DesmoDog

Eric didn't mention the fancy hotel was dog friendly. Americans spoil their dogs? Says who? By the middle of the trip I was a little nervous my tires weren't going to make it, especially the rear one. But I got home with a few hundred miles to spare on it. Well, sort of. Technically it wasn't to the wear bars but I replaced it anyway. There were signs. Before I left the bike had 2100 miles on it. Internet reports said these tires were good for 6500 miles and up. Well there were a couple reports of more like 3500 but some guys just can't have nice things. I figured I'd be at 4500 miles when I got home so no worries. This is at just under 4500 miles, I would have replaced them sooner had I been home. No, I could not recreate this photo with the new tire installed.

Um, er... My gosh can you believe it? I forgot I had an appointment to wash my dog, I guess I won't be able to meet you on Tuesday!

Redesign after redesign. I've been melting a lot of plastic around here lately, but I think I'm finally done - if this one needs to be stiffer it's got places to bolt braces to. Now to print it out in a decent material, but that's going to have to wait few days. I have way too many of these sitting around that became previous versions before the prints were even complete. Pay no mind to the yellow strap, it's just something I had sitting around. It'll be replaced before use.

Yes and no. Finicky little bastards if you ask me. I have them on my Super Light too, but also have a set of stock carbs under the bench for when I've finally had enough of their BS. Cold starts are an absolute bitch with them. I know it can be improved but fer cripe sakes a choke circuit would be nice. On a street bike anyway. They're easier to deal with on a track bike because you expect to be fiddling with one of those all the time. All that said, the way they "chirp" in use is kind of endearing, especially on a bike as unrefined as a 900ss... fits the character of the bike to a "T".

For various reasons I decided to remove the airbox on my trackbike and go with pod filters instead. That means I'd have to bend up a few plates to mount the coils and battery. A couple hours work once I went out and got the material and then figured out how/where to cut and bend it. But wait! How about using the 3D printer? Should only take a couple hours to draw something up and get it printing. And it did. For the first part. But the first part is never good enough. Long story short I've been doing numerous parts for the past few days and have ended up here. The demo part to prove the concept. Trash material, mock up only, not intended for actual use. The demo was sturdier than I expected, so I went further with it. Here's the modrl of the updated "final" design, awaiting details to hold the battery down. Can't do those until I put my Super Light away for the year and pull it's battery to use for mock up. That may happen today? So yeah, 3D printing parts that could be simple sheets of aluminum is what's been taking up way too much time today. And yesterday. And a day or two before that. Well, that and getting strapped down to a back board... I'm also doing medical training to be a ski patrol, and have been put on a back board about six times in the past few days. Fun times, fun times... the bitch of that is, it's only training to pass a test for certification - we don't actually use backboards in this county! Gotta know how to do it to be certified. Not done where I'll be patrolling. Alrighty then.

Persuaded the Super Light to fire up and headed out for a bimble with a friend on an 888 SPO. Back to the '90s! Beautiful weather and between the ride and a conversation we had I decided the SL is NOT going to get sold next spring. During this stop I got a text asking me to take some photos at a weddding that evening but before that my wife got us tickets to a show. So a busy day for me. Ok, fine, this all happened yesterday but I'm slow to post and who really cares when anyway?

It rides like a piece of history too! Put another 50+ miles on it this morning. Brought back memories. It made me start laughing at one point. Flatside carbs "chirp" under some conditions and they were at full chat in one corner. Between the rattles and clunks and then the chirping it just struck me as funny. No, really, it's SUPPOSED to sound like that. Not subtle, not refined, no excuses given. Loud and proud. Gotta love it.

