|
Recovered by the cops after the rider attempted to run on it, wadded it, and did some damage to himself in the process. It's now flat black, and in a tow yard, going to be picked up by the insurance salvage yard on Monday. FWIW, the bright spot in this entire shitshow has been State Farm. Highly recommend them, my agent takes awesome care of me, and the service from the claims people and everyone involved has been excellent. Totally happy with them, although let's see how things go now that the bike has been recovered.
|
#
?
Mar 30, 2013 02:19
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 31, 2024 16:27 |
|
|
Now I'm double glad that they ended up being the cheapest insurance for me. Sucks about the bike 
|
|
#
?
Mar 30, 2013 02:20
|
|
|
Maybe it can rise again from the ashes.
|
|
#
?
Mar 30, 2013 02:29
|
|
|
Z3n posted:Maybe it can
|
|
#
?
Mar 30, 2013 02:35
|
|
|
Kenny Rogers posted:How did you miss that? Motorcycles don't ride, son.
|
|
#
?
Mar 30, 2013 02:45
|
|
|
How much of the thief is left?
|
|
#
?
Mar 30, 2013 05:26
|
|
|
He's probably totalled. You should buy him back from State Farm and turn him into a street fighter.
|
|
#
?
Mar 30, 2013 06:24
|
|
|
mandango.
|
|
#
?
Mar 30, 2013 07:05
|
|
|
Z3n posted:Maybe it can Fixed that for you. Hope it goes well!
|
|
#
?
Mar 30, 2013 08:17
|
|
|
AncientTV posted:He's probably totalled. You should buy him back from State Farm and turn him into a street fighter. Just part him out. There's plenty of older models that need NOS parts. The Chinese knockoff parts just ruin the originality. You'll never get top marks at a show like that.
|
|
#
?
Mar 30, 2013 23:12
|
|
|
The Triumph was recovered! It lost it's headlight and handlebars, though, so it brought home a friend who does have those things:  It's such a good bike.  Triumph has "frame damage" (aka some tiny scratches), so it's now no longer usable on the street, so trackbike. The payout from the Triumph being stolen plus a couple hundred on top paid for the Ducati 999, which has a list of mods longer than your arm, 9k miles on it, a salvage title, and only one key. Mod list: quote:ABM triple clamp with handlebar risers Thing runs like a dream and is pretty comfortable. Stoked.
|
|
#
?
Apr 18, 2013 00:26
|
|
|
Awesomeness
|
|
#
?
Apr 18, 2013 01:13
|
|
|
Now if the Ducati gets stolen, I'll just buy it back, and use the extra payout to buy a V4 tuono or something! Also still working towards the SXV 650 project...will sell some bikes to have some cash on hand for that now too. 
|
|
#
?
Apr 18, 2013 01:20
|
|
|
Does the frame damage on the Triumph mean it has no title to it at all, or would it be possible to get a rebuilt title for it in states that do such things?
|
|
#
?
Apr 18, 2013 03:16
|
|
|
Nah, it's what's called a "Non-repairable salvage title", which means it can never be fixed. A new frame would "fix" it, but that's because a new frame would have a title of it's own. I'm going to take it up to GP frame and wheel to make sure it's straight, but no broken steering stops, no significant damage anywhere else that I can see, so it's probably fine. Just some rashed up fairings. Starts right up. Looks like he put around 200 miles on it before running from the cops. Oil's fine, bike looks pretty good all things considered...just need to find a track upper, go through it carefully, and I'll be able to go to the track again I also discovered why they stole the Triumph. Cut the wiring loom and you can splice a few wires together and the bike can be easily started without the key. On the Daytona, that loom typically runs under the left side fairing, so a second of digging around under there will net you the ignition. Or you can just splice it higher up near the loom. Super easy to steal.
|
|
#
?
Apr 18, 2013 03:39
|
|
|
That is an extremely good looking motorcycle. The Ducati not the Triumph just to be clear
|
|
#
?
