I hope everyone has a happy 4th of July weekend. I’ve started the mental count-down until I have to leave, so that gives me a reality check when I start to feel lazy. Christina learned a great deal this week. She now can do sales receipts and shipping labels. Next up is using my online gateway to charge for orders, handle returns, and order supplies from vendors. I’ll show her that stuff next week. I’m confident that she’ll be good to go when the time comes.

This weekend I’ll knock out the tune-ups on Michael’s S4RS and Nick’s S2R1000. I guess I should thank Ducati for making their bikes lean. It puts money in my wallet. Honest, I had nothing to do with it.

The Ark looks completely different, and not necessarily for the better. It is devoid of bikes, and in their place are rows of inventory, packing stations and boxes. It looks like a business, which it is. It will be years before my bikes have a real home again. Oh well. You can’t plan for every event. Life is weird that way.

My inventory is so organized that I know where everything is…. for the first time… ever. Everything is labeled, bagged and tagged. Now I can look around for hidden products that never made their way onto the website. Several others will get nuked due to nonexistent sales.

I need to catch up on the racing, but just can’t seem to find the time. Maybe when I’m in Tampa I’ll have more time. Yeah, right.

Enjoy your weekend.

Christina and I have been busy organizing the DT inventory. It was a mess. Well, it was an organized mess for me, but not for somebody that knows nothing about Ducati parts. By COB on Friday, the inventory should be all ship ship and I’ll be mid-way through teaching Christina how to do sales receipts. It will take me a week to build the database for her supplier references. My mid next week, I’ll have her filling orders, with me watching over until she gets the knack of things. By the time I leave, she should able to run things just fine. I’ll still tackle all the questions, and she can deal with the rest.  I would have rather had an extra month of prep, but June was out of the question.

A few products will dribble onto the website. They’ve actually been on the shelves but not up on the website. Now that I’m organized, maybe I can get to launch some new products. Just because I’m out of town, won’t mean that I’m not scheming about Ducati products. After all, it’s my life…. or at least a chunk of it.

Enjoy your Th.

1830 at the New York Deli.  Will be a small but distinguished group as is our tradition.  Report to follow…

Success!  We had a great time at the New York Deli.  Seven bikes with nine people showed up and we hung out for nearly 2 hours enjoying good food and company.  I rode the ST4S with Shelley, Mike rode his Aprilia RSV with his son Patrick, Steve arrived aboard his Monster, Matt on his Aprilia Tuono and he had a couple of friends join him as well.  They were brothers Steve on his Tuono and (name please!) on his new Suzuki SV650.  We also had Patrick show on his now extremely well kept and blingy 996.  There is a good food variety there and I’d easily go many more times to sample the menu more fully.  Everyone’s bike looked fantastic and very clean.  Mike is running some new Michelin Pilot Road2 tires which have a very aggressive rain groove pattern.  They look sweet as far as tires go.  He said he got them from and installed at Turn One Performance in Milton.  I had recommended Turn One to him and he said he was extremely pleased with the service and would definitely be a repeat customer.  That’s high praise as Mike’s hard to please sometimes.    Our next get together is tentatively planned for Tuesday the 14th of July, 1830 hrs. at the same place in 2 weeks.  LT, I wasn’t going to push for a change of day since you said you’re “not riding any more until the fall” and the guys seemed to like Tuesday.  Any desires let me know.

Possible ride this Friday morning through Blackwater.  If anyone is interested let me know.  It’ll be an 0700-1100 kind of affair.  I already have a couple of tentative “yes” replies.

Above: Me, Dave, Scott and Donnie next to our test bikes in Kernville, CA

Test bikes (left to Right) - Ducati Streetfighter S, Aprilia Tuono Factory, Triumph Speed Triple, KTM Superduke

Today was my first day that DT enjoyed having an employee. Christina helped me move all the bikes out of the Ark into the main garage, then move all the inventory into the Ark, then all the bikes into the vacancy left by the inventory. In this heat, being outside is torture, but she didn’t complain one bit. I think she’s going to make a heck of an office manager. Good thing, because my deployment is a done deal. 10 August is my report date. Between now and then my main aim is keeping my fitness level up, training Christina, teaching 30 students all they need to know about Business Strategy, and getting my Army kit prepared for a conus/oconus deployment. Needless to say, time will be at a premium over the course of the next month. Today will be a typical day.