At the start of last season I traded a basically new Moto Guzzi for a 30 year old Ducati. Long story. Anywhos, the Ducati had been sitting in a garage unused for 20 years and needed TLC. I jumped right in, hit a few roadbocks, and got it on the road just in time for the last "event" of the season. Truth be told, it has FCR flat slide carbs which are notorious for cold start issues, they have no choke. And this one had that issue in spades. If it sat for a week or so I'd dump raw gas into the airbox to get it to fire. Not all that convenient considering you have to remove the seat to lift the tank to get to the airbox... THIS year I was going to address that. I took it out of storage in the early spring, got it into the garage, and just never felt like screwing with it. I did get it to fire up without resorting to dumping raw fuel down it's gullet, but it was such a long involved process I didn't bother riding it. Cue much bitching about FCR carbs, arguing with FCR fanboys, and gathering info on what to do. Tore into the carbs once again, discovered one problem but so what I was already replacing that part anyway, and put it all back together. Fired it up. Looked like a success but ran out of time to test ride. Which brings me to my day today. Yeah I know it took me a while to get here. Trust me, that rambling only covers a small part of what went on along the way to get to today. So anyway, yeah, today. Today I took it on a 15 mile test ride and woo freaking hoo, it worked like a bike should. Well a 30 year old bike should anyway. This is my 4th Super Sport, I kinda like them. but I hadn't ridden one in years. A couple observations. After having only ridden a Street Fighter V2 these past two seasons the bike seemed very, um, how can I say it? Not refined. Holy crap nothing about this bike is subtle. The throttle response is immediate. Downshifts were fun. The exhaust doesn't sound as nice as I remember my earlier SS's sounding. I may have to start looking for a fake Termi system for it. (You can tell they're fake by the welds - they're too nice to be Termis...). The riding position isn't as bad as I remember - I must be thinking of my 996. I'm not going to tour on it any time soon but it wasn't ridiculous. The bike did everything it's supposed to do, about as well as a 30 year old bike will do it. A completely different ride than the Street Fighter. Dry clutch with the infamous rattle. Truly full floating brakes that clunk and rattle over bumps. Flat slides that chirp under the "right" conditions. A much more in your face sort of riding experience. No gear indicator, no traction control, no ABS, no gas gauge or cruise control... oh, wait... So yeah, I'm well chuffed as I think you fuzzy little foreigners say. Now of course the rain is coming but it will see more use soon. I put 75 miles on it last year. I'm shooting for 100 this year! It'll hit 8000 miles by 2025 at this rate! PS - that's a 1993 Ducati 900ss Super Light. A one year only model for the USA, only available in yellow. I've wanted one since I first saw one in the dealer back in '93.

My sister was concerned about getting to Denver for a concert tonight... but they were skiing 9" of powder at Copper Mountain this morning so there's that!

As a young kid I was trying to carve something with a dull knife. I pushed hard, the blade let go and I punched a rock or something. My reaction was to pull my hand back. At which point I stuck the blade in my eyebrow. Stopped the bleeding, cleaned it up, my eyebrow hid the cut so I never told anyone. Scared the crap out of me, I haven't tried to carve anything since. A few mm lower and it would have been lights out - in that eye anyway. Other stuff has happened over the years but that's the one that scared me the most. Probably because it was entirely self inflicted.

I'm sure you're doing it right. It's just that it won't vibrate like the Harley plugs do so you don't get the full treatment.

When I left Lincoln Nebraska Saturday morning last week it was below freezing. When I drove through there yesterday (afternoon) it was 80 degrees. In two weeks you'll probably be worrying about heat stroke on your way to Texas.

After two weeks in the Portugal sun I'm now in @Earache's neck of the woods. Today I find out if I still know how to ski. I would have waited to post so I could add a picture or three, but decided that I'd post something now due to the chance of something going horribly wrong... it has been a few yers and I am getting older after all. I'll try to avoid running into any celebrities... but I won't promise anything.

Now you've done it. You've triggered that age old argument on what the game should be. https://deadspin.com/duck-duck-gray-duck-isnt-just-a-stupid-regionalism-1819317297 PS - I grew up in Minnesota.

Only the first one! I had forgotten that story. He's not lying. I ordered all the lumber for a deck, but there was some delay in getting it delivered. For whatever reason I then cancelled the order. They refunded my credit card. I left for a business trip and when I came back, there was a bunch of lumber in my lawn. I called the place and told them that the order had been cancelled. They said they'd come pick it up. But they never did. I called again. It was killing the grass so I moved it into the garage. Finally I decided screw this and built the deck just to get the stuff out of my garage. Some of the stuff they delivered was all warped and twisted so I DID go buy replacements for that. And then might have returned the twisted stuff.

