[John]

Nor Cal Ducati owners are garage queens

I've noticed a drop off in interest starting way back. Its frustrating but if I could blame something I would blame the lack of interest in riding. The majority of Ducati owners aren't avid riders, group riders that is. I interact on another site and they are much more social and interactive because their main interest is riding and many of them are racers too. If you are a rider then it seems you are more active on sites that support your activity. If you just stare at your bike in the garage, what have you to talk about? The inactivity of this site caused me to move on to another site where riding is the primary activity. It seems on the Ducati sight the primary activity is talking about broken parts and poor running machines. Almost like what old people talk about when they get together. In a way, I'm caught in the lack of riding cycle too. Buyers of Ducatis seem to want machines that are older and with low miles on the speedo. It seems putting miles on the clock devalues the bike or somehow harms the bike. That is one of the reasons why I bought my Honda; to put as many riding miles on it as I wanted to and do so without fear of the bike breaking down.

 

[Ted_Shred]

I've noticed a drop off in interest starting way back. Its frustrating but if I could blame something I would blame the lack of interest in riding. The majority of Ducati owners aren't avid riders, group riders that is. I interact on another site and they are much more social and interactive because their main interest is riding and many of them are racers too. If you are a rider then it seems you are more active on sites that support your activity. If you just stare at your bike in the garage, what have you to talk about? The inactivity of this site caused me to move on to another site where riding is the primary activity. It seems on the Ducati sight the primary activity is talking about broken parts and poor running machines. Almost like what old people talk about when they get together. In a way, I'm caught in the lack of riding cycle too. Buyers of Ducatis seem to want machines that are older and with low miles on the speedo. It seems putting miles on the clock devalues the bike or somehow harms the bike. That is one of the reasons why I bought my Honda; to put as many riding miles on it as I wanted to and do so without fear of the bike breaking down.

You couldn't be more off base!!! NorCal riders are garage queens???!!! The reason there isn't much activity here is that we're all out RIDING. Not sitting around telling lies on the .net!!!

I'm gonna go ride now Spent too much time in here already....

 

[John]

Ted,
You've got to be kidding. I'm talking about Ducati people. Check out any other forums and look at the obvious difference. On Kneeriders, there would be on average at least one big ride weekly with get togethers weekly too. You know used bikes, Ducati people as a whole don't put miles on their bikes. Who in the hell would when it costs you an arm and a leg every 6K miles.

 

[DucMike]

Ducati people as a whole don't put miles on their bikes. Who in the hell would when it costs you an arm and a leg every 6K miles.

Most Ducati people, you mean. I have over 40k on my humble ride. The only reason I haven't been seen or heard from lately started out with a death in the family, followed by a case of the creaping cruds. My voice is just now coming back to 50%. The only thing that keeps me from riding is either rain or seeing my breath in front of my face in the morning. Otherwise, it's two wheels for me. Trust me, I'm dying to get back on the bike. With the way things have been going lately, I need some relaxation.

 

[John]

Mike,
You my friend are a rider, I've known that for a long time. Just as you said in the beginning of your post, Most Ducati people I meant. One look at the lack of posted rides on this site tells you that, unless Ducati people are loners.

 

[Bombash]

Dude .. I know you are talking about someone else right?

The reason you never saw me go out with that group is coz i saw them ride. They ride Berryessa roads likes it's Thunderhill and that is NOT a compliment. Ever since couple of my buddies whipped out and got really hurt riding on the street due to reasons like hitting a full cement bag that fell of a truck and things completly out of their control, I decided to save my $$ for track days and get off the street. Speaking of which, how are you feeling John? Pelvis doing well? I cannot afford any more tickets and I also cannot ride that bike within the speed limit .. it's impossible.

I'm sure there's a happy middle somwhere ..

 

[DucMike]

I'm with ya there, Jovan. When I ride, I'm a big fan of 'The Pace'. I never push my limits and rarely have I ever spooked myself. I ride fast enough to have fun, not enough to scare myself. Eventually, I'll try a track day, just to see what that's like. For now, I'm just happy riding at 6 or 7/10. Hell, I haven't even gotten a ticket (knock-on-wood!) on the Duc yet. Speeding is not even an issue with the ol' Monster. With no fairing, hyper-legal speeds are just not comfortable.

 

[John]

OK OK OK, I'm sorry. To each his own and again I was just ranting and generalizing about Ducati people in general, not about you guys. You know that. Your right Jovan, the group I ran with got a little crazy out there and what happened to me is a result of that. In the future, its the back of the pack for me (maybe the middle). No need to prove anything anymore. I'm convinced 99.9% of the incidents are the result of the motorcyclist, not someone else. At least from my personal experience.

We will ride together on the street again, like the good old days. I really miss hooking up with a bunch of Ducati riders and heading up the mountain for a day. The sound of all those bikes and everyone looking like aliens, it was pretty cool. I got addicted to it. However, next time will be different and in control, no more crazy stuff I'm going to enjoy the scenery.

 

[moto]

Hi John,
It was nice to see you the other day. It is good to see you up and about. It is funny to hear that the 2nd day out driving that you come to a motorcyle shop--now that is dedication!

I think most Ducati owners do ride often--but their schedules are much busier than most people so they have a difficult time with group rides. They are often older as well--and that means kids or parents that need attention. I notice that most of the kneeriders that are very active don't have kids or businesses that they must attend to. That makes a big difference in your free time...I seldom can spend the whole day for a ride to the coast...

Let's do something to get our group together more often. There was some talk about a series of private track days. Motowheels is still interested in sponsoring the events if we can get someone to take the lead on booking the track and getting enough riders to pay for the costs. I don't have time to organize it myself but I can help promote it.

Now that we have moved into a new shop, I want to offer our place as central meeting point on weekends. We open offically at 10am on Saturdays and we are closed on Sundays--but we can open early, make some coffee and buy some donuts for the local Ducati Owners group if we have enough interest.
I can offer the place for meetings as well. I have a 1000 square feet loft that is not being used.

 

[John]

OK, a place to meet, that is good, it keeps the fire burning. Its tough going into your place, I gotta leave the cash at home when I do. Its like a toy store, real nice and coming along quite well. I'll probably pick up some Carbon bit at the open house, I can't help it. The 916 is my only child now.

Track day. We were just talking about that. Do you still have those Monster riders wanting to go? Are you going to front the money for the track and our job is to recruit the riders? If thats the case we better hop to it because the track schedules are filling up fast. I won't be riding for a long time but that won't keep me from participating. I hope by then to have a decent telephoto lens, hopefully I can get some good shots of you guys.

I'll look at Thill's schedule and glance at Reno/Fernley.

 

[Bombash]

Let talk about this tonight. I would not mind putting some time into organazing few track days. We don't have to go big, maybe three-four days this year. Last year after meeting all those guys at the track I was invited to several other private days by other people. Just trying to say that it would open other avenues for all of us to enjoy.

See you tonight.