Bad Idea! Fun Idea!
I bought a Motorcycle, a 2008 (although the VIN says 2007 and who are you going to believe, the nice man at the dealership or your lying eyes?) Ducati Sport 1000S. It was both a fantastic deal and a pretty stupid idea. I still have a Ducati Monster 620D for which I have not finished paying. But how many times is a Sport 1000S offered for essentially half price with only 383 miles on the odometer? For all I know, once only and never to be repeated.
I was probably only four or five months away from paying off the Monster, although now that I have two payments to make that timeline will have to be revised.
383 miles is not even through break - in period on the engine, so the manual tells me in scary terms not to let the RPMs climb over 6000 until after I have completed the 1000km 1st service which is to say 620 miles. With 610 miles on the odometer, I will take it in for that first service on Tuesday night.
The first ride was home from the dealership in Saukville to Madison WI. Including the detour for lunch, it is about 90 miles of mostly straight roads. The bike is certainly different from the monster. The biggest difference is of course the riding position. The ergonomics are straight from an uncompromising sport bike. The suspension is much firmer, I imagine if someone had lain a page of Braille on the street that I would be able to read it through the grips. Wisely I let my backpack ride home in the passenger seat of my friend's truck. Even with that compromise, I still had the familiar 'wrists smashed with a hammer' feeling that it usually takes me all day on a racing bicycle to earn. Suddenly the reviews I read that complained about the posture on this bike seemed less like the whining of sissies than valid criticisms of a flawed masterpiece. Because the bike is a masterpiece. Every person who knows motorcycles that I encounter while riding wants to talk to me about it. The eye of fellow motorcyclists is drawn to it and they cannot but offer their opinion. Mostly it has been positive or inquisitive.
I tell them that it is only my second bike and that it wants to go much faster than posted limits, that it is much more fun on the curves than in the straights, and that in my opinion, it needs to lose a little weight. My favorite thing though, is the way it sings when the revs climb towards 6000 RPM. Good little boy that I am though I have not exceeded the forbidden number yet. I plan to change that.
I was probably only four or five months away from paying off the Monster, although now that I have two payments to make that timeline will have to be revised.
383 miles is not even through break - in period on the engine, so the manual tells me in scary terms not to let the RPMs climb over 6000 until after I have completed the 1000km 1st service which is to say 620 miles. With 610 miles on the odometer, I will take it in for that first service on Tuesday night.
The first ride was home from the dealership in Saukville to Madison WI. Including the detour for lunch, it is about 90 miles of mostly straight roads. The bike is certainly different from the monster. The biggest difference is of course the riding position. The ergonomics are straight from an uncompromising sport bike. The suspension is much firmer, I imagine if someone had lain a page of Braille on the street that I would be able to read it through the grips. Wisely I let my backpack ride home in the passenger seat of my friend's truck. Even with that compromise, I still had the familiar 'wrists smashed with a hammer' feeling that it usually takes me all day on a racing bicycle to earn. Suddenly the reviews I read that complained about the posture on this bike seemed less like the whining of sissies than valid criticisms of a flawed masterpiece. Because the bike is a masterpiece. Every person who knows motorcycles that I encounter while riding wants to talk to me about it. The eye of fellow motorcyclists is drawn to it and they cannot but offer their opinion. Mostly it has been positive or inquisitive.
I tell them that it is only my second bike and that it wants to go much faster than posted limits, that it is much more fun on the curves than in the straights, and that in my opinion, it needs to lose a little weight. My favorite thing though, is the way it sings when the revs climb towards 6000 RPM. Good little boy that I am though I have not exceeded the forbidden number yet. I plan to change that.