[eastbay851]

Last time i posted here it was in memory of mark buckelew and i guess any post from the day he died will be with memory of mark buckelew.

Heading into 6 decades of 2 wheels, living in the dessert, 5 early get offs, 11 assorted 4 wheel mistakes, over 30 speeding tickets, 5 knee surgeries, 2 abdominal surgeries, cancer and suffering from terminal stupidity... I was reflecting the other day....

Some of my favorite people i met through ducati. I tried to count up the rides i ve had the other day... Wrote them down...

Built a norton and a harley from frame up, owned: Ajs, bsa, bmw, 3 triumphs, 5 hondas, 5 yamahas, 4 nortons, 3 hd s, 9 porsches' 2 austin healy s, jaguar, 2 mercedes and assorted american cars including a lovely 57 chevy wagon (non nomad) and i just had to ask myself....

Of all those things only ducati created lasting friendships. Why?

 

[CAlexio]

Something beautiful, red and sxy usually does... Welcome to the forum stranger!

 

[oalvarez]

Welcome back, 'ol friend of .MS.

May all be well,

 

[Slower than you]

Welcome back and I hope you stay. Aah the cigar and cocktail stories... Still have the recipie printed out somewhere in my office that causes friends that read it to wrinkle a brow in curiosity.

Holy shit, where have I been. Didn't know that Mark died. Can you elaborate if it isn't too painful?

 

[bevel450]

We all wish EB851 would get off his ass and check in once and a while.

Mark died of what we believe was a heart attack at the age of 52 ( I think) a year ago April. He had just retired and after touring the US for 9 months in his motorhome with his wife, they travelled to San Miguel to start their dream home construction. He died suddenly the next day. ( No firm pathology on his death being Mexico and all. And dead is dead no matter where you check out.)

He was a great friend to many people in the Bay area in particular. A better soul never lived.

On a lighter note, were'nt those blenders powered by outboard motors ???

Welcome back and I hope you stay. Aah the cigar and cocktail stories... Still have the recipie printed out somewhere in my office that causes friends that read it to wrinkle a brow in curiosity.

Holy shit, where have I been. Didn't know that Mark died. Can you elaborate if it isn't too painful?

 

[Slower than you]

Thanks for the sad update on Mark Ron.

Since reading EB's post I searched my office for the recipe to no avail. STY is waay effin pissed now. Don't recall the outboard as a prime mover (seems kinda stinky to me unless using Castrol R) but there was something about Dominicans, rolling, thighs or something along those lines.

 

[916duc]

Oh my - days gone by at "The Ducati Index"........ EB851 and the twins, what stories!

Mark finally got Ducati to step up and admit the flaky rocker arm issues eventually leading them to pay lots of repairs under warranty after denying it for years.

 

[PeterS]

EDIT He was a great friend to many people in the Bay area in particular. A better soul never lived.

I had a few emails with Mark, during the rocker issue era. To say that he was passionate was an understatement. I even invited him & his wife to come visit us in Australia.
Here is some of his words to me, we were talking about Kawasaki 500's etc. I enjoyed the conversation.
----------
Hi Peter,

My buddy Helmut had this happen to his 748 at about 2500 miles. New valves, belts, a rocker or two, a couple of valve guides....I don't think it required the replacement of his pistons and cylinders. Jon Nichols did the motor and, instead of paying $90 for a valve, Jon got some $13.00 Chevy valves and machined them, then made the new valve guides.

Ducati has seemed to quit the "It's been on a track - the warranty is void" crap. But no, they have no idea about customer service. The bikes are great - but the quality is sadly disappointing.

If my wife wasn't insistant on a full-on tourer (BMW K1200LT), I woulndn't have considered the Ducati line. I have owned 5 FJ1200's and would have kept the last one until the FJR1300 came out. But she became passionate about the big K-bike and the rest is history. Damn good bike, though.

Hey! Nice H1. My sister had friends who raced; one with an H-1 and one with an H-2. Bevel (from the index) showed up at my door one day in his Mini Cooper S with a Champion Nickel Plated Rolling Chassis in pieces. It was originally made for a Harley Davidson 2-stroke. I'm putting an RD350 into it over the winter. Never done a 2-stroke. Looking forward to having this thing on the street and doing some flattracking on it. The guy who's re-lacing my front wheel for a rotor is the same guy who has Kenny Robert's TZ750 Flattracker - he built it - Ray Abrams at A&A Racing.

Anyway, nice shop.

I've been busy as hell. Sunday at the absolute latest on the scanned article. I promise.

-Mark
-------------------------------------

Cheers,