Apr 18, 2013 05:53
|
|
|
Xovaan posted:That is an extremely good looking motorcycle. I'm glad you like it! This lady has claimed it for myself. It's the bestest bike ever.
|
|
#
?
Apr 19, 2013 05:52
|
|
|
Does that mean you're joining us for Helimot when Jeff's and my gloves are ready? 
|
|
#
?
Apr 19, 2013 06:25
|
|
|
Xovaan posted:Does that mean you're joining us for Helimot when Jeff's and my gloves are ready? Depends on when you go! I'm out of town most of April.
|
|
#
?
Apr 19, 2013 15:18
|
|
|
Bonobo is May 3rd, so I'm thinking the 4th is when we have the adventure.
|
|
#
?
Apr 19, 2013 17:47
|
|
|
Ordered the belts for the Duc, the crank rotation tool, and watched these videos on replacing the belts: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNsC8Mn6big https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9fgp7BVYOU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86Pssw1c0g8 Yes, you use a tuner and pluck the belt to set tension correctly. Rocking out to this while I recover from oral surgery: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxp0PFoIdmU
|
|
#
?
Apr 19, 2013 23:57
|
|
|
I think you are supposed to tune the belt to different Daft Punk tracks depending on the expected use. "Voyager" for long trips, "Short Circuit" when rain is expected.
|
|
#
?
Apr 21, 2013 01:52
|
|
|
Robot rock if you think it's a transformer. Aerodynamic if you're expecting to crash it off a cliff.
|
|
#
?
Apr 21, 2013 01:59
|
|
|
Or perhaps, if you ride up THAT road and rnickeymouse sees you, "Rollin' & Scratchin".
|
|
#
?
Apr 21, 2013 02:31
|
|
|
"Teachers" if you're using it to take the msf.
|
|
#
?
Apr 25, 2013 00:07
|
|
|
Let's talk about ducatis!  Problems with the bike thus far: It seems to have a minor starting issue, acting like the battery is low on the on gauge voltmeter (which is, incidentally, super handy). Charging system is fine but voltage seems to always be at 12.4 or lower with the bike on but not running. Not sure if it's Batteries Plus batteries failing me, but big twins are always pretty sensitive to battery strength, so I bit the bullet and ordered an OEM Yuasa battery for it.  Here is $410 in Ducati parts (battery is charging).  I knew what I was getting into though. I took a day off on Monday to give myself some time to put myself in order after my grandfather passed on Saturday. I figured I'd make a quick run up to Stewart's Point to pick up some of the Butterscotch rootbeer they sell, which I haven't been able to find anywhere else. http://goo.gl/maps/cH73H I also wanted to have a go at Skaggs Spring road, as it's got quite the reputation as a racetrack masquerading as a public road, and while it's a clusterfuck on the weekends, it's dead during the week. While I'd liken the normal Ducati 999 seating position to sitting on a bar stool and eating off a coffee table, with the ABM handlebar kit, Gilles rear sets as low and forward as possible, and a Corbin seat, 6 hours on the bike with short breaks for gas and snacks was totally pleasant. I made the mistake of going through SF, thinking it would be nice to hit both the Bay Bridge and the Golden Gate, totally forgetting that while it looks drat short on the map, it's agonizing to hit all the stop lights, especially with the underseat exhaust cooking your nethers into a fine crisp. The bike does get a lot of attention with the open clutch spinning and rattling, and the v-twin pulsing off the houses of the city, so at least I could comfort myself in thinking that I was ratcheting up the perception of your typical Aerostitch wearer a few notches in the minds of the hipsters of SF. Once I roll through the toll booth and on to the Golden Gate, things change. For a few miles, I'm part of a convoy of tourists heading north for the woods, but after about 3 miles, the road splits and we both head towards our individual paradises. The pavement of Highway 1 is smooth, the sea stretches off to infinity on the left, and the speed limit is an tauntingly optimistic 55 MPH. Here is where the character of the 999 comes clear. The chassis is beautiful and composed, with minimal weight transfer forward and back when you feed it gas or rein it in on the brakes. Rather than the twitchy aggression of most modern superbikes, it has a more stable, focused feel. It seems to hunker down on the brakes, smearing the front tire into the ground while leaving the back in contact, and under acceleration, it