Covid down times!

So shared the love between some of my bikes my 1100XX 2003 Blackbird and the V4 Ducati 2018 Gen 1 rocket ship.

I had forgotten just how smooth the Blackbird is Honda did it right with this bike it is big but deceptively fast its very easy to cruise along then glance down to see the speedo on 170Kph!
Will never fathom Honda's dropping the Blackbirds they really are a great bike which if you respect its size and weight setting yourself up in the corners correctly it holds its own and mine is 17 years old.

The Ducati V4 what can I say its a weapon and I am so lucky to own one its aggressive and puts the fear of the lord into you with blistering acceleration.
How fast is it well top speed is around 310-313Kph but from a zero start it will accelerate from 0-300Kph in @14.3 seconds thats why you have to have strong hands.

No stops just went by myself to my usual twisties in the bush back blocks and home 40 minutes per run fueled up out of jerry cans I have squirelled

Tough way to spend time, isn't it?:lol::thup:

I love the engine note of Ducati bikes, superb!

Twenty years ago a lot of the guys at work wanted a Hayabusa or an R1. How do they compare to the Ducati now-a-days? - Bob

Hi Bob -The Busa's and R1's are up amongst it as Suzuki and Kawasaki are still at it speed wise the Busa is looking dated and I think may be discontinued after 2020 R1's have that awesome engine cross plane sound and go very well indeed its all neck and neck in the power game in amongst the 4 players, Honda has released the RR-R SP2 with 214 Crank horse power but its nearly $50,000/Aud + taxes and on road costs. No road going production bike nor the BMW HP-2, maybe the $250,000 Honda can beat the 300 HP Kawasaki H2R (Cannot ride it on any world roads) But I know a person that has had their H2 Kawasaki flashed and tuned it develops 300 HP!
But like most bikes people see a Ducati and they know right from the get go they are something special its in the name and that flame red, your R1's and Busa's people probably say there is another jappa unless they really know their bikes.

Ducati's are a bit like a prima donna you have to take good care of them and not skimp a full service with everything done will be about $2K as you virtually have to destroy the bike to work on them, but nothing handles like a Ducati I have had my share of rice burners and a couple were considered exotics ZIR MkI & VF1000R the ZIR still had that brillant Kwaka motor but a rubber frame the VF1000R great bike very tippy at low speeds with that 16" front & 17" rear.
In years to come the resale on them will be better than the others in saying that my dealer friend just sold a Troy Baylis 2008 1098 one of 500 made a $68,000 bike in its day sold it for $32K so a $36,000 depreciation over 12 years he probabbly brought it for around the $28 - 29K mark.
My 2012 1199 S Tricolore was a $48,000 when new I brought it last Feb for $21,750 with 1500Klm on it I'll still get what I paid for it as its only got 6000klm on it now and current sales are at 22-23K for higher milaged ones.

I try not to bag other brands and respect peoples choices that they ride as we are all in it together against cars but one thing that sees me having fun is a Harley rider trying to out run my V4 Ducati or any of my Dukes its not going to happen like the other day I was following a HD through a modest left/right combo and really it was sad to watch as he was scraping sh*t and nowhere near leaned over.
We went in at a modest 130Kph I have done that particular set 90 Kph faster on my V4 Ducati and whilst not trying to bag them to much Harley's are for cruising a long straight highway leave the twisties to bikes that are made for it I have done a 900 kilometer week ender on my V4 Duke and can attest a Panigale is not a tourer should have taken the B/Bird or my Repsol 1000RR.

One of those guys from 20 years ago had owned a Ninja at one time and had a few pictures - looked pretty impressive! The only motorcycles I ever owned were Honda ATC's. We had (4) of them at one time when our girls were in their teens, the largest was a 200 cc 4-Stroke which I modified a bit for riding in the dunes - probably had about 15 HP at the crank! Several of the guys we rode with got the 38 HP water cooled 250R's when they came out in '85. They will still hold their own at the dunes. These pics were taken at the coast in the summer of 2015. I sold my 200 to one of the younger guys for his daughter to ride about 2-3 years ago. Now, I just have the "entry level" UTV, but have taken it to the dunes once - it get's around, but won't climb like the Honda did. It has about 4 times the weight and only twice the horsepower. :thdown: - Bob

Its hard to explain to people how to ride a trike ATV you lean Right to go Left and vice versa with minimal steering input (Deer in headlight look!) naah! they say, well you wont turn if you dont you'll just pile up as it drives that front wheel into the dirt had allot of fun on them as well as my XR-75, CR-125 & CR-250 Elsinores wish I had kept those 3 bikes as good mickey mouse Elsinores now are around $8K now.:(

Well there has been discusions in the shed between these two and a mini revolt ensued as they wanted some attention so rolled 'em both out bit of degreaser here and there Mr Sheen for the paint work (Its really better than anything) and there ya go happy bikes checked the tyre pressures all were down about 1 - 1.5 lbs.

The Ducati's tyres are 33 psi front and 32 psi rear Pirelli Roso Super Corsa III's just the ticket for very twisty roads suck at straight highway (See pic of my V4 rear tyre on a wheatbelt run we did last Sept! that tyres long gone replaced at $468/AUD fitted)
The Repsol 1000RR which my wife occaisionaly rides other than her duke has 36psi front and 42psi rear same tyres as the V4 except the rear being a 190/55/17 instead of the V4's 200/60/17.

Still more bike to clean & check over have not even really got motivated in the fire sticks may do some tomorrow I reloaded a large batch of 308 168gn A-Max and 303 last week end and jagged the last 350 168gn A-Max from my gun shop about 2 minutes before he was shutting up, I was pretty lucky as supplies will be nonexistent for maybe 14 months!