I win!

In the Ducati forum I'm in, a person started a thread about losing one's mojo for motorcycles and how they got it back.  I responded and, uhm, got carried away.  Here's my story...

My mojo-loss has been with cars. I've done so much and taught myself so much, mostly because I was younger and made less money. I'm still on several forums but there are so many...children...in them that the signal-to-noise ratio is saddeningly low It's frustrating. There are some good guys but not as many as their used to be. I've been working air-cooled dubs since 1985 so maybe I'm just burned out? The thought saddens me something bad. My one best air-cooled buddy, Brian, won't let the fire extinguish, bless him!

What contributed to my fading automotive passion/hobby was my Goldwing. A portly, two-wheeled Japanese woman. Snow, rain, and even sun, she's carried me where ever I wanted. I didn't trust myself with a sport bike: I loved acceleration far too much. I know I would die. I know. But it didn't matter because I was on a motorcycle and I could carry a paper bag of groceries on the back seat as easily as a passenger Finally, after dragging my after-market floorboards on corners far too often I decided I needed something more lithe. Something that looked older but was modern under the skin. The cafe racers caught my eye and it was a Paul Smart, some old looking race bike made by an Italian manufacturer I heard of and roughly equated them with Ferrari, that set my heart spinning. It took a couple of years before I decided life was too short. I went on the prowl for any of the cafe racer bikes but my web browser kept going back to the Ducati motorcycles for sale.

Now that I have my Italian girlfriend I've been spending a lot more time with her. My cars likely feel neglected. They're not but they certainly don't get the mileage put on them like they used to. Yes, I even ride my Goldwing but not nearly as much. I just feel so slow in a car. I'm less maneuverable (which is funny since I set my cars up for corners). I don't get to smell the air or feel the multiple temperature differences. When I ride and I see a nice BMW M3, an air-cooled Porsche 911 (yes, I can hear the difference!), even the occasional tricked out Corvette/Charger/Camero, I just can't help smiling and think to myself, "I win!".

For me, I guess you could say my motorcycle mojo got a shot of Viagra I don't plan on having a stable of bikes -- I still would like to get a vintage Ferrari and maybe a Lamborghini sedan or Maserati or Aston Martin (I've really come to appreciate the classic Italian designs) to go with a Porsche 930 (I've wanted one ever since they were introduced) -- but I could see getting another Ducati, one of their race bikes, just because they're so traffic-stopping gorgeous! But that's money I don't have right now and won't for some time but, ya know, I'm very happy right now and with what I got. I smiled when I saw Tron: Legacy, with the father's Ducati in the beginning and then when they showed it again in the son's "living room". I plan on keeping my Sport Classic for so long that it actually becomes its namesake.

I like this forum because everyone is, well, more mature and helpful. I'm glad our bikes are not as common as the bajillion in-line fours and cruisers I see one a daily basis. Ideas, help, and experiences are all documented here. We've lost some folks and gained others (many, it seems, are now lurkers ); it's nice to have a respectful group of adults, it really does make a difference in this community, believe me! In this forum we all win!

The End

After eight years of accident-free riding it finally happened.

Monday morning I dropped the kids off at school along with cat food and litter for donations to C.A.T, a some-what local no-kill feline shelter that I've spent time volunteering with.  I parked the Bus then donned my motorcycle gear: Helmet, sunglasses (I was going to be riding East and it was just before 8am), armored textile jacket, armored and padded over-pants, leather boots, and armored gloves made for cold-weather since the temp warmed up to slightly above freezing.

I left my neighborhood street, turning right, to get on the main artery. It was freezing last night and though the temp was just above freezing and the roads were dry I think my enthusiastic throttle input and cold tires contributed to the get-off. The bike literally slid and pivoted down to the right side and out from under me in a heart beat. I don't think I slid or if I did it was only a couple inches. My feet were forward and I was on my right butt cheek...I think my hands were at my sides but my head was up...it was a very gentle landing. None of my gear, boots, backpack, gloves show any abrasion -- NONE! Traffic, being rush hour into Nike, was long and slow and I didn't cut in front of a car so there was a good buffer. I was damn lucky.

I make this turn almost every day that I ride so I guess complacency played a part. Let me tell you, the line of traffic behind me and approaching me was way more scared than I. No adrenalin rush on my end, only theirs. My bike rotated 360 so the front wheel was pointed at the 11 o'clock position, making it easy to lift the bike up. I moved the mirrors away from the controls, hit the start button, and she fired right up. I put my tail between my legs and rode back to my house and gave her an inspection, took pictures, and then got back on and came to work (lunch break right now).

Here's the damage:

Right Sato puck saved my fuel tank...a very expensive item!  It also saved my clutch and further damage to the brake and foot peg:

Front Sato puck saved the forks, whew!

