[Ducati] Two up riding (was holiday cheer)

[Ted & Vicki Brisbine]

With people admitting to liking Harleys here on the list, I wonder if this might be a good time to make a confession. I have ridden a cruiser type bike and found a certain odd pleasure there. Please don't hit!!! (one of my favorite lines from The Nutty Professor) A friend has a Honda VTX 1800, which left me wanting to get off and back on my own bike pretty quickly. The big torque is cool but not cool enough to overcome the feeling I was on a big pig-like thing. (a fast and beautiful pig-like thing) After injuring my shoulder in a low-side crash riding my 907, I was unable to ride for about 3 weeks. The day I found I could steer a bike again seemed like a good day to celebrate my recovery, and I did so by riding 7 different bikes in one day. My 907 wasn't repaired yet but I rode my SV650, my DR650, my wife's Savage, and my cousin's BMW R1100RT. With daylight yet to burn we went to the local Yamaha / Triumph dealer and took out 3 bikes on a test ride. First I rode the new Triumph Scrambler. I was hoping I might like this bike more than I did so I could share in my cousin's enthusiasm for getting one. It is a neat looking bike and pleasant to ride along a country road while smelling the daisies. The problem was that I had just ridden the SV. The Scrambler might be described as an SV650 that has been eating a lot of marshmallows. Soft power. Soft handling. Next I rode a Yamaha Roadliner, which the salesman seemed sure was going to change my life. This bike has a kind of Disneyland quality with swoopy chrome parts and handlebars that must have been conceived in Texas. With my injured shoulder I was forced to use my right hand to lift and extend my left hand way out to the side where the hand grip lives about a mile and a half from the triple clamp. Riding a bike with floorboards always make me chuckle. I have to admit that the Roadliner is an entertaining motorcycle if you can imagine yourself in some kind of old-time cartoon. It feels very solid and composed within it's limits and has a truly amazing motor. Big, big, big and smooth to boot. We stopped to swap bikes and my VTX buddy handed off the Yamaha Warrior he had been riding. With a sour expression he said: "I don't like this bike at all. Too much vibration." The first thing I noticed is the handlebars, despite a long rearward extension to bring them within reach, they did feel fairly natural. No floorboards this time and the ergonomics were quite comfortable from the waist up. Unfortunately the air cleaner hangs out so far to the right side it was trying to push me off the bike, knee first. Hard chrome is battering my knee with the vibrations of the motor. I soon discovered that for brief periods I just didn't care because the massive torque ripping at the pavement was changing my brain chemistry in a good way. Gad, twisting this throttle is fun. I wanted to slow down just so I could speed up again. I really don't care for the cruiser riding position but it does provide one pleasant sensation. Since your butt is locked into position and backed by the curve of the seat, all the accelerative force is applied to the butt and moves up through the spine. The arms and legs are just going along for the ride. Even though my SV is slightly faster in the ¼ mile, the Warrior offers a better kick in the butt. If I had $300,000 motorcycle budget I might actually add one to my collection, but I'd have to take a sledgehammer to that air cleaner.

On the subject of two-up riding, I really don't know what to do. My wife is neither small nor young and doesn't ride with me very often. She hasn't really taken to the Savage as I had hoped. She can't stand the back of the 907 any longer. She did much better on the back of a V-strom but says that wasn't too comfy either. I borrowed an old Yamaha Venture Royale, which she liked but I'd rather give up motorcycles than ride that thing. It was so top-heavy it felt like trying to balance a 30" slice off one side of a Kenworth. Maybe a Goldwing would be better but I hate to spend a lot of money on a bike I wouldn't enjoy riding solo. A Ducati ST is probably less comfortable than the V-strom. Maybe I should just get an old air-head BMW RT. My R60/2 was my only bike for 19 years.

Merry Christmas,

Ted