Morning Jaunt

Log Item: I know what you're going to say. "Why aren't you and your friends working instead of riding Ducatis over winding roads on a Monday morning?" It's a fair statement. And in addition to that one line up picture I took, the Diavel didn't make it into the frame. But it made it on the run.

I've been doing a lot of solo riding lately, and the weather in SoCal has been perfect for riding with highs in the mid-80's. The drought has ended, the hills are greening nicely before the brutal summer sun dries them in that endless cycle. 

A friend of mine just returned from Afghanistan and he's headed for a week at Big Bear Lake (Near Los Angeles in the mountains). I am contemplating a run up there for lunch or something, further compounding the myth that I'm a total lay-about and scooter tramp.

An Electric Ducati?

A Gentle Rant: Part of why I ride a motorcycle is the pleasant roar of the motor. I've never ridden an electric motorcycle so I can't say whether the silence would be appealing or not, but I'm guessing no.

The Ducati Spirito concept is a sharp-looking design for a Ducati electric motorcycle. It’s pretty high tech, featuring a hub-center steering system, futuristic bodywork, a ridiculously narrow seat, a carbon fiber rear swingarm and of course a battery pack and electric motor in place of the usual Ducati V-twin engine.

The Ducati Spirito draws on Ducati’s past models and most recent sports bikes for design inspiration.

But how far can you ride on a battery charge? The answer to that question, based on my modest research is, 'not very far'. Maybe the goal is to save the environment in that 40 miles that you're riding between charges? 

I get that the designers are drawing really attractive pictures and while I wouldn't say 'no' to a test ride on a prototype, I remain very skeptical, and hopeful that the jet bikes make their appearance soon.

And it the mean time, I'm more than happy to ride my Diavel and see the world go by at a blur.

Weekend Riding

Log Item: I want to take the Ducati out today. What I really want to do is take it out now, but it's 7:00 am and all I would succeed in doing is freezing parts of me. 

Gauntlet gloves keep my hands toasty warm and I have a jacket that deflects the wind nicely, but I don't like feeling all bundled up when I'm riding. It somehow defeats the concept of being "free" when you're on the motorcycle.

There are people who ride motorcycles to get from here to there and back but I'm not one of those riders. It's not simply transportation. It's an act of liberation when the motor roars and you are able to become one with the road (without laying on the road).

I haven't decided where I will ride today, and I may not decide "where" until I'm going "wherever".  That's one nice thing about riding outside of a group of motor heads. 

I've tried the group thing and I may be a bit too much of an individual to ride in a herd. Does that make sense to you, dear readers? It may be that I'm becoming anti-social, but when I am driving on the highway and see a road branching off somewhere that looks interesting, I just take it to see where it goes. That's what I like best about off-road driving in my 4x4.  The same thing translates nicely to my street devil.

LASER Headlights and HUD Helmets

BMW Laser Headlight arrangement

Gripe Session: I never say never, but it will be a cold day in Hell that I buy another BMW product. Having said that, I'm interested in their ConnectedRide concept that adapts automotive innovations to the motorcycle world. To highlight the two-wheeled future, the company modified a K1600 GTL with a laser headlight and controls for a helmet-integrated head-up display. The result could make riding safer.

Some of BMW's latest models like the i8 and 7 series can already cut through the darkness with laser headlights, and this K1600 GTL brings that technology to motorcycles. The bright light can shine down the road up to 1,969 feet, which the company claims is about twice as far as a conventional unit. The additional visual range gives riders extra time to evaluate what's ahead at night and could make for a safer journey. The concept laser headlight on the bike is only a feasibility test for now, but preliminary development is underway. 

I haven't heard anything from Ducati on the subject. Ducati is owned by Audi (high tech German firm) and I'd expect to see something from them on the matter -- but no. I hate the idea of a kraut machine having an edge on my pizza bike.

A heads-up-display will not only make me feel more like I'm wearing a Top Owl fighter pilot helmet when I drive, but it's clearly safer. You no longer have to look at the instrument cluster and can keep your head in the game on the road. However, since they are not coming soon to Ducati, I'll begin to research how and if I can buy or build a HUD for my helmet and integrate it into Ducati's ride-by-wire computer. I really hate to experiment with the Ducati computer, and try to slave the output to Blue Tooth. It would be much better if they'd just FOLLOW the hated BMW, and get with the program.

