Moto Lust

I've been infected with a bad case of moto lust again.  I've had my Ducati Monster S4RS Tricolore for about a year now, and I still really like it, but I have to confess that I miss owning a hard-core, full-on sport bike.  They are still my first and greatest love, but I haven't owned a Ducati Superbike since selling my 1098S last year.  The thing is, I don't want another liter+ sized bike for the road.  As I've said before, the 1098 was, in my opinion, way too much motorcycle for street use and I've long been partial to the smaller Ducati Superbikes like the 748, 749, and now the 848.  It's been said before, and I agree, that the 848 is probably a better choice for a streetbike than the 1098.  Now that Ducati has gone up another 100cc for for model year 2009 I can only assume that's even more the case now than it was in 2007 and 2008.

My problem is that Ducati did a couple of things with the 848 that have always been questionable in my mind and one of them has so far been an outright deal-breaker for me.  The first questionable thing is that thus far they have not offered a 848S.  For whatever reason, I'd prefer to have a slightly upgraded model with better brakes, lighter wheels, Ohlins suspension, and some factory carbon fiber.  The problem from Ducati's standpoint is that the 2009 848 is only selling for $2500 less than a 1198 so a 848S would likely be the same price as, and probably even a little more than, its base model big brother and I've been told by people that would know that Ducati doesn't want to hurt 1198 sales.  I don't know the economics of it all.  What I do know is that personally, I'd rather have a trick 848 than base 1198, even if it cost a little more, and I doubt seriously that I'm alone.

The second questionable thing, and the deal-breaker in my mind, is that Ducati fitted the 848 with a wet clutch.  I've said time and time again that I don't care about having dry clutches on Monsters (well... some Monsters anyway), Multistradas, Hypermotards, etc. but I'm old-fashioned with regard to Ducati Superbikes: they should have dry clutches, never wet.  I can even understand the reasoning behind putting a wet clutch on the 848.  They were intended to compete head-to-head with the Japanese 600cc sport bikes and one of the things neophytes often don't like about Ducatis is the sound of the dry clutch.  My experience is that most people who are Ducati faithful prefer the dry clutch however.  This seems to me to be another reason to produce an 848S: the same people that would want the upgrades would likely want dry clutches as well, so produce an 848S with the previously mentioned upgrades, and add a dry, and preferably slipper, clutch to it as well.

The 848S question aside, the lack of a dry clutch is probably the reason I don't own a 848 right now. I suspect that had the 848 been available with the dry clutch I would have purchased one of those instead of my Monster when I went bike shopping last summer.  The good news, or possibly the bad news, is that Ducati has now made a factory dry slipper clutch kit available for the 848.  It's a little pricey but it's probably a decent deal considering all it comes with.  The really good news is that since it's a Ducati Performance kit it can be installed on a brand-new bike and not void the warranty, provided it's installed by a official Ducati Service Center.

So now I'm thinking about the 848 again.  I'm frankly not in a position to purchase another motorcycle right now, nor will I be for a while I don't think, but it's still got me thinking, wishing, and lusting.  Wouldn't it be fun to build my own 848S? Put the slipper clutch kit in along with a Termignoni full exhaust system. Next, install Ohlins suspension front and rear, then acquire a set of 1098S/1198S forged wheels, or possibly some Carbon Fiber or Magnesium wheels.  Slap on a Ohlins steering damper and you have a serious hotrod on your hands.  There's definitely some money involved in all these upgrades, but ain't it nice to dream? Who knows, maybe some of my long-shot stocks will hit it big...

Thoughts on Riding

After quite a while where either the presence or threat of rain has kept me cage-bound I finally got a chance to ride my motorcycle to work today. It was a beautiful, relatively cool, clear, and not-too-humid morning and as always, my ride to work left me walking into the office in a great mood. I had a decent day at work and on the way home I was again enjoying a comparatively nice afternoon for Eastern North Carolina in the latter stages of June. By that I mean it wasn't raining, it wasn't brutally hot, and it wasn't so humid you feel like you need gills to breathe. All in all, it was a fantastic afternoon for a ride.

While enjoying my ride home I started pondering the mystery of this whole motorcycle "thing." I came to the conclusion that it actually seems pretty strange. Why does it have the effect it does on so many of us? On the surface it doesn't really seem like it should. After all, it's just a means of transportation, right? Why do we get more excited about riding motorcycles than we do about driving a car, riding on a bus, or taking a taxi? If anything it seems as though any of the more "normal" options would actually leave us in better spirits than a motorcycle ride if for no other reason that it's safer and, one would think, less stressful.

Anyone who has caught the motorcycle fever knows that this isn't the case. There are some motorcyclists that are car nuts as well but most of the ones I know aren't. Motorcycles are a passion, cars are something to drive when you have to take the kids somewhere or go to the airport. Strictly a means to an end.

