drill in a foundry whilst someone fired flies and dust at me out of a pressure hose. At one point I was sitting in traffic in full leathers, the air temperature was 42, the engine was at 106 and I was necking coca cola by the litre.
I was coming down the Route Napoleon from Grenoble towards Nice when I stopped for a photo op and noticed the rear tyre looked a bit dodgy.

 

I went for a ride out with my fiancé on the back of my old roundcase 750 to the registry office.
We are still together but sadly the bike had to be sold many years ago to help fund our German house.

 

Great story that Noods.

Bike wise I've been quite lucky, lots of trips and great stories, so here is just one.

I've always had bikes since early teens (except 2 years when we bought our house and had to raise the deposit).
All of my family are into bikes, my mum and dad met at a bike meeting, so its sort of in the blood.

My wifes family on the other hand have no interest. So it came as no surprise that my father in law said to me 'you will never get her on a bike' (talking about my wife).
Back in 99 I had a 97 fireblade and had joined a local IAM club. They were doing lots of day rides and trips. My wife got to see their events calendar one day, and remarked it might be quite nice to do a few. To say I was gob smacked was a bit of an understatement.
A week or so later we arranged to meet some people at a local pub. 6 miles each way, and a stiff brandy (for her) at both ends. She was nervous, but was not put off.
2nd ride was to visit friends 50 miles away. Again she was nervous, but enjoyed it.
The 3rd time she got on the bike we were heading for the Portsmouth ferry, for a 10 day trip to Italy with the bike club. 2 of us plus luggage on the fireblade. When we got to the port the other couples were all on things like BMW RTs with big padded comfy seats and back rests. Only the solos and us were on sports bikes.

To say she was hooked is a bit of an understatement. We did a whole bunch of passes on that trip Furka, oberall, etc.
That was the start of it all as far as road riding and trips goes. We are still good friends with some of those on that trip, and still ride regularly with a couple of them. I did have to buy a sports tourer for a more comfy seat after a year or two (vfr800) although we still used the blade for local rides. That was replaced with a new 04 ST4S, and has continued until now with a Ducati as our main touring bike. She is a member of the bike club, and part of the social team, although she still doesnt have any interest in actually riding herself.

Hope that wasn't too boring to read

p.s. 4 or 5, I've lost count of how many bald tyres I've had. Just wish I could make them last longer
We were in northern spain one year on the sT4S. I stopped at the end of a road at a T junction and said to my mate can you just have a quick look at my rear tyre, I think I might have a puncture.
He wheeled his bike back, took a look, and wheeled forward shaking his head. His response was nope, not a puncture, just steel belt showing.
He was majorly p!ssed off as that had just cut his afternoon of fun short too, as I was leading

 

In all honesty the wife has been pretty reliable. Never left me stranded in the middle of nowhere so all good as long as I give her a good kicking every now and again.
But then I do have my red headed mistress if ever I get bored!

 

What amused me most (with hindsight, not at the time) was my initial thought was something was stuck on the tyre, it was only when I tried to brush it off without gloves on and came away bleeding that the penny dropped.
Mrs Five won't go on the back of the Ducati, something to do with speed and size of seat. If I ever get the Superdream back on the road she's promised to consider it.