Yes, the HUD/laser headlight is far more James Bond like than the traditional helmet/lighting arrangement on a motorcycle

The Diavel's New Year

Log Item:  It's a brisk 68 degrees (20C) here in SoCal, (anything under 70 counts as "brisk") under cerulean skies.  I hadn't taken the Ducati out for a ride in 2016 yet, so today I did. I made a run through Carbon Canyon and then had Mexican food for lunch at El Farolito in Placentia (plug for El Farolito). 

I met some people driving tractors (Harley Davidsons) who were waiting for a table, the same as I was. Some of their friends pulled up later and parked next to me. Fat boys with ape hangers. Not that there's anything wrong with that. Different people, different choices. 

People drove a bit more rudely than usual, but since yesterday was New Year's Day, who knows. They may still have had a 3.0 blood alcohol level. It happens. If it was Scotland that would be the case for at least one more week. There were a lot of flat cats on the road, possibly a result of the New Year's Eve driving?

This is a boring blog post, but it's one of those days when (particularly after stuffing myself at El Farolito) about all that I could motivate myself to do was jump on the scooter and breathe the cold winter air.

Have a Diavelishly Good Christmas

Here's wishing you all a Diavelishly good Christmas. The weather in SoCal is cooperating with temperatures in the mid-70's, so why not take the bike out for a mini-run?

Christmas decorations designed to be seen lighted, don't ever look quite right in the daytime, do they? The Diavel prefers this particular photo (left) if only to illustrate the diavelishness possible during the Christmas festivities.

This is how it went down. I drove around and most of the inflatable Santas and elves were deflated on lawns, so there weren't any good Christmas scenes to take photos of the bike with for the sake of the blog.

Looking north, toward the fire pit.

THEN it occurred to me that when I took the scooter back, before I parked it in the garage, I'd drive it around back and take some snapshots in the back yard. I have a pool fence, which ruins the view of the pool and spa, but it's likely that the grandkids will want to go swimming when they come over on Christmas after they open their presents and before supper. So I didn't take it down even for glory shots of the bike. And that says something about me being lazy or not vein enough or something - not sure what.

Yes the patio is wet. It rained last night and the deck hasn't dried out completely. We've been lucky in SoCal for the most part. It waits until night if it's going to rain. Luck, or maybe we're paying the 'weather tax' here?

Jet Bike

Log Item: This is the sort of jet bike that I have in mind. Sadly, the production units would seem to be unavailable at the moment and I'll have to content myself with the Diavel, which is the next best thing. However, when the Ducati jet bikes finally are realized, I urge people to drive more responsibly than they did in the video.

This Harley Davidson jet-powered bike might be a good interim
machine but it falls far short of the ideal.

Kawasaki's entry (right) into the jet bike market should be pushing Ducati - but I'm not feeling the love from Italy at the moment.

The need for more horsepower and the flexibility to pop over cars and trucks that pose a barrier on the highway is an important concept. It's embodied in the jet bike.

It's obvious (below) that the Suzuki jet bike has taken the concept and run with it. 

It gives a whole new meaning to the term, "rice rocket".

The X-Diavel is Coming

Log Item: The X-Diavel is coming in 2016, which has me reaching toward my wallet simply as a reflex action. The only reaction I have to the up-engineered Diavel is, "sick".

The power plant, a 1,262cc version of the Testastretta engine, offers a longer stroke (71.5mm vs 67.9mm in the 1200) with the same 106mm bore. Ducati’s variable valve timing scheme and ride-by-wire electronics is the same. The torque is now 94.8 pound-feet at 5,000 rpm. So it's not all THAT different. How much power do you really need?

I'm not the sort of guy who rolls scooters over for the next year's model, but this one is clearly an eye catcher.

Speaking of eye catching, check out the Diavel drag bike (right). The front end has been lowered significantly through a suspension modification. It's a straight-line bike for a flat track, so you can run it with clip-ons (cafe-style handle bars) and limited front-end travel.

Old NFO meets the Devil

Log Item: Fellow blogger and famous author, Old NFO* joined me for lunch today as he transited through the Orange County, California Area on his way to do bigger and better things.

He received his official "I met the Devil and lived to tell about it" ball cap, which he wore proudly.

He took one look at the Devil and said, "What a Beast!" Most ladies take exception when referred to as a "beast" or a "monster", but the Devil takes it as her due.

We had a fun lunch and are looking forward to the next lunch in Texas, somewhere east of Amarillo. Will I rent a Harley to ride out to his dude ranch and gun range (From Denton, TX)? Maybe. I think that I should first look into renting a Ducati, if indeed they'd consent to parting with a locally rented Diavel for a day or two.