• 0500  - wake up
• 0500-0600 - Pack Sunday’s orders
• 0600-0700 - gym workout
• 0800-1200 - training with Christina - Trip to the Post Office
• 1200-16:00 - Teach at the university
• 1700-1900  - House chores
• 1900-2030 - Went to see Mark’s new toy
• 2100-2330 - Pack today’s orders

Okay, crappy title, I agree.  As I started to type though I thought of grade school and the anual report titled the same.  Onward…

I stopped by to see LT yesterday afternoon just to verify he was actually home.  He was.  Knee deep moving items “A” to location “B” so that location “B” items can move to location “A”.  He keeps finding ways to make himself busy.  Nature of the beast.  No, I wasn’t even heart broken that he didn’t walk around the corner to check out my new bike.  ;)  I did actually procure one of his items for it though.  Even though he calls his business “Desmo Times”, he still can get plenty of farkel for any two wheeler.  Thanks dude!

Saturday morning I went for a ride with Michael, Matt and his buddy Gerald.  We had a mixed bag of bikes.  I took out the ZX14 (will take the ST4S out tomorrow), Michael had his ever improving Tricolore S4RS, Matt on his Tuono and Gerald on his new CRB1000RR.  I tested my top speed, Michael removed his chickin’ strips, Matt kept a good pace for Gerald and Gerald learned a new route.  We had an uneventful ride through our standard stomping grounds with a good time had by all.  We were back at our perspective homes by 1100 as the day heated up.  Total time start to finish…4 hours.

Sunday I took my lovely wife Shelley out for a beach trip on the new bike.  She’ll ride in pretty much any weather, unlike some people with lots of motorcycles that max PT tests and are in the best condition of their lives here in the Pensacol area (sorry, couldn’t resist).  The weather was wonderful and a bit cooler down off the water.  We stopped for lunch in Gulf Shores at LuLu’s, a waterfront restaurant owned by Jimmy Buffet’s sister, LuLu.  It was a nice, relaxing “something to do” on our first anniversary.  We’d been celebrating in our own way all weekend with various events.

I’m still fiddling with the 14’s suspension a bit.  I NEED an extra set of skilled hands to help take some additional measurements.  I’ll ask again this weekend.  The ST still needs it’s factory rear Ohlins shock rebuilt.  I HOPE to send it out some time in August so I can have it back installed for mid-September when I am going to try to get off work to go the the anual Ducs Fly South get together up in Hiawassee, Georgia for a 3 day getaway.  We shall see.  The 999 is still up for sale on consignment at Pensacola Motorsports.  Lots of interest from drooling bikers with no cash.  It definitely stands out in the crowd up there.  That’s it for now.  Enjoy the rest of your Monday.

Well, I suppose it had to happen sooner or later: one of my Ducks would become too uncomfortable to ride given my different injuries and would have to move on to another owner. Whatever function that motorcycle fit, be it sport bike, naked, tourer, would have to be filled by something else, but the Duck would have to go.

I suppose that given my injuries (back, neck, shoulders, and knees being the highlights) most of you would expect that the 999S would be the first to go; however, that’s just not the case. In fact, the 999S is actually quite comfortable for me to ride and makes for great physical therapy. The bike that’s finally tripped the switch for me is my 2004 Black Multistrada. This might be counter-intuitive; however, the step-over getting on and off the bike just tears my back up every time I swing a leg over no matter what tricks I try to get around it. To add insult to injury, this is the bike that has two Hepco Becker 45 Liter Aluminum Sidecases fitted with permanent mounts and a Hepco Becker 35 Liter Aluminum Topcase on a back rack. So, my motorcycle with the most touring capability is the one that now needs to find a new home.

I hate to say this, but the easiest answer is strip the bags and mounts and trade the bike in for something else. Will I get hosed on the price, most likely; however, holding onto the bike risks me actually getting less than the dealer is willing to offer.

Now here comes the bombshell: I’m actually considering going over to the dark side completely.

Why such an extreme change? Well, Ducati does not seem to have what I’m looking for in the touring category (not even with the Multistrada replacement that is upcoming); BMW motorcycles (of which I once had an R1200RT) don’t really get my juices flowing, and the rest of those available out there just don’t do it for me. So, why go with a Harley? Well, I suppose it’s because they’re hurting so bad for customers right now and they’ve finally started to come around to the idea that improving their bikes is necessary to keeping the company alive.

For example, ABS is just about standard on their touring models now, as is a new frame and suspension for 2009. Oh, and you can actually walk into a dealer and buy bikes for the MSRP now: compare this to ten years ago where you waited months or years to get a bike and had to pay a markup of thousands of dollars to “join the club” or become one of the anointed if you prefer. Having owned two Harleys back in 1999 and 2001 (a 1200 Sportster and Road King, respectively) I can tell you that owning one of these motorcycles does not make your hair grow if you are bald, add inches below the waist, or make you into some kind of criminal no matter how much leather you wear or how little you bathe or shave.

