Remembering last September, and dreaming af the new 1199 Panigale. That’s going to be one nice ride.

Ready to go.

Unfortunately no pic of the other bike, Ducati TT F1 replica.

Go to Manx GP for live timings, schedules and much more.

Practises start on the 20th of August. I will be there from the 26th to the 2nd of September.

It’s been a long time. A really long.

After returning home from 9 months in Germany, I’ve managed to ride the bike about 700 km’s. Looks like this year will be again one of those that I ride a lot less. Somehow the itch for riding is a little bit lost, too.. don’t know why.

Last year the LM-2 wideband lambda thing was bought, but I still haven’t mounted it, let alone had the time to start logging any data and modified the PC maps. Maybe next year.

Yesterday at the local Ducati-dealer, there were new bikes on hand to be testdriven. When was the last time I testrode a new Ducati? Probably when the 1098 came out, in 2007?

So, I testrode the Multi, the Diavel, the smaller Hyper and an 848.

848:
As expected, superbike power, handling and brakes. And riding position. Totally useless on the (Finnish) roads, unless your speedo reads in excess of 150kmh..

Hyper:
Very light, nimble and usable bike in the city. Not too much power to go crazy and start terrorising the neighbourhood.
I’d love to try the 1100 Hyper..

Diavel:
Never ridden a bike of this segment. Huge amounts of power and torque. Steering a bit strange, but like I said, never tried similar bike before. Would like to have ridden more, now just a short stint on straight, wide roads. Good riding position, but how will it be after 500 km’s? hard to say.

Multi:
This thing has been praised all over the press in the past year so much, that I had to try it to find out what’s it all about. I think the press is right. This is an awesome bike. you can swap the engine/riding modes on the fly, the riding position is great (I guess I’m getting old..) with a good saddle. The windscreen wasn’t very good, I tried it at both the top and bottom position. Maybe I would remove it all together. Then perhaps the wind would bring down the speeds.. this thing has also so much power, that if you don’t keep an eye out for the speedo, it gets to quite big numbers quite fast.

Maybe I consider myself an “oldschool” ducati guy (Bevel engines, 888, 916, Fogarty, Hailwood, etcetc.) but this thing is great, even though it is ugly, tall, touring, and all that. But hey; times change and we must change with them or we will be left behind. Take a look at Guzzi and think for a few minutes, and you’ll understand. I’m sorry, Guzzi-guys.. but that’s how it is. And i still love Guzzis, and still do want an MGS.

(take a look at the BMW GS. Also ugly, tall, heavy, expensive and yet it brings in more than 50% of BMW’s motorcycle sales every year.)

Verdict:
All the bikes were good, engine management very good, not a glitch anywhere, all rideable well below 3k rpm and original exhausts provided enough “ducati” noise. I wouldn’t mind owning any of them, all very good bikes in their own category. Better than other European or Japanese bikes? you go try them. There’s a reason why these bikes sell as there is a reason why the others sell too, even better..
Now all I need to do is wait a few years and then I can get a used Multi for a fraction of the price of a new one and go touring.

Next up, Manx Grandprix 2011 at the end of the month.

A random pic:

Maintenance done, meaning hooking the battery to a charger.

Maybe ride during Easter.

No pics.

Total is now 57683 km. This summer 4820 km.

Next up - Nürnberg.

It’s started.

The JL Meccanica racer, for the Manx GP classic. Courtesy of jlmeccanica.blogspot.com.

For more info go to www.manxgrandprix.org and http://www.manxphotosonline.com

/edit 250810: found this from youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RkcCVCpMH9s See the JLMeccanica Guzzi at around 5:35.

Despite (or maybe because) the great summer weather in Finland, lately I haven’t gotten much mileage on the bike.

On a hot day, what else is there to do, but to change the tyres..
After a lot of swearing and tearing, the Pirelli Dragon Supercorsas are on. I did it all by myself.
The previous Metzeler Rennsports lasted ~8300 kms. Pretty good, I would say for a set of tyres worth around 170 EURos.. Maybe after the Pirellis I will return to the Rennsports.

Here’s whats going to go on next (at the local shop).

Though the part says it’s for MY2000 and up, it was confirmed by the local shop that this is the correct part number for the starter sprag clutch - 70140071A. The older number is 70140011A.

The bike started to act up upon starting, and I knew it wasn’t the battery. A whinig noise from the starter, vague starting and frustrating driver. I guess all the problems with poor batteries, broken regulators, melting cablings and so on, finally took it’s toll.

Changed the oil yesterday. I am using a Mahle (Knecht) OC 5 filter for the first time.

Here’s a comparison pic with an original Ducati filter.

It’s a little taller as you can see, but that isn’t a bad thing, is it?

Next up; Innovate LM-2.

/edit: partnumbers on the OC 5 package: Ducati 065149960 Guzzi 14153000 Harley-Davidson 6381080 and many others, mainly cars.

It was a very hot day at Jurva a couple of weeks ago.
/edit, 010810, a pic, courtesy of P Hakala:

Bad lighting in this one..

Next up; Oil and filter change. The tyres are quite worn too, about 8K km on them! Lot’s of rubber still on the outer edges.. I have a set of Dragon supercorsas waiting.

From last year:

I did put the noisekillers in, just in case, but the marshalls were not interested about the noiselevel..
Thanks Kari.

Here’s the old post : http://myducati.blogsome.com/2009/09/10/pics-from-gedinnenurburgring-trip/