When he saw the Devil in her glory, his first comment was, "Oh, I see where you can mount the M-4". It makes perfect sense when you see the rig in person, but it's tough to explain on the blog. He commented that the California Highway Patrol and many municipal agencies have M-4 rifles or short stroke shotguns on their motorcycles, which is a fact. Jihadis avoid armed citizens.

*NFO=Naval Flight Officer. Old NFO and I are both retired officers from the World's Finest Navy. He was a brown shoe type, I was in the camo navy, but we all bleed navy    blue. He's retiring again from his post-retirement career. I still dabble with things but on the whole am a useless lay-about, surf and scooter bum, firearms enthusiast and adventure junky.

Maintenance Item: It's time to lube the chain again in about 50 miles, which means before I take the Devil out again. I try to keep it right at about 600 miles between lube and tension check.

Log Item: Driving out to meet Old NFO today, I had the Devil up in the carpool lane, had just shifted into 6th gear at about 95 mph and the scooter was at about 4K rpm with a red line at 12K rpm, which is to say that it was idling, and my love of the power and speed is - intoxicating. It's a lot like skydiving in that way. The speed is real, but it doesn't feel quite real. Maybe you have to be a motor head to appreciate that. But all you really want is more speed. 

When you're running the Devil, everyone wants to race you. Even cars...hahaha. Slow sleds. Sometimes guys on tractors (Harley D's) want to race as well. I usually don't unless I feel that they need a lesson in humility. 

A Basic Question

Is it OK to sit on another man's motorcycle?

Not ever.

We had a bit of a problem with a moron who was getting his fingerprints on the Diavel while I was in the store at the gas station. I don't have photos, but you get the point.

Women can ride on the back, but they need an invitation.

Devil Sex

Log Item: I received a very nice e-mail from Bob Weaver, a new reader on "THE DIAVEL MADE ME DO IT". It made me think that while I extol the virtues of the Ducati Diavel (and point out its few weaknesses), I haven't posted photos of the total sex that oozes from the machine.

You sit well back from the handlebars, and there is a long fuel tank cover (the actual tank is under the cover) that you reach over. It's not at all a cafe bike or a classic sport bike. It is a performance cruiser without the cumbersome nature of traditional cruising machines.

And in this, it reminds me a bit of Bob's beloved KZ900 K-4, because of that general feel of the bike when you're sitting in the driver's seat. Naturally the seat is much more comfortable than the old 900 stock seat - times have changed. Riders demand comfort.

The instrument clusters and idiot lights are very easy to see and are very driver friendly. You can toggle between various items while riding and I don't find it particularly distracting. What you need is displayed, items such as distance to empty and air temp. are toggle items. Oil temp. is not a toggle item and the principal display keeps you informed of that at all times. 

The scooter has an oil cooler and the engine is water cooled. Ducati added the cooling elements with real panache. Gone are the old bolt-on intercoolers and flat, bulky radiators. They've made them part of the machine.

You would expect no less from Ducati.

I am not trying to sell Ducati machines, however because this is a blog that is dedicated to adventures on a Ducati Diavel, I have to tell you that six months after buying it, I only love it even more.

I am not one of those "look at me" types where I need a machine for validation. I wanted the machine to ride - my style of riding - for shorter jaunts of 0-5 or 6 hours. I'm not going across country packing a suitcase and gear. I ride for the joy of the meld of man and machine. I like to feel the power but I also love the feel of the machine, which handles impeccably. (Ducati reputation)

Hot Dog Run

Log Item: I believe that there are three great eating cities in America - Chicago, New Orleans and San Francisco. Whatever else you may think of the cities, the food there is distinctive and very good over all. The only place to get a hot dog in my opinion is Chicago and so it was that the motorcycle wanted a hot dog for lunch. I went with the program, and since it was too distant and too cold to make a Chicago run, I settled for a hot dog from Portillo's in Buena Park (near Knott's Berry Farm).

The weather was perfect for a motorcycle ride. Brisk enough but not cold. Which means that while it wasn't perfect beach weather, it was perfect for a motorcycle ride along the beach, after I fortified myself with a hot dog.

You'll note that I took a bite out of the hot dog before I photographed it. A Chicago dog is a hot dog with mustard, relish, tomatoes and a pickle on a kaiser style hot dog roll. The I eat the green peppers and pickle separately. I don't know why I do that, I just do.

And if you're going to have a hot dog, why not a few onion rings? Why the heck not? You can off-set it with a Diet Coke instead of a regular Coke. Can't you?

