Shakedown Ride!

Right the boring bits are over now for the good stuff and the eye candy!
The handling is amazing. The closest I could describe is like a 600 sportsbike. It turns much much sharper and in conjunction with some more sticky and aggressive tyres like the Pirelli Diablo Supercorsas feels very stable. It is a little unnerving how light it feels at low speeds now and I find the front a little more flighty. I may increase the pressure in the rear (currently at 2 front and 2.2 rear) to be 2 front and 2.4 rear to push a little more weight over the front. If that doesn’t work I may drop the front forks have a notch to load the front a little more. I only stopped twice and two different pubs (not drinking I might add) and was approached by 2 different people commenting on how classic the bike looked… It now definitely attracts attention so avoid gold if you don’t like that kind of thing!

I’m currently obsessive about the bike and can’t wait to open the garage doors and just look at it. Was it worth all the pain and effort – yes and I would do it again in a second! Thanks to Martin for his patient hack-sawing and to Francine for being much more than a patient girlfriend but whom without I would not have been able to complete this swap! Oh and also thanks to Francine for asking me if I had tightened the rear axle nut shortly before riding off for the first time… I had of course tightened it back up ahem ahem!

Test Ride

It's a dry Friday, you have more leave than an Italian politician and a bike with a new set of forks.... what do you do?...day off!

Decided on about a 120 mile route leaving from Southampton and taking the (very) long way to Fernsham pond. Beautiful small lake with many ducks (always a bonus). I was lucky enough to sit under the tree below and enjoy my lunch and magazine... A perfect way to spend a Friday if you ask me.

The new forks performed fantastically! So much firmer in corners with none of this front wheel chattering over uneven surfaces. A much firmer ride but with better dampening. Overall all money very well spent!

On the way back I may of got a little bit 'off track' (it's only being lost when you have somewhere to be in my opinion!) and ended up in the middle of a very small and muddy Forrest. Admittedly not the Sport Classics natural habitat but good fun and a another good spot for a brake and some more shots!...

Fantastic day and the Sport Classic was more than happy bouncing between country pub to country cafe and did a very good job of looking remarkably sexy outside.

My favourite comment so far about the bike... "i know what it is, not many people would but I do..". Too true, just the way we like it!

It starts!

Well the first modification has been done.... I have fitted a tail tidy to address the very serious issue of that ridiculous back end! Really Ducati, what were you thinking. It resembles a strange cyclops type creature with one blinking red eye! Anyway I digress...

Basically it was a Palatov tail tidy for a sport classic, available from http://www.palatov.com/products/motorcycle.html . It had to come from America and took about 10 days to get here, not bad really and very good communication from the guys. Once opened it becomes clear this is a very basic (but well finished) piece of engineering. 2 plates of metal, one bolts to the underneath of the Duc and holds the light assembly, the other holds the reg plate and bolts to the first. You have to swap the indicator cables around as you turn the light cluster upside down (thus L becomes R and so forth).

Unfortunately it is made for USA plates and the screw hols for the plat did not quite line up with the ones in a UK plate. Wahoo first mod and already using a drill, happy days! 4 new holes later and 2 number plate bolts spray painted black and all was complete. Took about 40 mins to do, real simple and looks fantastic.

Currently very happy!

Next job... Pazzo levers just arrived, oh and maybe a smaller number plate :)

Why start a Blog?

Well I have just purchased a lovely shiny (almost) new Ducati Sport Classic 1000S.....

Well I have just purchased a lovely shiny (almost) new Ducati Sport Classic 1000S.....

Very nice I hear you say! However, being somewhat of a perfectionist and havin a bit of spare cash from the sale of my other bike, my PS3, my Kidneys and my soul I have decided to make it ym perfect dream bike. The project brief is thus

• Must remain classy at all times


• Must not bankrupt me and must stay on budget


• Must source all the parts myself


• My girlfriend and I shall be doing as much work as possible


• Work that is 'out-sourced' will primarily be paid with beer


• NO bl**dy carbon fibre (se point 1)

I will be documenting the whole process form conception to end point, detailing my trials, tribulations, celebrations and commiserations throughout. Hopefully by doing this, along with detailed photo's and descriptions of how each part was done i will be able to assist other people starting this journey and also keep track myself!

All comments are appreciated, unless suggesting carbon bl**dy fibre...

Paul and Francine