Featured Threads Archive

Ha !
Keep your Ducatis

Today I shall be mostly hooning on the finest section of road I've ever had the pleasure of riding. Forget the Stelvio pass, far too tight hairpins, the magnificent section of road from Cala de Sant Vincent through to Sant Joan de Labritja in the north east of Ibiza was made for motorcycles. Tarmac perfection , smooth sweeping bends with perfect visibility means the attack on the bend can be planned far in advance, powered out of, and decent distances between the corners enables one to get up to some decent speed again before slowing for the next bend. So good that I have been perfecting my riding on the same section for 3 days in a row .
Did I mention the added bonus of the Gorgeous tiny short clad Spanish girls, dear oh dear god help me!
This evening I shall be mostly up to mischief on my mates yacht.

Presentation of Ducati 2016 model range also to go ahead on live web feed
Ducati World Première 2016, Monday 16 November, to precede the opening of EICMA 2015
Enthusiasts from all over the world will be able to link up via the internet

Borgo Panigale (Bologna, Italy), 9 October 2015 – The countdown to the Ducati World Première 2016 – the official presentation of Ducati models for the coming season – has begun. The event will begin at 4 p.m. on Monday 16 November, the day before EICMA 2015 opens its doors to the press.

As in 2015, the Ducati World Première will be streamed live on the web, where Ducatisti all over the world will be able to experience the unveiling of the latest Ducati bikes for 2016 as it happens.

The very latest models, together with the new Monster 1200 R already presented at the Frankfurt IAA, plus the full range of Ducati accessories and apparel, will be exhibited to the public at the 73rd International Motorcycle Exhibition (EICMA 2015) at the Fiera di...

We went for something different on the carby bike. Weight and performance is the objective of the EVO SS. Cafe bling is the objective here. The paint is a blingy metal flake.

Should be ready next month!

Right,

lets get this off my chest. Some of you know me very well, some in passing, some I have had a pint with and a fair few of you I have shared a paddock and a track with.

Occasionally I am abrupt, downright rude, challenging, gobby and even caustic. These are all parts of my personality. To balance things out there are fun, giggly, encouraging, informative, shy,knowledgeable and happy go lucky aspects too. I suspect this is true of all people. I have made lifelong friends in the biking community and respect them all for the characters they are.

My first foray into forums was many many years ago on Thumpertalk (single cylinder bike stuff, not belting people :Angelic. Since then I have found them to be of great benefit in many ways. Some forums cross social boundaries, giving people with very differing views but a common interest a shared space in which to meet.

I like a bit of anarchy, and I do try to temper my digits but sometimes I fail miserably. On those occasions I...

The finals of the Ducati Speciale Challenge took place yesterday at a sun drenched Silverstone circuit. The penultimate round of the British Superbike round was the setting for the Ducati Speciale’s own showdown as the eight finalists gathered at the circuit to discover who would be the 2015 Ducati Speciale champion.

Ducati has always been synonymous with performance and design and most Ducati customers modify their bike in some way using the extensive array of Ducati Performance accessories available. To celebrate some of the best examples of self-expression by UK Ducatisti, Ducati UK created the Ducati Speciale Challenge and invited entries from all over the country which were finally shortlisted to a final eight.

The eight bikes were displayed outside the Ducati UK hospitality drawing a crowd throughout the weekend. It was here that the judges, Niall Mackenzie, Ducati TriOptions ambassador, Tim Maccabee, Managing Director and Neil Spalding MotoGP technical journalist,...

just somehow looks 'right' to me

cranker!!'

Got a scary call from my 18 yr old son this evening that he'd been involved in an accident. The car behind him had been hit from behind and been forced onto his bike (short wheelbase XR125) and he then hit the car in front. He came off and hurt his leg but nothing serious and after a check over was released without need to go to A&E.

The Police did a fantastic job; arranged for the bike to be collected and drove my son back 20 miles from Oxford. Great for my son to be able to form a positive impression of the Police. He also laughed that they had a vehicle licence reader that gave a Homer Simpson "Doh!" upon recognising an uninsured car (6 on the way home). They praised my son for having all the right protective kit that probably saved him from more serious injury. Great service, thanks.

At last I have managed to get a ride on my new Scrambler,a red Icon.
Nice and easy to move out of the garage,not to heavy and with a nice low centre of gravity.Nice and easy to mount,the tail is a full 7" lower than my SF.
So, off we go.one of the first things I notice is how light the clutch is,difficult to believe it is cable operated.The wing mirrors actually work as well,I don't have to bend my body to see what's behind me.
This bike is acting like a little puppy,straining at the leash,and waiting to run away.Nice bit of torque,this thing likes a bit of a gallop.I like it.
Good slow speed running as well,nicely balanced and the engine very docile.I only encountered a bit of first gear 'over eagerness once'.Just a case of getting to know the bike I suppose.
Nice gear shift,I didn't encounter any false neutrals.Rev counter not that brilliant to read but luckily I can tell from engine feel that I am not labouring or screaming the engine.
After about 20 miles I...

