Sprockets

Today I ran a bunch of errands on El Duce. Stopped by Sears to buy a pair of jeans at Lloyd Center Mall. As a rule I hate mall parking lots as they tend to be a giant cluster fuck. It's even worse on a bike. The half wits in cars pay absolutely no attention to you. Twice a couple morons almost ran right into me. Seriously people, please pay attention to what you are doing and stop dreaming of the Orange Julius you are going to get after buying your novelty penis trucker hat at Spencer's Gifts.

I also went to REI in search of some thermal pants. Sorry but I'm not paying $60 for a pair of thermals. Kiss my hairy ass REI. My last stop was MotoCorsa to get another tank protector. Don't ask.

MotoCorsa was out of the tank protector I was looking for. While I was there I asked Brad how long it took to put on a 14 tooth sprocket. It ended up they weren't too busy and could put one on while I waited. Brad also suggested I replace the stock grips (which I've wanted to do for a while now) with a set of $15 Super Bike grips. The sprocket was about $45. Cheap.

I hung out, had coffee and shot the shit with the crew. All and all it took about 30 minutes. Let me just say that those two simple and cheap upgrades has completely changed the nature of the bike. It is much quicker and more civilized. The 14 tooth sprocket keeps the engine where it is supposed to be. It gives it a lighter more nimble feel. The new grips provide more comfort and better feedback.

If you have a Sport Classic and have not yet changed to a 14 tooth sprocket do it now. It's the best bang for buck on a performance upgrade on these bikes. 6th gear will actually become usable. Before the swap 6th gear was pretty much unusable even on the freeway. There is now less of a brute force thing going on. It is much more free revving, which I expect from an Italian engine. Everything now comes together in an nice, elegant Italian package. It's right in the pocket w/ the 14 tooth.

Can't wait to ride tomorrow.

New Winter Gear

The problem with a motorcycle, especially El Duce, is that you want to ride it all the time. This is fine if you live in Florida or California. I happen to live in the Pacific Northwest. Portland, Oregon to be exact. It rains and can get bitter cold during the winter, as it is now.

I have a parking spot that I pay a little bit of cash for every month for parking El Duce. I bought it with the intent of riding El Duce to work every day. August through late October I did this. As winter progressed it just got too damned miserable to ride. I did not have the right cold weather gear to pull it off without numbing half my body. The gear I did have is very nice, Dianese leather jacket and gloves, but not made for the winter chill.

You might be saying to yourself, "Well, go out and buy some gear." I would say to you that just because I bought a Ducati does not mean I am a rich man. I busted my ass to be able to buy it. Also, we all know that bike gear tends to be very pricey. I like to slowly piece together gear to make it affordable.

I was able to cobble together some winter riding gear. It consisted of some cheap Olympia motorcycle glove liners, a windbreaker that my friend left in the back of our car for a year, a wool jacket I bought from The Gap way back when and a $5 rain suit from WalMart. All and all it did what it was supposed to. You will note one huge glaring issue though, no armor. I feel naked without knuckle, back, shoulder and elbow protection. It just wasn't safe. In the words of my friend and mentor Jesse Crotty, it was "no bueno".

Today I decided to stop by our local Cycle Gear to poke around. The first thing I saw was a pair of very nice Frank Thomas winter gloves w/ knuckle protection. On sale for $40. Leather and nylon outer shell with retro-reflective piping, inner lining of membrone (sic) with an outer lining of poly. They have a nice large gauntlet and are very comfy.

The next item I found was critical. A Frank Thomas armored 3 in 1 winter jacket. It was a medium and fit perfectly. It too was on sale for what I thought was $149.00. It is waterproof, made of tough ballistic nylon and has a removable inner windproof fleece liner. I decided I could afford the $149.00; generally you cant touch a good jacket like this for under $300. I'm pretty sure it was last years model, hence the super low price.

To round out my winter gear I grabbed a pair of cheapo MotoBoss waterproof overpants for $14.00. I will get a pair of decent riding pants with armor at a later date.