There aren't many motorcyclists that work at the same company I do. There are seven motorcycle owners that I can think of among my coworkers and three of those rarely ride to work. Even in that small sample of riders I've noticed a clear pattern: driving to work has either no effect on their mood or actively degrades it due to frustration with traffic, etc. Riding a bike to work almost invariably exposes a grin when the helmet comes off and they talk about how great the ride in was. Even when some idiot in a cage cuts them off or crowds them out of their lane it doesn't have much effect on the mood. You generally hear something like "some jerk on a cell phone changed lanes right in front of me and caused me to take evasive action. Other than that it was a nice ride."

So what's the story there? It seems like anybody riding a motorcycle, especially anyone riding a motorcycle to work through typical urban congestion, would arrive stressed out, frazzled, and shaky, not grinning, relaxed, and ready for a day of work. My experience has been that that's exactly the case though. What's the cause? Does it hearken back to man's age-old desire to fly? Is it a reaction to successfully cheating death? Is it simply a side effect of surrendering to the fates, taking your chances based on your own skill and luck, and just rolling the dice? The only answer I can give is that I have no idea.

Whatever the reason, I've been enjoying the effect for quite a few years now and I sincerely hope it doesn't fade anytime soon. Riding definitely has a strange effect on me, relaxing me and energizing me simultaneously. I can't really think of anything else that has the same sort of effect on me, with the possible exception of surfing. Even that I don't think is quite the same but it's probably the single thing in my life that comes closest.

It's a strange and addictive phenomenon and it has me fully in it's grip. I'm already looking forward to riding in tomorrow as well and hoping the weather holds out the rest of the week. If I could leave the truck parked in the driveway the rest of the summer it wouldn't hurt my feelings at all.

AMA Superbike, 2009 Style

I'm saddened by the state of the AMA Superbike Championship, circa 2009.  I don't know where it's going from here, but I really don't have any confidence it'll be anywhere I want to follow.  I've discussed the takeover of the series by the Daytona Motorsports Group in exhaustive detail in previous posts so I'm not going to go into much into detail talking about it more here. What I will say is that after the disaster was complete I decided that I was going to vote with my dollars and not attend any of the races in 2009.  I violated that personal edict pretty early since I ended up going to Daytona in March and seeing both the Superbike race and the Daytona 200.  In my own defense I will say that the only reason I went was that I was already down in Florida for business, and in fact had spent the previous several weeks living out of hotel only about 30 minutes from Daytona International Speedway.

Since Daytona I have been almost completely divorced from this year's series. I haven't watched a single race on television, have only been following results in the news in the most casual of ways, and haven't attended any more races. As I mentioned, I'm saddened by this state of affairs. I've been a dedicated follower of the series and I've really enjoyed it, even when the racing at the front was at it's most predictable. The race at Virginia International Raceway has been one of the high points of my year for several years now and this year I wasn't even planning on going. This affected my immediate family as much as it did me as it has become a family camping trip over the last few years, even to the point of us buying a 26' Toy Hauler almost solely for the purpose of our annual pilgrimage to VIR. Not this year though. The camper was sold a few weeks ago, my family made their peace with not going this year, and we've all moved on.

Then along came a couple of friends with an offer I couldn't refuse. Now the plan is to attend the race at VIR even though I won't be camping. We're hoping to have some really good access and a package that will be hard to beat, although I don't think it'll be as good as having my camper there, my own bed, A/C, beer, food, and a garage for my motorcycle. Still, it should be a lot of fun and I'm honestly looking forward to it.

I'm really curious now about how it will contrast to the previous years I've been to the event.  I haven't missed a race at VIR since I attended my first one in 2004 but last year seemed very different from previous years. The deal with the DMG had already been done by that point in the season and there just didn't seem to me to be as much energy in the paddock. There were far fewer vendors than in previous years, the manufacturers weren't doing as much for their owners' clubs, etc. It just seemed much more downbeat than previous years. Combined with the fact that I keep hearing how attendance numbers have been drastically down at every round so far this year (although it didn't look that way to me at Daytona) I'm wondering what the vibe at the track will be this year.

I'd really love for the series to get back on track and become great again. I don't think it'll happen anytime soon though as I'm hearing rumors ever more frequently that all of the manufacturers will be abandoning the series starting in 2010. I hope that's not the case but I'd be surprised if it wasn't, given some of the things that have happened this year thus far. I guess we'll have to wait and see. For now, I'm going to look forward to attending the Big Kahuna Nationals at VIR on the weekend of August 14-16 and I'm going to do my best to have a good time while I'm there. Even if I can't help thinking that the whole thing feels kind of like a swan song.

Stay Tuned

After some time away I have started feeling the urge to write again. Better late than never, I suppose, and very late I am. I've got a few things going on these days that I want to write about so expect some posts to start showing up again. Stay tuned to this station.