Hey guys I've been doing some reviews of the Ducati's i've been trying whilst 899 is in for surgery. Here's the 1299 which i'm still riding. You may think it's a tonne of wank!
So far i have tried Monster 1200S Stripe, Monster 696, 1299s and 1299, Scrambler Icon (with panniers), 2016 Multistrada.

To say i am gutted about the fate that has befallen my 899 is an understatement. However a deep down feeling (and family request) that we never dance again is quite hard to ignore even with Ducati's finest looking after my 899. Every cloud has a silver lining and the dealers are doing their part by letting me use loan bikes.

I digress.

I was handed the keys to a 65 plate 1299 base with 7 miles on it. Between riding away from dealers at 2:30pm Tuesday and now, i've stuck 121 miles on it. Slowly at first to scrub in the Supercorsa SPs it's shod with.

Let's sort the bad out quickly:
1) Price. No getting around the fact that near £17k for a bike is obscene, and too much for any sensible...

My 3 year free servicing and warranty period runs out today. I took my bike in to JHP Ducati Coventry for its 15,000 mile service a few weeks ago and they are nearing completion.

Thankfully no issues have been found except the expected carbon build-up.
I have elected to to have the valves, pistons and crank out and cleaned even though it will cost me - two head gaskets at £180 each and 8hrs of labour - because it is cheaper to do it now whilst the bike is apart than later. I figure that if I do it now after 15,000 miles it likely won't need doing again in my lifetime as I am going to get my other bikes back on the road and use the D16 a lot less now that it is out of warranty.

I have given JHP a camera and asked them to take photos as they work so I'll give an update and put them up here when I get it back.

I was encouraged to make a more thorough introduction of myself and my occational ducati adventures, so here goes nothing

My Ducati journey started in 2002 with a 748, very nice bike it was and I kept it for two years. But by the end of the second season I was completely hooked on this MY2000 996SPS that was prowling the neighbourhood, asked the guy if he would sell it to me and much to my surprice a YES came back, not much to think about and I bought it.
I had already got mag wheels for the 748 so they were transferred over to the new scoot.
Looked like this first season (2004):
The coming winter (2005) I couldnt help myself tuning it a bit, as thats what usually happens to any ride I have, then another tune at 2007 and by now it had a lot of special bits in there, eventually a valve seat came lose and locked the engine, luckily at a stand still, but damage was financially enough to consider a more modern engine to go in there. Lesson learned from that is to avoid special...

I know.....I'm at it again,pestering you lovely people for more donations.
I hope to,if I get my target,Skydive with the Red Devils for the only other charity close to my heart.It might even scare my cancer away for ever!!
I've also chosen to do the jump on my birthday next year,fingers crossed I'm healthy and ok to do it.....
Please read the link below and donate WHATEVER you can for these wonderful heroes and heroines.
THANK YOU ONCE AGAIN XX
Jennifer Coates is fundraising for Help for Heroes

The 'Average Rider Review'.

I would imagine there's quite a few people out there who are pondering whether to swap their 848, 1098 or 1198 for a Panigale, and as I was a few years ago asking themselves if the Panigale is any better?, is it worth it? Or should I just stick with what I've got?. We've all read the reviews of the so called 'experts' with varying opinions. For most including myself the bike will only the used as a toy to be taken out after work or at weekends for general riding and a quick blast. All the reviews I've read talk about how the bike handles under extreme riding when it's being pushed to the limit. I consider myself an average rider of average ability who rides only on the road, so how fast the bike can hit the apex or how it handles when accelerating at 11k rpm out of a corner isn't relevant to me or many other riders. I'm lucky enough to own both a 1098 and 1199, so I thought I'd write this review comparing them both side by side based on an average...

I picked up the new DVT last night around 5pm and immediately it was obvious that the decision to trade up was the right move. I had done about 10,000km on the 2013 GT that I traded and I was really happy with it until about 5:01pm. The new DVT is completely different and although I had read every article written on it I was not prepared for just how different it is.
I'm no bike expert though I have been riding bikes all my life. (Started at 8yrs on the farm) I'm no boy racer however I was a motorcycle cop for 5yrs so I've chased a few guys that thought they were.... Here's my initial thoughts and a couple of surprises on the new DVT.
Please keep in mind that prior to the upgrade I had joined this forum and trawled through most of the posts on the DVT. I had also read every article written in bike mags and watched every You Tube clip so I thought that I was well informed.
The most surprising thing was that the GT and the DVT feel so different. The new bike feels lighter and much...

Got down to the bike shop late afternoon after a 12 hr shift down in Birmingham.
Paid up, sorted the docs out, jumped on the bike and rode off. They forewarned me that there was little fuel in it so headed straight to the petrol station.
It felt shite so after filling up I checked the tire pressures. Needed another 12 in the front and 4 in the rear. That's all it needed to feel right enough. After that I began to enjoy it more and more and to be honest, didn't find it any more uncomfortable than the 848 it replaced.
I think as soon as I get some new tires on and a few other bits that need sorting out, I'll have myself a mint bike!

Ducati to show nine new models at Eicma - Motorcycle news : General news - Visordown

Not seen it as it's over 200 mile away and the delivery will be a week or so, it's going to be hard to sleep for a while...:Wideyed:

A 1390 mile Streetfighter 1098S in Black :smile::Happy: