Sunday

[Gil Boyd]

Sadly with motorcycling these days, its the uncertainty of your surroundings. People are just not made aware anymore of distances and judging speed. They just pull out regardless of whether you have your headlights/safety lights on.
The reality is, as bikes get quicker, more and more life changing accidents will happen to motorcyclists.
Yes there are those who race around ALL of the time, but a large majority, just want to enjoy the ride, and get from A to B safely. On top of the dangers of other road users, there is the unusual stuff to.
A good friend was travelling down a wide country lane with good visibility ahead on his Pan European, when a Stag decided to run out in front of him. It stood still in his path, as it tried to understand what it saw coming at him at 80+ mph.
It sliced the stag in half, wrote off the back totally and put him in ICU for 16 weeks, knocking on deaths door.
So the challenges are always out there, and as motorcyclists we know that only to well...............its just so enjoyable, taking it easy and soaking in the surroundings especially after lockdown!!

[30Three]

agreed Gil, it's really down to the rider to be aware of everything and everyone around you when riding. You need to have total focus to stay safe, and even then you can get surprised as your friend did.
I don't ride much now; but have taken to cycling to work; which is probably more dangerous in Paris! I got knocked off last year, by a van on the wrongside of the road; He was overtaking a parked car transporter, I was already engaged but he actually drove directly at me so I moved right to leave enough room to pass; but he kept aiming for me as I slowed; he hit the pedal with the front wheelarch and started dragging the bike backwards. I jumped ship and he ran over the rear end of the bike; then drove off! I was OK; but well ****ed off! The bike was a mess. There was over 3.5 metres between the truck and my bike; plenty of room pass without getting nasty. I had witnesses but didn't get the licence plate.

Ovidio, the original Speed Triple is a lovely bike; it's only about 100hp, but nice smooth delivery and lovely sound of the triple. Comfortable for the passenger as well.
I need to get it running again; stopped using it when my daughter was born. So need a full service and all flluids etc.

[CINDERS]

My friends have the 675's and one has the 1050 they go very well indeed my friend has just added an MV 675 3cyl to his stable.

To stay on top of things I am relentless in running what if scenarios through my head as I am going down the black top what would I do if a car pulled out, pedestrians, farmer brown and his tractor, wild life, road conditions and where its going that along with constant checking of mirrors and the gauges whilst listening to the motor.
Sounds busy sure is but not as busy as say a fighter pilot or doing what you guys did out in the field.
Situational awareness and knowing the action you will take instantly not using 1/2 to a full second going Oh! my what shall I do will save your bacon as it has done for me, I taught my wife the same technique and it has saved her a few times from stupid car drivers as she predicted the twit or surmised to add even more distance between her and the car in front.

Yes its up to the rider but the thing is one has to keep appraising the situation, I ride at a comfortable clip usually 8 klms over the posted limit on the open road that way I am pulling away from the cars most times as they tend to stay to close in the dry.
Then again you sometimes like the other day a numptie is his hot rod up my ginger then pulls up next to me at the lights a quick scan for blue bottles all done and dusted in the first 50 meters as they are barely off the line and I'm gone.
Though I haven't had a crack at a Tesla yet they will be hard to get in front of as instant torque its all good you don't have to go fast for kilometres 300M is enough as the bikes are that quick.

303 hang onto that "Jaffa" as they are one of the most sought after Zed's I think from memory the prod run was only some 20,000 units world wide AFAIK.

[CINDERS]

Picked my V4S up on Saturday all finished with the desmodromic service and the install of the titanium exhaust with the 2 lower in fill panels re stickered, you need these add on lower panels otherwise there is a great bl**dy unsightly void underneath the bike where the collector/muffler sat with the OEM system.
Having only been out on it twice I can say the bike has improved allot seems to rev freer than before as its breathing easier with the sports air cleaner and the up-mapped ECU has altered the motors algorithms opening it up to different injector response and power curves.

The engine and associated hardware on this bike is truly a game changer has a 6 axis IMU that monitor the bikes lean angle, the ECU monitors engine braking, wheelie control, up/down quick shifter with blipper, traction control, ABS braking also.
It actually has slide control you can lock the rear up & the computer still allows the wheel to turn but still skidding so you can slide around a corner, on top of this it has electronic suspension by Olins front & rear.
There are 3 modes Race-Sport-Wet and each one of these can be tailored in the settings menu to what ever the rider wants in relation to the bikes response its not a novice riders bike as even with all these bells and whistles you still have to have the nouse and experience to ride the damn thing.