I don't do much in the larger scale type stuff. I've made a couple decks I suppose but mostly it's smaller things. Back when I played around with guitars I made a few things for one forum's annual "build challenge" The first one was a "Travel Tele" which was a copy of something available commercially, but this was cheaper. 24" scale, headless. Ended up stripped for parts a year or two later. http://teamyikes.com/TravelTele/build_3922c_l.jpg After that was a small scale Telecaster. The body for it was made out of wood from a tree my dad planted when I was a kid. It came down in a storm a little after he died and I ended up with a couple logs from it. They weren't big enough to make it full sized so it's something like 7/8 scale? 3/4? I forget. It's elm, which is a bitch to work with. I have more of it but will eventually burn it rahter than build anything from it. The neck is made out of scraps I got from his shop when we cleaned it out. Fingerboard comes from a stash of boards he had from when he built banjos. http://teamyikes.com/Tele2012/tele_5385_l.jpg http://teamyikes.com/Tele2012/tele_5346_l.jpg Then a Telecaster Uke. It was built during a "polar vortex" storm here in Michigan, basically a lot of cold snowy weather, so I had planned on going with a winter theme instread of the typical tropical theme. It has "snowflake" fret markers and obviously a polar bear cub on it, but a lot of th epallned graphics never happened. The was going to be an igloo with a palm tree sticking out of it but there's only so much space on a tenor sized uke. That'd be Sophia, my favorite dog ever, checking it out. http://teamyikes.com/TenorTele/tenor_8045_l.jpg http://teamyikes.com/TenorTele/tenor_8052_l.jpg http://teamyikes.com/TenorTele/tenor_8071_l.jpg Next to a standard sized Telecaster http://teamyikes.com/TenorTele/tenor_8084_l.jpg I've also made a couple tube amps. First one was a 5 watt Champ clone. I don't use it often and last week went to play around with it but was greeted with silence. Well, a hum really because tube amp. But no volume. Then I started to smell the scent of tube amp death so I unplugged it. It's on now my bench awaiting triage. http://teamyikes.com/Amp/IMG_6093_l.jpg http://teamyikes.com/Amp/amp_5411_l.jpg http://teamyikes.com/Amp/amp_4908_l.jpg After that came a FireFly tube amp. Around 0.5 watts I think? It sat around half finished for a LONG time, so I decided to just slam it together with whatever I had around. Here's what I ended up with. It's rough, but it's supposed to be! Yes it's done. Yes, the handle is a spark plug wire from a flathead Ford V8 I had sitting around. http://teamyikes.com/Firefly/Amp_5279.jpg http://teamyikes.com/Firefly/Amp_5300.jpg Other than that I'm really good at making messes. EDIT: Fack me, I keep forgetting this site doesn't allow simple [img] tags. I may or may not deal with it later... EDIT AGAIN: They're links now. I'm not downloading all of the photos just to re-attach them here.

It was freeking cold that day too! IIRC that wasn't fog blocking the view - that'd be a cloud. Something like 14,000 feet up? I seem to remember riding back down before you guys to avoid hypothermia, and waiting for you in a parking lot with a perfectly clear view of the surroundings.

Mt Evans Byway! I've ridden that with Earache. In fact I was on one of his bikes at the time! I tell ya what, the view from up there... you have to see it for yourself. Here it is.

They would be more than happy to teach you! I was in Las Vegas years ago, mid week, it was pretty slow. One of the guys running a Craps table promised he'd show me how to play and I'd win as much as I wanted. Somehow I didn't find his pitch genuine and passed on that opportunity... I still have no clue how to play Craps but I did make twenty times my money on a slot machine. Yep, pulled the lever, hit the jackpot, gathered my winnings and walked out. Easiest $5 I ever made.

I've imported one from Canada, is that close enough?

Do you need me to go unplug something and then plug it back in?

