[Ducati] Newbie

[Jones, Dennis]

John,
A very cool post to the list.  You've got some great toys there.  Wish
you were my neighbor!
D.J.

-----Original Message-----
From: ducati-bounces at ducati.net [mailto:ducati-bounces at ducati.net] On
Behalf Of John Whiting
Sent: Monday, July 30, 2007 10:39 PM
To: Ducati Owners Group
Subject: [Ducati] Newbie 

Well, I have only one Ducati: a 1993 Superlite, yellow with Marvic 2 pc
rims.  41 flatslides, V2 cams, a little headwork; I ditched the airbox
and run UNI filters, made it run cleaner in the middle and top.  As far
fast-ME???, that is a relative term:  I am a perennial midpack novice in
the 600 class in the CMRA, but my partners at work asked me to lay off
racing until we get our present business plan up and running.  Maybe
when I turn 55 (another year), I can cut loose and see what I can do in
the F40 class.  I really go pretty slow on the road;  racing took away
the reasonable thrills available there, so I just tour on the roads.
 
A couple of years ago, I got interested in going back to my dirt bike
roots, so I took my 16 acre back yard and built a 1.2 mile TT style MX
track and a couple of very short flat tracks suitable for dirt mini's.
I have enjoyed getting back to riding something that moves around a lot
underneath me, and it has improved my riding on pavement, IMO.  I have
been working with the motorcycle club at Texas A&M, too, trying to get
them onto the world of dirt training and avoidance of higher output
bikes for the street until they are really capable of riding them.   Got
a slew of dirt mini's: CRF 150R's and TTR 125's, some with knobbies,
some with street rubber for the flat tracks.  I have 2-3 gatherings per
year to ride, burn wood and drink beer with those so inclined....but
summer is pretty brutal and I usually go for fall, spring and winter as
my chosen seasons. Most of the riders that come out get all of the
satisfaction of a track day and more for no cost.  And a bunch of the
kids at A&M have taken their bikes off the street to do track days and
bought mini's to start racing TMGP, as it is affordable with lower
speeds.
 
I have several small displacement street bikes that are fun to ride,
because you can basically wring their necks:  a 92' VFR 400 and a 95'
RVF 400, both little jewellike, V4 four hundreds, they weigh a little
less than a modern 1000 I-4 now, but they are sweet track day bikes and
twistie road fun.  I also stole the 316 2 stroke out of my Aprilia RS
250 race bike and put it in a 95' Biaggi Replica, which is another lite,
sweet handling track bike that I occasionally take out on street rides,
as it has lights, turn sigs, and 'looks' legal, FWIW.
 
I have a couple of Woods Rotax 676 road racers:  a friend and I just
made the No 1 frame street legal, so it is going out for the next hill
country ride.  They are tiny chassis, vibrate like mad (I am designing a
protoype Loctite livery for the bodywork), weigh under 260 pounds, and
make big torque, so I am looking forward to riding mine in some canyons.
The other race bike (frame 15 or 16?) was campaigned by a competant
rider (not me, for sure: a veteran racer I sponsored) and was amazingly
fast, but expensive to race, and it is about to become a museum piece
for my house.  There were only 16 made, so at least I am keeping one
running like it was meant to be.  I have enjoyed working with Ron Wood
in Costa Mesa...he was a big help on putting #1 back together.
 
My sickness gets much worse, but I will stop here.  The rest of my stuff
is production bikes that I have just made handle right for my
weight....some 450cc motards, modern Triumphs, an MV, a YB8, etc.  
 
When I go out on the 900 SL, I realize what a great machine it is:
visceral, fast enough, handles well at street pace, sounds GOOD,
beautiful to my eye, functional to an engineers eye, simple and doesn't
break.  I'll have it when I'm ninety. Oh, and I saw New Blue at Laguna:
I shredded my credit card before I added another hole to my head.  It
may be bling to some, but it blows my skirt up, and you know it would
rail in a canyon....but I don't do that anymore.  Much.  If ever.
 
 

________________________________

From: ducati-bounces at ducati.net on behalf of Peter
Sent: Sun 7/29/2007 12:57 PM
To: ducati at ducati.net
Subject: RE: [Ducati] New to Ducati.net



Welcome John!

John has a bunch of bikes for sure, and he is a fast rider (and racer
with
CMRA), as I have seen in several Hill Country rides we have gone on.
Altho I
have yet to visit him in College Station, TX where he lives, but
hopefully
will do so this fall.

C'mon John, tell us about just a few of your neat bikes!!!!

Peter