[muzzmann]

After a week (make that 2) of hell at work and things going wrong I fired up the big Chev, hooked up the trailer and laid rubber for Ducati Seattle. Rossi & I have been planning a return trip to the dyno for some time so Sat was the day.

I'm not going into detail ..suffice to say we both had our issues and after some trouble shooting on black and blue ....and Rossi getting some fine tuning done on 43 we will be back

I honestly believe there was an old Italian woman givin us the eyeball from afar .....

In the meantime here's some pics taken on Sat nite prior to Rossi & his family takin me to a great little rib joint in Seattle .......American hospitality at it's best !

Ooooppsss ..how could I forget this video of 43 in action ! Seems Sr Rossi was having issues keepin the front wheel down ..

Sorry if my Chev is drowin 43 out a bit ...had to keep my foot in it haulin the trailer to keep up with this wild man and the roads in Seattle could use some repaving as you can see by the shaky cam ..but you get the idea ...this work of genuis of his not only looks phenominal but is a hot rod to boot !



Lookin' forward to round 3 !

Stephano

 

[Jmforge]

Pretty cool, Stephano. Was Old Number 43 a Supersport in a previous life?

 

[LondonDutch]

Great to see the two bikes side by side... And I really wanna hear the results once you get your fine tuning sorted.

 

[Lee C.]

Bikes are looking good gentlemen.

Lee

 

[barfer]

You guys are the genuine article. Just nuts and obsessed and building and riding these purely because you love it.

Great to see. You guys and a couple others are why I come back to this board to check in now and then.

You guys are such characters that there could be a documentary about you. You'd probably refuse to do it, though because you just want to build bikes and loft their front tires in the air.

 

[Bon1000]

great pictures, great looking bikes

 

[MojoDuc]

Looks like a lot of fun!
God, I wish I'd live closer to you guys!!
But if you ever come over to good old europe make sure to bring your bikes to germany!! ;-) Remember...we still have some roads without speed limits!

Cheers, Guido

PS: Did I forget to mention the german beer...ups!

 

[belteshazzar]

Very nice.


Sent from my Motorcycle iPad app

 

[muzzmann]

Pretty cool, Stephano. Was Old Number 43 a Supersport in a previous life?

There is a thread on Rossi's from scratch build .. http://www.ducati.ms/forums/77-sport-classic/86384-custom-cafe-build.html ..including fabbing his own frame ! Talent abounds at casa Rossi ! One would only have to witness the pointed "friendly " exchanges between us whilst muckin around with our tempermental creations.....barbs and complements abound ! .. I would characterize it as DaVinci v Canadian Chopper ..you all can figure out who's who

Talk to him about the million plus details and 100X thought that went into his creation. It attracts admiration and queries from the public at large .....

I never get tired lookin at it ...and have nothing but respect for his creativity...

Stephano

 

[LondonDutch]

Rossi's bike is also featured here on The Bike Shed, with an abridged, illustrated version of the whole build.

Stephano's bike is featured here.

 

[GTRossi]

that day was a hoot - total case of murphy's law where everything just was a bit off, but we had a good time anyway.

muzz made a super-cool remote tank (isn't everything he builds over-the-top cool?) to be able to run his bike w/the guts exposed to tweak carbs, but we had some issues w/weld slag particles clogging up float needles and spent a bit of the morning re-cleaning his already spotless flatslides. then it was headaches w/fantom programming remnants in the nemesis ecu that he's using to control the spark - friggin computers, i hate 'em. put a horrible hiccup right in the fat part of the power curve. looks like some more electronic swaps to isolate and fix that.

43 was also being grumpy, running way rich w/the new filters and we jetted down to pretty close, then were running out of time. did a quick attempt at advancing the cams but the results were not good. we will do a full cam degree job next time i can lure him down here and get those lobes back in synch and set to the hot spots.

the bike is making decent power though, and at ~350 lbs. the front is always popping up in 1st & 2nd, will certainly do so if asked to in 3rd

took her for a 100 mile blast over the weekend (we finally got some sunshine!) and she really does do well on the twisties. very happy w/the chassis - tips in like magic and flicks around like a dirt bike. a bit twitchy on the freeway (i think i'll fit a steering dampener to be safe) but the bike isn't exactly a touring rig...

a couple of fuzzy pics from my phone - ducnut came by for a bit and as you can see he was unimpressed by the fingerprints on the shiny bits

the parking lot shot gives me a giggle - hey, just cause she's got a skinny arse dosen't mean she doesn't deserve a full parking spot!

there was simply nothing else to do afterwards but stuff down some ribs and tell stories of the old days - looking forward to getting ya down again muzz!

 

[Lee C.]

Good stuff Geoff, sorry I missed it!

Lee

 

[LA-DUC]

Really cool. Thanks for the post.