What I can say is that they’re finally starting to realize is that the generations that are buying bikes now (i.e. not the Baby Boomers) expect the bike to run correctly from the factory (no more “Harley Tax” to get a bike that will actually run as it should), have safety and convince features on par with other motorcycles in the same price range, and that playing “hard to get” with customers is the easiest way to get an “about-face” and movement on to another dealer (something I did with the locals when they asked if I was looking to “trade up” from my 999S).

What will the future hold if I go through with this as expected? Well, I suppose my Ural will get two cases to attach to the sidecar. My S2R1000 with get a top case attached somehow to the frame rails. As to the Harley, it will be my long-distance rig to take one of my nephews out for a ride while the other rides the R1200RT with my brother. Will it replace my Ural, the 999S, the ‘95 SS SP, or the S2R1000? Not for an instant. Each bike has a connection that cannot be replaced by anything else in my arsenal. This would be like adding an old Cadillac to your garage and expecting it to replace an old CJ-5 and a couple of sports cars. Not going to happen.

Too bad it had to work out this way; I really wanted to pass the Multistrada on to another person and not a nameless dealership buyer, but this is just the way it’s working out.

Ride safe,

Ken

Now that I’m back in town, I’m doing the same ‘ole thing - slogging my way through orders. Fortunately, the volume this week subsided somewhat, so it’s not so bad. I should have everything out of here by Monday. The only backorder is Mike G’s order with the battery box upgrade parts that I’m still waiting on.

The Ark starts getting converted into an office on Monday. All the bikes will vacate tomorrow in preparation for the inventory/office furniture. Christina and I will spend the week organizing inventory and starting the process of simplifying things.

I’ve got an S2R1000 coming into the shop this week for a tune up. I haven’t worked on a bike in a few months, so it will be good to shake the cobwebs out of my head. I’d rather wrench in air-conditioning than do yard work any day.

Enjoy your weekend.

After 4 days of flogging, our Naked bike test is over. I’m not going to write up the story due to time constraints, so new guy Scott will be doing the points tabulations. If you read my comments on Twitter, you know what I thought. I can’t imagine any other magazine putting their bikes what we put our test units through - 1400 miles in all. Every virtue and vice was apparant after a few days of testing. All 4 of our testers had over 25 years of riding experience and at least 10 years of professional bike testing experience, so I feel good about our effort.  The fact that we dented 2 front rims is testament to how hard we rode the bikes on and off-road. To protect the intellectual property of the magazine, I’ll only comment offline in person about our findings.

It’s time now to recuperate from my vacation. My wrist is sore from the tight switchbacks that we did yesterday - hours of them. My knees are sore from the knee bend of the Tuono on the run into LA last night. My neck is sore due to the lack of wind protection on the KTM on open country 90 mph sweepers, and my carpel tunnel is acting up from the vibration of the Speed Triple during canyon carving. It was a typical LT vacation. If any girl would have been along, she would have disowned me in short order.

I’ve been hard to get a hold off for the past six or seven weeks. Christina starts work on Monday, so I’ll still be busy, but at least I’ll be in Pensacola.

Enjoy your Fr.

Yes, it may have well been a momentary lapse of reason, and fittingly so that was the album I listened to on the way up to Watkinsville, Georgia. On the way home I broke out an old favorite, Hysteria. I had done it. I had either stepped up or beyond, and to tell the truth I wont know that for sure until I get use to the F1098. Once I got her home, off with the rabbit ears and on with the CRG’s. Then just a short ride. I was totally exhausted from getting up early and enduring the drive to Athens and back.

A Face Only A Mother Could Love

As all “First Dates” go, I had some adjusting to do. I’m using my toes to stand her up. Not a problem since I don’t ride with my feet down. What amazed me on first sitting on the Street Fighter was how tight the midsection was. When you pinch the tank, it almost feels like you are about to have your knees touch through the tank. Next thing you notice is how the heat shield kicks your heel out if you ride on your toes like I do. Since I’ve yet to drag a knee, I’m not too concerned with it. The left side heel protector somewhat does the same to a lesser extent to keep you off the swing arm. There is plenty of room for long legged people like LT. I have to make a concerted effort to get my ass to touch the back of the seat rest. Considering the engine in this puppy, being back on the seat is probably not a good idea for my 155 pounds of meat and bones.