I put in another pic of the start of the art bike I purchased in 1984 (Should never have sold it) the Honda VF1000R was in its day a high tech race bred bike for the general public built in very low numbers only to satisfy the regulations for racing them X amount had to be available for public purchase was expensive at $6,500/Aud.
Whilst only having 120Bhp at the crank it had features like quick release front axle, gear driven cams, 16" front wheel, fully adjustable clip ons, front shocks adjustable by air it was no slouch either.
I did a standing quarter in '85 at a street meet getting a 10.18 second pass at @120mph, it had a top speed of 250 Klm/Hr not bad for 1984 stock standard bike off the show room floor.
I put allot of my riding skills down to the 2 years I spent riding scramblers on the dirt (Elsinores) and the Novice/Advanced riding courses at the National Safety council in Perth.
All I have known in 40 odd years of riding are high performance based motorcycles never ridden a Harley, Trumpy or Beeza then again don't think I ever will.
But I respect anyone who has ridden or still rides no matter the bike involved.

[Ovidio]

I have heard a nice joke.
A guy is speeding on the motorway on his Ducati Panigale. He's going 220 km/h and suddenly sees the blue flashing lights of a Police car.
So he just gives power and accelerates to 250. Police still chasing. 280, Police is there. 320...the Police does not quit... so, he decides to give in and stops.
The policemen walk to him and asks him for the driving license, the insurance and starts looking at the documents. A few seconds later he tells the guy: "Listen son, it's late, I have 20 minutes before ending my shift and I really don't want to go home with a heavy heart after taking your license. Find an excuse I never heard before, and you're free to go".
The guy looks him in the eyes, very surprised, hesitates for a second and then says: "Last week my wife left me for a guy of the Highway Police, just like you".
"So what", asks the policeman.
Well, I was scared that it was him trying to bring her back to me."
"Take your documents, son, and ride safely."

[CINDERS]

Nice one Ovidio.

[eric27]

Pic #1 This ones for Ovidio we had a reasonably fine day Sunday and my 1199S Tricolore has not been on the black top for about 3 weeks, so off with the covers and disc lock.
I only took it to Bunbury which is 28 kays one way this is because on this bike I need to keep the klm's down on it as its getting to 11,000Klm.
I got it when it had only 1500 on it 18 months ago.

Pic #2 & 3 V4S (90% stripped down still more had to come off)
On another note I have not had my V4S (2018 model) for the last 3 weeks as it has been in having major surgery with the dreaded 24000Klm desmo service.
They found one tight valve on the inlet side front cylinder Rt side which was the worst one to get to it was only just tight but they did it to be sure instead of leaving it.
So whilst the bike was in this state of undress I purchased the Akropovic full titanium race system/race air filter/Ducati up/mapped to be fitted at the same time.
So what will this do to the bike well it goes from 195Kgs wet weight to 189.5Kgs, Crank horse power 214Hp to 226.84Hp Torque from 124Nm to 131.43Nm.
This gives it a power to weight ratio of 1.19 Horse power per Kilogram
The up map from Ducati frees up the power delivery and changes all your settings in the computer for wheelie control, slide control, traction control etc.
You then go into the settings and adjust all of them to suit the new configuration of the bike as it will be a bit different.
We are hoping that the changes will see it putting maybe 200 - 205Hp at the back wheel but we will see!

That was a real cycilng. Thanks for sharing

[CINDERS]

Here are some pics of me riding my V4S at a track day which was great fun being able to unleash some of those ponies without the fear of the blue bottles or wildlife interactions.
The funny part about it as we were the lower group they have Marshalls keeping an eye on you and said on the first lap no passing well that sorta went out the window after 3 corners and the boys go spirited like I did and the race was on mind you one is not sponsored nor insured for racing on a track so I was cognisant of the replacement cost of my bike around $42,000.oo/AUD
That with keeping my rear tyre for the 100klm ride home as the V4 can destroy a tyre very quickly around an hour of 100% riding but I am no where near the capabilities of the bike if I can get 60% out of it and be safe then I am cool with that.

There was one chap who was riding a Honda Repsol 1000RR like I have perhaps a year earlier than my '09 model well he tried a bit to hard on a tight left and went bush sadly ended up with a unrideable bike.
If the chicken strips seem a bit big that because the bikes OEM Pirelli's are a 200/60 profile not a 55 profile the tyre was designed specifically by Pirelli for the Panigale V4S.

[Joseph457]

That's really a great fun !