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Duc From Down Under

Discussion in 'Newbies Hangout' started by Seven4nineR, Feb 23, 2021.

  1. Hi folks, been lurking around here for a while, enjoying the piss taking from afar (Western Australia). Thought it only fair I start contributing to the mayhem.
    A few too many years ago I kinda had the right bike, a 916 built to SP spec, at the wrong time. I loved it, but knew fuck all about Ducati's or set up. Life took one of those loop de loops, it was sold, and I discovered the track/racing.
    So the years kept inexorably slipping by, more life loop de loops, but racing a Superbike even at just club level has gotten expensive and I find myself an old bastard looking at Ducati's again. I'm thinking an interesting middleweight would be a welcome change from a superbike eating tyres the way a Labrador eats breakfast. Whether I liked it or not the track had knocked a few more "tools" into my noggin....but I still knew fuck all about Ducati's.
    You only live once and I leapt back into the Duc pond with a 749R trackbike. It needed a lot of sorting but it's a wee ripper and after 9(?) years I still love the angry lil' bugger:
    [​IMG]
    So much so when I noticed this old bloke in the mirror (when the fuck did that happen?) and started considering racing Historic's, an 851 seemed like the obvious choice. What wasn't quite so obvious was how heavy and slow the bloody things (Strada) are! Cue another life loop de loop, racing has fallen by the wayside, and I've somehow dragged out building a half decent 851/926 race bike for near enough 7 years! She's finally ready to hit the track and I'm ready to break my born again virgin race cherry...only for COVID to crash the party. There's not much of that original Strada left these days:
    [​IMG]
    Now, amongst still fiddling with the above, I'm onto a 749R/999RS project supposedly to use up my spares, but the spares aren't really good enough so really it's just another bloody money pit. Fairly early days, but I've given a 749R frame the RS treatment and tucked in a lil' 999RS engine (long story). Oh well, it keeps me out of the pub:
    [​IMG]
    Truthfully, I find myself enjoying time in the shed as much as time at the track. I work away from home for half the year so shutting the door on the world, grabbing a bevvy, and pottering with my bikes is my version of mindfulness.

    I'm still learning shitloads, make many many cock-ups, but would rather cock it up myself than pay someone to cock it up for me as seems to happen all to often.
     
    • Like Like x 10
  2. Welcome Spud :upyeah:
     
  3. Welcome dude
     
  4. A proper man workshop, welcome.:motorcycleduc::upyeah:
     
  5. Welcome and enjoy!
     
  6. Welcome, nice projects.
     
  7. Welcome Spud ,
    Brilliant intro :)
     
  8. Welcome. Nice intro. Nice workshop. Nice bike.
     
  9. Thanks fella's. The "workshop" is just making the best of a shit situation: we were a couple of Kiwi's happily settled in Oz when my better half's mum contracted the Big C, terminal diagnosis. So we moved back to NZ to spend what time we could. A few years on the inevitable happened, and we moved back to Oz again (all with the same employer allowing me to fly backwards and forwards to work offshore - at my expense) and bought a small orchard property....only to be fucked over by the vendor and selling agent with a non-existent lease on the orchard by a fictitious 3rd party.
    Also undeclared (despite a sale contract clause) was the fact the orchard had to be "maintained" or ripped out to protect the surrounding orchards from pests. We were still in NZ trying to sell our property so the orchard had to go.
    The only upside was a now redundant cool-room which I repurposed as my workshop....it literally looks like the bat cave but works well.
    Sorry for rabbiting on, but yeah, those fuggin' life loop de loops! Still not sure if the bikes have kept me sane or pushed me closer to the edge, lol.
     
  10. The closer to the edge the better the view.:)
     
  11. Good that you found the place Seven 4 Nine, I know that your approach will appeal to young @Sev not just because you share part of the same handle. (yours made me think of Seven of Nine :upyeah:(daren't show the whole pic on here nowadays.))

    [​IMG]
     
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