Napoleon mirror end got scuffed, as did a tiny part of the end ball on the front brake:

Ouch!  My poor Termi exhaust!  The bottom took the brunt of the fall and got slightly dented:

If it weren't for the scratches on the exhaust you'd be hard pressed to see the damage. The rear brake pedal is a tiny bit scuffed underneath but no obvious damage to it (brake works, wasn't dragging). So I'll need a new right mirror and, of course, new sliders (frame and front). I think I'll look into a rear axle slider, if at least for the left side. I tell ya, they sacrificed their "life" to protect my bike! BTW, here's the sliders when I installed them. I'm a big believer in sliders now!

Tuesday evening I cleaned the lower exhaust and then painted it with hi-temp black paint.  Now when I ride I don't feel quite as self-conscience about my oopsie.  New slider pucks are on their way!

Oh, and guess what arrived in the mail today?  I'll give you a hint:  Revzilla!  Yep, I finally saved up some greenbacks and got a quality helmet, a Shoei RF-1100 Strife 2.  Lovin' it!

The shadow with green eyes is Eris.  She patiently waited for me to finish my pictures before demanding I lavish attention on her.

Hopefully tomorrow or Friday the weather will be decent for me to use it.  I mainly got it for cold weather riding...maybe a track-day, perhaps?  I love my Roof Boxer but it's not a good cold-or-foggy-breath-weather helmet.

Shiny side up!

RIP Russ Wolfe

The VW community lost a valuable resource, Russ Wolfe passed away last night due to cancer.  Rest in peace, Russ.

It's about the bikes

The turn signal on my Goldwing wasn't staying put when I was making right turn signals so I decided to see if I could figure out what was going on and maybe fix it.  Turns out the 1981 grease just aged and was very thick.  I cleaned out all the original grease, then I put white lithium on the ball bearing and detent, and dielectric grease on the rest.  This is the final, greasy product and it works much better.  The right signal does stay but it doesn't "lock in" like the left signal position unless I tap it a second time.  But at least it's waaay better than before.

More pictures here.

Also, I had to send off the speedometer back to the rebuilder as it won't go past 40mph and the needle is slow to return.  I put a brand new, OEM speedometer cable on the bike so I know it isn't that.  The cable also spins freely.  I'm hoping he can fix it as it was working before.  The original fix was to fix whatever it was that was causing the speedometer to squeal.  At least it doesn't squeal any more and looks new.  But still...

A few weeks ago I also got the Tank Slapper protective film back on the gas tank of my Duc.  Next, I make a pattern where my legs grip the tank and I applied the StompGrip clear volcano to the tank, on top of the Tank Slapper film.  I have yet to ride my bike since the application but just sitting on the bike I'm able to hold myself up whereas before I'd just slide forward and "fall" onto the handle bars.  I'm hoping this will help my riding form better and keep the weight off my wrists/arms, allowing my core to properly perform the task of holding me up.

More pictures here.

Oh, and for Christmas I bought myself this from AUTOart:

The detailing is amazing!  I highly recommend this model.  I have other models from AUTOart and they have very good detailing as well.

It's back!

Of course the weather was nice (in Oregon the word "nice" means it didn't rain) but my tank for my Duc hadn't arrived...until later this morning while I was at work.  No problem as it's back, internally coated with epoxy, and ready for mounting!  Yahoo!  (<-- that's an exclamation and not meant as a reference to my previous job).

Here's the package, well wrapped:

The prize!

After unwrapping the interior didn't look much different, just shinier!  Here's my newly coated, burnt yellow tank next to a stock black tank:

My tank now has a spread of 32.9mm...did the epoxy help pull it in some?  The black tank was returned as a warped unit.  After sitting in the shop and then my garage for several months -- including the whole summer -- its tank spread was about 32.5mm!  But all the hardware is missing and holes have been drilled in it so it will eventually become wall art for me.

Anyway, I'm happy!  I'm going to merge my bleed and vent hoses into a Y so just one hose comes down from the tank area instead of two -- to help clean up the front of the engine a tad.

Edit:  Bleed and vent hose merge.

Quick updates

Dropped my gas tank off at the shipping annex yesterday and it's on its way to California to get coated on the inside.  It's supposed to arrive on the 9th.  I had the shipping place wrap it extra careful and it ended up costing me almost $5 more in packaging costs than shipping...with insurance!  But it will arrive -- should arrive! -- without damage.  I hope.

Before shipping it off I measured the tank spread and it hovered around 33cm.  The tank is flexible at those 'wings' so they can be pulled/pushed a couple centimeters both directions (in & out).  It's as dry as I think it can get.