Then the run from Buena Park to Long Beach outbound and Pacific Coast Highway back south all the way through Surf City USA (Huntington Beach), Newport Beach and Laguna, up Crown Valley Parkway through Laguna Niguel (or Laguna Nigel...)

All in all, it was a good run for the scooter and burned the better part of a tank of gasoline. I have to forestall global cooling and I think that I did my part today by burning fossil fuel.

She-Devil

Log Item: The She-Devil missed me. The exposure in the photo (right) isn't the best, but that's what she looked like, purring in the driveway after a morning run to shake the cobwebs out of my head.

I have a few take-aways after riding the Harley Davidson on Oahu:
(1) It does drive like old grandpa's tractor,
(2) It's double the weight of the Ducati,
(3) It's slow -- ponderously slow,
(4) HD braking characteristics are dangerously bad when compared to the Ducati.  

When you ride the Diavel in sport mode (full horsepower), it's like riding the air. The Harley D is just a --- tractor. A heavy, ponderous tractor. I hadn't realized how much of an old dog it was compared to the Ducati until I arrived home and jumped on the she-devil for a romp. 

This morning it was underscored once again.  All I can suggest for people who want to buy a Harley Davidson is this: Do not drive the Diavel first. You won't be able to tolerate old grandpa's tractor.

190 Days from Now

Glencrutchery Road

Memo:  A goal unwritten is only a wish.  

There is a bucket list event coming up.

190 Days, 6 hours from now (May 28 through June 10) the TT will begin on the Isle of Man. I was there before (at least a million years ago). Is it time to return? And can I scam some sort of pit slot with one of many Ducati racing entries? During the TT, the price of everything in the Manx homeland is triple or more, so I need to marshal my zloties to see if I can swing the adventure. While it's fine going as a belching tourist, it's always more fun if you can spend some time in the pits.

I'm not presently certain how to make this work the way that I want to, but since I'm actually a part of an official Ducati Factory Riding Club now, there may be a way to worm myself into some sort of interesting position. Politics and cash (the universal lubricant) work... the question is how much lubricant (a possible tax deductible/advertising expense Consulting Services sponsorship for the bike and team). I just called up my partners and am urging them on to greatness for this very outcome that we can all enjoy.

I've (apparently) successfully scammed a trip to Leeds and Edinburgh through my work with IBM and UNT this spring. Karma would seem to be on my side.

It would be another trip that the Diavel would have to sit out  back home in the garage. As utterly COOL as it would be to ride my Diavel at break-neck speeds down that course, I'd likely kill myself, bend the scooter --- or both.

Surf, Sun and Grandpa's Tractor

Log Item (follow up): The beginning of the Hawaiian Pro surf competition at Haleiwa, had been put off because there was no surf. That changed today and so I took grandpa's tractor to visit the sights and sounds and stayed on the beach at Haleiwa until after noon.

Even though it's a big event in the surfing world with $250K to the winner, the Triple Crown of Surfing (Sunset Beach, Banzai Pipeline and Haleiwa) doesn't draw many people. I've attended several times before. The demographic breaks down this way: Surfers, friends and family of surfers, media types, sponsors, a handful of tourists, adventurers who used to be cool but are now long in the tooth, locals who are hard core surf bums and don't work, and trust fund babies from Europe, who bounce from one international event to another. You see them at auto and motorcycle racing events as well.

When I arrived there may have been a dozen people on the beach in addition to photographers (another dozen or so). When I left at noon, there may have been 250 total along a hundred fifty meters of beach frontage. 

But you want me to get to the bikes, because this is a bike blog. There was just the tractor (seen pictured above, right) until a GSX showed up, dropped something off for somebody and then left. 

Which brings me to the question of why only one lonely hog (the bike, not me) was there. It rained a bit at one point, but it felt good and it always rains on tropical islands -- daily event.

Early in the competition

People arrive in ones-and-twos

Later in the day.

If you want photos of surfers, I had my cell phone, not a long-lens to capture the action way out where they were fighting for scores in moderate surf. The surfers would look like ants.

Somebody else's photo from today.

selfie

Don't get me wrong. I'm glad that the numbers were few. I'm glad that the tractor didn't have any competition from fast, nimble bikes. 

I'll be back tomorrow as the competition rolls forward for a few hours until the sun bakes my skin into hard leather. But I won't have the tractor. I'll have to make do with a rental Nissan Altima. Maybe by doing that, the Diavel will more readily accept me upon my return one day.

Not a Diavel

Log Item:  I'm not sitting on a Diavel.

It's a 2015 Harley Davidson Softail Heritage. The location is Oahu, not far from Dillingham Airport on the northwest shore of the island. 