These items will make all the difference in the world. I took them to the counter and guy rung them up. When he got to the jacket he asked me how much I thought it was. I told him $149.00. He looked at me and told me "Nope, $70.00". I was shocked and pleased.

So for around $130 I got a nice set of winter gear. I love MotoCorsa as much as the next guy, but I would have been lucky to be able to buy one windbreaker/thermal undershirt there for that price. Although Erica, who works in the apparel area at MotoCorsa had me try on the aforementioned undergarment and it was the best feeling piece of clothing I had ever put next to my skin. Damn you MotoCorsa and your evil sales ninjas! She had me and I was going to buy it but I reigned in my desire to compulsively spend. I still do want the leggings though.

After riding today with the new stuff on I have to say I'm impressed with the quality and pricing of the Frank Thomas gear. I was completely warm in the jacket and gloves (it was around 40 degrees +/- this afternoon). The gear seems decently made, comfortable and is affordable. I feel like I'm shilling for them or something but screw it, it's decent gear for the price. I feel like if it falls apart in a year I will have gotten my money out of it.

What was the point of all of this? Now I can ride my bike to work even in really crappy weather and use that parking spot I'm paying for.

El Duce is made for riding, and that's what I'm going to do.

Desmodromia: Abandon All Hope Ye Who Enter Here!

So there it was, the Ducati SportClassic Sport 1000 Biposto. I had seen it online and its lines made me squeal like a little girl. Its long sultry tank, its smooth black body, that tight rounded ass. Pure beauty. I. Must. Have. One.

My father Ben was visiting one weekend and just for shits and giggles I said, "Hey, let's got to the Ducati place." My pops was game so we drove on over just to look at the bikes. We pull up and walked in. Front and center in the showroom is a shiny black Sport 1000 Biposto. It was even better in the flesh; taking on the spirit of a thoroughbred horse. You could imagine it snorting fire or tearing ass around some mountain roads.

Within about 5 minutes or less a young salesman named Adam walked up to greet us. He politely asked how we were doing and if we could use any help. Jokingly I said, "Yeah, how much to get into one of these." and pointed at the Sport 1000. He looked at me and said, "Let's find out, come with me." I thought what the hell, I'll check it out and see how much I need to save for a down on it. He is truly the minion of Satan.

We sat at his desk in the middle of the showroom. He had me fill out some forms and then introduced me to the money man Matt. Adam handed off the forms to Matt who then hustled me to his office. At this point I felt it getting serious. I really only wanted to get an idea of what I'd have to plunk down so I could save my scheckels. It honestly made me a bit nervous.

Matt handed me more paperwork, which I filled out. He feverishly started running numbers on his magic computer machine. He asked how much I wanted to pay per month. I did some down and dirty calculations and told him. In a few minutes he said, "Ok, here is where we are and it looks good. I have to confirm everything. It'll take a bit of time to hear back, when I do I'll give you a call."

Huh? What the fuck? Uh, I just went in to look and you mean I'm going to walk out with my Sport 1000!? Yup. My dad and I left. I was feeling giddy and extremely nervous. I had just pretty much pulled the trigger on buying a gawddamned Du-fawkin'-cati! I got home, went to the back deck where my fiancee Tess was smoking and joined her. I looked at her and said, "Guess what?" "What?" She replied. I stammered, "Well...uh...I'm getting a Ducati..." She looked at me and said something to the effect of, "Really? Cool. Good for you. As long as you can pay your bills then go for it. You deserve it." Now that my friends, was music to my ears.

A couple hours later Matt called and said everything was ready to go. Come back in and sign the papers. I did and the rest is history.