Work at my new job is going slow.  This is the first time I ever had a desktop system that's slower than the laptops!  So I've been waiting for over a week and that is frustrating in itself but our IT guy is extremely busy, especially with new people coming into the organization every week.  Just gotta wait my turn.  The new environment feels like a start-up so it's a good thing I'm adaptable and have been able to keep myself busy work-wise for the most part.  I do miss Yahoo!...well, most of the people...but job pay and career opportunities are much better at my new job and that helps.  Plus my new manager is smart, driven, highly experienced, and fun to work with.

Oh, I installed bi-Xenon HID lights into my E-code head lights in my Jetta on Sunday and got to use them today.  They work AWESOME!  E-codes are better than stock NA (North America) head lamps by miles but even with excellent bulbs the light output could be much better...enter HIDs.  Love 'em.  My early birthday present from my sweetie.  She rocks!

Just Rambling

Yesterday, the directors let us leave work early, which was nice.  I checked out the parking structure where I'll be stationing my car during the daily stay; once at the top I'll need to find a choice spot for my bike when better weather comes 'round.  The company helps pay for the parking so it's only $65/month for me.  Two years ago when I was working for Regence Blue Cross/Blue Shield I was paying $100/month and that was the cheapest I could find (I then had to walk 1.5 miles to get to work from the parking structure).  So that's not too bad.  I do, truly, miss my parking spot at Yahoo!, heck, I miss my office and most of the people there.  I could look out my window and just a few feet away was my Italian Girl.  Now I'm in the top of a plain building, in the center of the floor, in a non-privacy cube (man I HATE them...if you're going to corral me in a work space then give me some privacy!) -- thank goodness I'm getting well-paid!

People.  Self-centered, self-absorbed, sheep and tools all about me, driving and reproducing.  Nothing specific about that day, just that we've all met them, only concerned about themselves, and my tolerance for putting up with their BS is dropping.  I noticed that the ones in Mercedes and BMWs were particularly on my "Take out with a RPG" list.  But the Sylvan area north of Hwy.26 is flooded with those people, keeping up with the Joneses.

At 4:09am the outside temperature was a brisk 14.1 degrees F!  But today the temps are slowly rising and the rains will be coming.  I wonder what December will bring...

Oh yeah, the thermostat went out on A's Passat so that get's fixed next week, along with the rear brakes since they're dragging and there's some creaking going on under the front of her car.  My Jetta got a stay in Dean Futrelle's shop so they could clean & grease the driver's side door latch/locking module.  The door wouldn't latch.  Kinda hard to drive to work holding the door, so I took the Passat.  That's when I discovered the thermostat was bad.  Oh, that reminds me, I need to get the sliding door on the Bus regreased; the grease is old and freezes up.  Not good.

Oh, forgot to mention that last night I measured the tank spread and it was a solid 33cm!  I also went into the garage and pulled on the mounting rails.  Not a lot, just a little, no more than .5 to 1mm on each side.  If my tank has spread then I'm hoping that it will shrink back to what I can only hope to be original size and once again fit snugly in its mounts.

Ducati tank expansion

My beloved Italian Mistress has a fault:  Fuel tank expansion.  There's debate as to what the cause is in the www.Ducati.ms Sport Classic forum.  Some people don't have it but most every one else does.  I'm guessing I have it as there is 2-3mm of side-to-side wiggle at the front of the tank.
Other owners are experiencing paint bubbling, too!  And these issues are not solely the bane of the Sport Classic line, it also affects other Ducatis with plastic tanks made by Acerbis, an Italian plastics and OEM company.

In order to combat this tank expansion (and possible paint bubbling issues), which at the worse will have the tank come off it's rails and flop around, is to coat the tank with a protective coating.  This seems to be the best way to stop tank expansion.  So the friendly staff at JC/PAKBIKES perform this service.

Yesterday I removed my tank, took off the fuel cap and fuel pump, and cleaned out the tank.  It's sitting in my closet for the next two weeks to dry out and, hopefully, unexpand (shrink back to stock width).  I took a measurement from the outside edges of the mounting pucks, where they meet the tank, and came up with 33.5cm...maybe a tad bit more but definitely under 34cm.

 

Map of the tank belly.

 Example showing how I find the edge to make the measurement.

Autumn colors

After a coffee break with my sweetie at her work.

I hate daylight savings time!

And in other news, I got an aluminum side-step for our Bus today and installed it this evening.  Looks nice, I like it.  This will make it easier for the kids and parents to get in & out of the Bus.  Now I need to get mud flaps on all four corners.

Here's my Sweetie at Multhomah Falls before we met up with a good friend of mine...

Saturday I met up with my Navy buddy after 16 years, Mike Holliday.  It was a blast!  Got to meet his girlfriend, Danielle, and she is a real catch.  Great girl.  Man, I laughed so much and we yammered for so long, fantastic time.

Here we are at Edgefield McMinemens:

Sunday was A's birthday and it was a nice, mellow day.  I can't believe I got's me an older woman!  (Just by a month) LOL  :-D