Even though I’m still in the midst of breaking it in, there is so much pull that I lean forward to counter the force that wants to have the bike leave out from under me. The dash takes a little getting use to. It’s new. New things require thought. Multi-function switches keep the controls to an up menu, separated by the turn signal cancel “nub”, and the down menu. The turn signal alone is probably the weirdest. Instead of the usual single button that cancels when you push it in, the Street Fighter uses a button within the turn signal switch that is small and must be pushed squarely in order to cancel a turn. I do like the high beam switch. It is more of a flapper button. Like a traditional “flash to pass” you pull in to toggle the momentary high beam, but if you deflect it forward or downward, it toggle to high beams on, toggle it forward once more to cancel.

Enough techno-babble. How-zit ride? For me it is a lot of bike. Stock tuning around 4200rpm and below sucks. Thanks to Euro3, many people will be tuning to rid the bike of it. I spoke to Jason at FatDuc and he feels the Manipulator will cure the woes. Maybe that box will arrive by Wednesday. It really is the only bad feel you get riding it in stock tune. With the 1098 it just amplifies it as the motor stumbles from gentle take offs and hits 4200rpm, then the giant awakens. Once that gets sorted, roll ons will be more confident, especially in turns where first gear is needed.

The shifting is good. Some early “reports” of false neutrals have not found thier way onto my bike. Granted I have not done any power shifting, as I’m sure this thing will rocket when it is in the right hands. Initially the brakes were an eye opener. Coming from two piece brembos, the amount of force is half. After a few stints you relearn to use less pull and can either maintain a two finger grab or stick with one finger. I know that when I jumped back on the S2R, I was shocked once again with brakes that were not there. Certain people that own many Ducs will probably not give it a passing thought… LT.

Seating is comfortable. The seat is thin in comparison to many bikes, but I think Ducati did it right. There is support, grip, and ease of movement. The side pipes do keep the heat off your arse, unless you sit at a light, then the rear cylinder will remind you that like any Duc, the temps rise and you stare at the guages to make sure you don’t sit too long. There is no engine temperature. Instead there is a stack of LED chicklets on the center of the dash. Visual cues tell you more chicklets complete the upward climb if you sit too long. Warm up time seem quicker in comparison to my ST3.

I think that while it does not sit as agressively as a sport bike, you do tend to ride relaxed when not on the power, and lean forward naturally as needed. With no windshield, it only take about 65mph to start taking the weight off your hands as you lean against nature. If you don’t have a good fitting helmet, you will damn sure be buying one. At speed you can still be upright, but will most likely want to ease forward and down to keep the buffeting out of the bottom of the helmet. When you do lean forward, you’re not really on the tank, you’re sort of on the front of the tank with a nice view of the asphalt ripping by as you inspect the front fender for any bug impacts.

Suspension is totally not set for me. As LT mentioned in his twittle thing, it is a bit hard. The icing is of course the traction control. I didn’t notice it on my test ride, but did see/feel it on one ride as I jumped onto my favorite bypass. It’s nice to know you have an Italian co-pilot when you accidentally ask for too much power. I would imagine those who have a knack for thrashing power, Mark, would end up saving some tire for quite a few extra miles rather than having them spin up, leaving valuable rubber in some lonely corner of a road. I’ve said it before, the traction control can be a great tool to learn where the line is, so that next time you come up to that line, maybe it doesn’t kick in. Or you could just have fun with it.

The only trouble I have had is the fuel line in the tank disconnected the other night. I was only a few miles from the house. A passerby helped watch the bike, while the local police gave me a lift home to fetch the jeep and trailer. I tore it down and had it back running that night for the next day. Paul at NPR was a great help in taking my call on a Saturday night to confirm the diagnosis. And what fun to tear into a two day old bike! I mean I will eventually have to do it anyway and I would rather sort things out near home than 30 miles away which was where I was heading! Lucky Break!

That’s it for now. I still plan on riding to Florida on the weekend of the 4th, and hopefully get the low rpm sorted. I think the bike has lots of potential, striking looks, and it really does make a statement even when parked. If the Hyper seemed like some skinny cat on crack, the F1098 is like an old S4RS, that started hanging out with Barry Bonds and Lou Ferrigno, ending up on the sauce and ripping at the seams for some tasty asphalt sandwiches. I’m sure LT will elaborate on things when he gets his ass back to P-cola and places an order for the S model

Just a short post. I’m totally drained from the long day. Got up bright and early to take the ST3 up to NPR Ducati and trade her in on my new Red SF1098s. I ditched the rabbit ears and put CRG’s on. Only took a short ride to town to get something to eat. Hopefully get rested up and get up early to ride. It would be a form of motorcycle water boarding if I were to ride any later than 10am.