Along with the bike I bought a Dianese Ducati 80s leather jacket with armor (very important). I got that particular jacket because the font was designed by none other than famed designer Giorgetto Guigario (think Alfa Romeo GT/GTV/GTV6 & Brera, Lotus Esprit, BMW 3200 CS, multiple Maseratis...). I also bought a pair of extremely nice Dianese leather gloves and a Arai RX-7 Corsair helmet all thanks to Adrienne. I did not opt for any mods to the bike itself mostly because it was out of my budget. So no Termis, no 14 tooth sprocket, SpeedyMoto bling, or fancy aftermarket mirrors. This stuff will come later.

So there you go, the story of my entrance into the realm of Desmodromia. I could not look back.

Desmodromia: Population 1

I decided to create this Blog-a-roo to chronicle my descent into the realm I've dubbed "Desmodromia".

For those who aren't familiar with Ducatis, a man named Fabio Taglioni created what would be called the Desmodromic Valve System for Ducati. This is found on only one motorcycle in the world...the Ducati. The roots of the word 'desmodromic' comes from two greek roots; desmo = controlled or linked and dromos = course or track. It is an utterly brilliant system. The most significant aspect is there are no valve springs. This means no valve float at high RPMs. I will not go into the technical details as there is plenty out there on the World Wide Super Internets Highway. Here's some more detailed info from Wikipedia entry: Desmodromic Valve System. For those who are more visual (like me) here is a fantastic animation of the system found on DucatiDesmo.com: Desmo Valve Animation.

How did I come to fall in love with all that is Ducati? For many years I had been consumed with Alfa Romeos. I owned many and had a passionate relationship with them. My stable included, at one time or another; Milanos, Berlinas and a precious Giulia Ti. These cars are magnificent works of art with their all aluminum blocks, sodium filled exhaust valves, brilliant 4 and 6 cylinder engines, their handling is unmatched for a daily driver, and they want you to drive the crap out of them. My '64 Guilia Ti was more fun to drive than any modern car I have driven. Alfas are beautiful. Absolutely gorgeous. However, after many years of them I felt the call of something else, something different.

It took me time to identify the siren's call. Slowly it came into focus...m-o-t-o-r-c-y-c-l-e. Mo-tor Cy-cle. Get a motorcycle fool! Of course! What else could provide the joy of tearing up open road that wasn't an Alfa. It was time for me to sell my Giulia Ti and buy a bike. I tried to fight it but I gave in. You have to understand how extremely rare and fun this particular Alfa was. It was a freakin' white '64 Ti w/ a 5 speed column shift. Almost considered unobtainium these days. I put it up for sale and within 3 hours it was sold. Done and Done. I could now start my search for a bike. But what kind?

I had owned two motorhogs in the past; a '66 Honda CB 160 and a '87ish Honda CM 450T. I needed something with history, something artful, something designed with love. Something you don't see everyday. While cruising the Internets I ran across a Norton Commando. It was the top contender. Problem was that a solid and well sorted Commando was above my price range. I looked at BSAs, mulled an older BMW which were both within my range but neither excited me as much as the Commando. The Commando is the Swan Song of the British motorcycle industry. Spot on design, glorious racing history and that exhaust note is amazing. I was in no real hurry so I continued to poke around.

After about 1 1/2 years of looking and researching it popped into my head that since I'm familiar with Italian machines I should probably look into an Italian bike. After all, their design (both visually and mechanically) is unmatched in my book. I had also decided that it might be a good idea to get something new, something I didn't have to wrench. I'd had enough years of wrenching; though I enjoyed it I was done.

I looked at Ducatis, Aprillas, MV Agustas but all I saw were modern crotch rockets. Don't think I'm talking smack about them because they are incredible. It's just that the styling isn't my cup of tea. I did however love the design of the old ones. If I could just get a modern Italian bike with a retro design. Hmmmmm...

Cue the Ducati SportClassic Sport 1000. I stumbled across it online and that was it. Game over. I knew that I had to get my hands on one. It was everything I wanted in a bike; modern, good design, Italian, long racing winning racing history, elegant yet brutish and could go like shit off a shovel.

Next installment: Abandon All Hope Ye Who Enter Here!