It's certainly up there on the list. When they came out (1993 in USA) I saw one at my local Ducati dealer. I was still making payments on my 907 but this thing blew me away. I stood and stared at it for a while, running numbers in my head, trying to figure out if I could afford it. I should have sold the 907 and bought the Superlight but I passed. I don't think I knew it would be a one year only bike in the USA, but I regretted not buying it. In '95 I bought a 900ss and it started my Ducati only phase. In 2000 I traded the 900 in on a monoposto 996. I passed on the red one they had in stock and instead had the dealer find me a yellow one, guess why? I bought a /97 '900ss a few year later because I like that era Super Sport. Superlights were rare/expensive so I got an SP instead. Sold it a few years later. I got the 851 after I was telling my buddy about the 900ss I wanted to build, and he said "why not just get an 851". Huh. Yeah, why not! Then I thought maybe I could sell the 851 and finally buy a Super Light, I found out 851s weren't worth as much as I thought, and Super Lights were more expensive than I thought. Oh well, I'd be "stuck" with an 851. Poor me. Gave up on finding a Superlight. I could build a hot rod 900ss for less. When I ordered the Streetfighter, I had to sell my V85TT to help fund it. The ad clearly stated "no trades". I got trade offers anyway. The first one was for literal trash. The second one... a Super Light that had been sitting for 20 years. Long story with weird details. I figured it had to be trash too, so started writing my reply rejecting the offer, but as I was writing I talked myself into getting more info before turning him down. Long story short, I took the trade and then had to sell my 851 to help find the Street Fighter. So after 30 years of lusting after one, making a few searches and eventually deciding it'd be a bike I'll never own (like an RC30) I had one come find me. Now about that RC30...

Ah... we're doing photos now? Hmm.. I haven't got all of them but I'll take a shot My 907 was world famous! Sort of. Didn't take any of my RD - these were pre-digital photography days. Here's one my friend took (#907). I got my provisional racing license on it, but never raced. Long story. Ok this is taking too long finding photos - here's a group shot from the height of my obsession. 996, 851, 907, 1200S Monster, 160 Monza Jr. (I don't own any of these anymore) A better shot of the Monza Jr. I changed it a little. The Aprilia The Super Light And the Streetfighter I left a few out because they pre-dated digital photography or I just didn't have any digital pics handy. The only two shown that I still own are the Superlight and the Streetfighter.

I'm working on building a metal version of the chain guard off of an alleged pre-war prototype Ducati that was found in a barn after someone's grandfather died. He was married to an Italian woman he called "Fantsasma" who was related to or maybe dating the guy who had Taglioni's job before Taglioni did so it was probably stolen or at least hidden by someone she knew before the factory got bombed. The grandpa died before I was born so I can't ask about details. Rumor has it Ducati was working on a big single before the war broke out, but got distracted by bombs going off and stuff. When the war ended there wasn't a market for a big single so they started out producing smaller bikes, then broke out the old drawings and got back to the bigger singles later on. Of course by then a hard tail wouldn't sell so it had a rear suspension when it reached production, but you can see the similarities between it and the production bikes. Obviously being a prototype a lot of the original parts are unobtainable, so I've used later parts where they fit and fabricated details and parts where nothing was available. No color pictures exist of the bike so it's anyone's guess how it might have looked if it had ever been built. In fact not much info at all exists on the bike, so a lot of what is being said is open to conjecture. Another opinion is it's a bike that started life as a joke but that's just crazy talk. Who in the hell would start building a bike just because someone offered him a free, damaged frame after he joked he had almost enough spare parts to build a counterpoint to the over sized, under braked, over priced choppers that were so popular in the US for a few minutes back in the day? That's just stupid. No one would do THAT. Pre-war prototype is the only thing that makes sense.

1991 Ducati 907ie Yamaha RD 350 race bike made out of three bikes (so does that make it 2, 3, &4?) Honda Hawk NT650 Kawasaki KDX250 1995 Ducati 900ss/cr Honda Ascot, FT500? The single cylinder. Was going to be a racebike. Big life event happens, project abandoned and sold before it even got started. 2000 Ducati 996 1974ish Ducati 750GT 1966 Ducati Monza 1966 Ducati Monza Jr Ducati Bitsa - a single being built mostly out of leftover parts from the other two projects 1997 Ducati 900ss/sp 2011(?) Ducati 796 Hypermotard 2015 Ducati Monster 1200S 1991 Ducati 851 2003 Aprilia RSV Mille R - set up for track use 2020 Moto Guzzi V85TT 1996ish Ducati 900ss/sp Track bike 1993 Ducati 900SS Superlight 2022 Ducati Streetighter V2 The Aprilia and Moto Guzzi were an attempt to branch out a bit. Both were replaced with Ducatis within a couple years. I spent ten years trying to buy a 1954 Harley KHK off a friend. He never wanted to sell when I had the money, I didn' t have the money when he thought about selling. Someone else finally got the timing right.