Subject: Re: [Ducati] Longest, First

[capo at carolina.rr.com]

Hey Justin

Congratulations on your new toy and good on you for taking the MSF course.  Do not skimp on riding gear.  You hope to never need it but as someone who has tested it several times it can literally save your A**.  Do try to go slow and then taking track day instructions is also a great idea.

Have fun

Jim
---- Justin <shadow at darksideresearch.com> wrote: 
> Hahaha, with everyone talking about how they've been writing since the  
> Fillmore administration, I can't help but say I bought my first bike  
> about three weeks ago!  I just rode it for the first time about a half  
> hour ago.  The last time I rode anything motorized was 20 years ago  
> when we had dirt bikes at summer camp, so I took the MSF class last  
> fall and spent most of the winter looking for a 748 and bought a  
> yellow 2001 748S in late April.  I was out of town at the time so my  
> brother picked it up for me and it's just been waiting for me in the  
> garage.  It's obviously well maintained, and the previous owner did a  
> clean install of a manual switch for the cooling fans which was  
> basically the only modification I had any interest in.
> 
> I took it out for a spin since the weather is nice today and it's  
> going to rain most of the week.  I didn't leave the neighborhood since  
> it's not tagged yet, but got it up to about 35-40 on a couple short  
> turns of the wrist.  Goddamn, this thing is a rocket!  I didn't even  
> let it get into the real power band from about 7k to 10k rpm and it  
> was pulling like w00t!  I can already tell this is going to be a hell  
> of a lot of fun once I get it registered and get some practice in.  I  
> imagine it's going to take some time being careful but I had that in  
> mind when I decided to get a sport bike for my first throw.  I'm  
> hoping that around the end of the summer I'll be comfortable enough to  
> try some track instruction.  It's been a hoot in cars all these years  
> and this just seems like it will be fantastic.
> 
> It seems like most of the motorcycle class stuck, I am very glad I  
> took it.  I had no problem riding it, turning it, and stopping it  
> though I barely dented the bike's envelope in any respect and had no  
> desire to attempt such.  I did manage to honk the horn a few times  
> when trying to turn off the turn signal.  Braking is extremely  
> aggressive compared to the bikes from the class and I found myself  
> moderately surprised every time by how much load I had to soak up with  
> just moderate squeezes of the brake lever and pedal.  Handling is  
> extremely crisp, and the bike was nothing but confidence inspiring in  
> the turns - even if my low speed u turns at the dead ends left  
> something to be desired in terms of elegance.  I need to get used to  
> the clutch and shifting, none of my shifts were very smooth, though I  
> managed to avoid anything terribly ugly as well.
> 
> As I anticipated from finding one to sit on in a local shop and  
> reading about it online, the riding position is completely, totally,  
> and in all other ways uncompromising.  Trying to ride it semi-upright  
> rather than completely hunched over it applies a ton of pressure to  
> your forearms.  My forearms are weak enough after about 15 minutes of  
> tooling around that my typing is suffering.  Too bad I lost an auction  
> for risers last night, I suspect that would have made upright riding a  
> lot more survivable.
> 
> Previous owner left me with a set of stock pipes, but the ones on the  
> bike are cored out stock.  It sounds glorious.
> 
>  *****
> 
> Ducati.net is sponsored by Oncycles.com, who has the largest selection and
> lowest prices, on the finest motorcycle products anywhere, all served with
> world-class customer service.  Check them out!
> _______________________________________________
> Ducati mailing list
> Ducati at ducati.net
> http://list.ducati.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/ducati
> Mailto: capo at carolina.rr.com