Q Could you have rented a Ducati?

A Yes, but the speed limit on most of the island is 35 mph. Riding a Harley, 35 is normal. Riding a Ducati, I couldn't get out of second gear.

Q Why aren't you wearing a helmet?

A Because (a) helmet laws suck and (b) there is no helmet law in the Hawaiian Islands. However for those of you who are malignant hectors, I did get a wicked sunburn...and had to buy aloe to fix it.

The leward side of the island was beautiful with perfect weather (temp 82-85). The windward side of the island was very wet and I ended up soaked. I stopped at Mike's Chicken (north of Kaneohe on the main highway) for lunch and dried out before driving back over the hills on the H3 and was really pasted by rain. 

I don't know that I'd keep my Ducati if I moved here because there is not any place to really let the devil have her due (of course, the devil is a woman).

Q What is the difference between riding the Diavel and the Softail Heritage?

A The Diavel runs like a Ferrari. Riding the Softail is much like sitting on grandpa's old tractor. It accelerates like a tractor, it's heavy as a tractor, the gears clunk in to place like a tractor when you shift and it just feels like a tractor.

Catching Up

Log Item: This past weekend I spent Saturday with kids and trick-or-treating related Halloween stuff. Sunday offered a bit of a respite so utilizing the Archimedes solution to an axel bolt with 167 foot pounds (226 Newton Meters)** of torque locking it down to factory specifications, I pulled the mufflers, pulled the tire and tossed it into the back of the truck.

     **Note, Ducati factory specs quote Newtons, not foot pounds

As I get my life ship shape and Bristol Fashion and make all preparations for getting underway. The tire should be replaced tomorrow morning sometime. I'll pick it up in the afternoon on the way home from running around. 

None of this galavanting has anything to do with work. It's all personal life catch-up and button up. Which is bad because I bill for hours and I'm not doing that. It's also good because a number of needful things are being addressed in order.

And yes, I put the tire in the back of the truck without a towel around it, but no, I'm not going to leave it like that. I will keep everything neat and clean. In a way it's good to have the tire off the scooter because I can get in and clean some road grime away from places hard to reach when it's in place. 

Fits and Starts

Log Item: I was under the weather for a few days and that led to a fall-behind and accumulated work that I had to see to. Mia culpa.

Tire Repair by the numbers:

Pull the pin

The fancy star socket

Breaker bar

And that's as far as I got because I had to stand on the brake while pushing the breaker-bar and it didn't budge. Archimedes 101 "Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world." I need to buy a strong 7/8" diameter (1/2" hole) piece of DOM to extend the length of the 18 inch breaker bar to kick the "Jesus nut" that holds the wheel on off the axel. I have a place to go to buy one, but ran out of daylight today mainly because of phone calls, arranging tomorrow's schedule now that I'm "healthy".

The drama continues.

Limping Devil

Log Item: All suited up and ready to roll, I walked out to the garage and noticed that the Diavel's rear tire was flat. Not a tragedy, a flat tire. My plans for the day were shot.

I hadn't given much thought to changing the rear tire, and the owner's manual that Ducati provides gives no hints on the matter...neither does YouTube. Closer inspection revealed that I will need a special socket to pull the rear tire. Are they available -- anywhere? Apparently not. Ducati is reluctant to sell them. They would prefer that I have a flat bed tow truck haul my bike twenty miles to the dealership so that they can do it for me.

While I understand rice bowls and their interest in protecting Ducati's, this one is ridiculous. 

For the record, I understand that the actual removal of the tire so that it can be patched involves quite a process. I don't plan to do that at home, but simply throwing the bad tire (mounted) in the back of my truck and driving it to the dealer is much easier than flat-bedding it to their shop.

At the moment, I'm frustrated, and will be casting about on the internet for the proper "star socket" so that I can pull the tire.

Bike Wash Photos

Log Item: There was a carnival atmosphere today at the Ducati dealership in Brea, CA, and the Foothill Ducati Owner's Club was there to participate in the bacchanalian atmosphere of free food, horsepower on two wheels and women washing bikes for fun and profit.

The Foothill Ducati Club is officially sanctioned by Ducati (Italy) and has about 55 members based on the latest count. Of the 55, three have Diavels, and mine is the only Devil which is completely flat black.

If you want suds, they give you suds. If you want to pitch in and help the young ladies wash your Ducati, they don't mind.

Getting wet is half the fun, and when the guys get a bit dirty, the solution is to wash them too. You'll notice from the audience in the background, that the bike owners present were almost universally male.