doesn't rear up but instead charges forward. However, once I had the chance to play a little more, the bipolar nature of this 999's fueling started to rear it's head. From idle to five thousand RPM, the bike shoves with considerable push, vibrates lightly, and cleanly turns throttle application into forward motion. From 5k to just under 6k, it seems to be taking a moment to gather it's wits, or give you a chance to reconsider. Should you pass 6k, it devotes itself to going forward with a sort of single minded commitment that causes manic giggles. The twin seems to lighten as it spins, reving impossibly smoothly and quickly. The gearbox is perfectly matched to keeping the bike either above or below the deadspot in the tuning, so I hadn't really noticed the oddity until I had the chance to play with the bike up a twisty road. With these things in mind, a ride down a twisty road quickly ends up going one of 2 ways. For the majority of the ride, I simply lugged the engine, played in the lower RPM range, short shifted, and played within the generous bounds of the speed limit. In the areas between small cities, you play, then you relax and cruise at the speed limit through each town to avoid overzealous police putting a damper on your carefree ride. When you're committed to performance riding, you're keeping the engine above the flat spot and everything starts to happen very quickly. Unfortunately, on the way out, someone had crashed. As EMS was already on site, I cruised on through and within a few turns of the crash scene, I found myself stopped for construction. After pulling off, shutting the bike down, and chatting with the worker manning the signage, I saw a group of riders in pull up behind the line of cars behind me. I assumed they were with the crashed rider, and figured there wouldn't be much going on as they'd be going slow after losing one of their own. Turns out, that wasn't the case. They caught up to me when I rolled through at the speed limit in the next town, and I caught back up to them once the speed limit hit 55 again and I wasn't worried about state revenue collection interfering with my insurance rates. I had waved them past me in the town, and they were polite enough to return the favor when they heard the Ducati behind them. When I came up on the second rider on a Triumph Tiger, he waved me past on a very short straight leading into a quick left/right over a rise. As I didn't want to be stuck behind him after watching him nearly run off the road when he noticed me in his mirrors, I got into the happy place on the tach and scooted past. I figured I was well past him, but I didn't want to cut off his line in case he had rolled on as I went by, so I accelerated a bit more aggressively into the next corner before dragging hard on the front brake lever, flicking the bike deep into the corner. My toe briefly touches down as the bike unloads the suspension over the top of the hill, politely notifies me that both wheels are about to lose traction, goes into a beautiful 2 wheel slide, hooks both wheels back up as I pick up the gas, and then I am immediately aggressively countersteering the bike onto it's other side to make the next corner. I expected the Tiger rider to be right behind me, but when I check my mirrors as I roll on out of the corner, he's nowhere to be seen. I guess he slowed pretty dramatically after I passed him. A little farther I catch up to the remaining 2 riders, the leader on a CBR, the second rider on a Thruxton. I expect that the Thruxton rider will immediately drop back, but he handles his bike quite nicely and is putting down a respectable pace until the road opens up a bit and the horsepower of the bikes starts to come into play, and I cruise on past. The CBR rider is putting down an aggressive but clean pace, so I tuck in behind him and enjoy the rest of the run down the road. We pull over at the next town and chat for a bit, the riders of that group notifying me that apparently the Ducati sounds like the devil himself when it comes up behind you. They wrote me off when I waved them past in town, figuring I was some old fogey, thusly the Tiger rider nearly running off the road when I caught up to him. They invited me to join them on their next ride out, but it's a bad idea for me to ride with strangers...clearly, it leads to lapses in my otherwise excellent judgement. The final hilarious moment of that encounter is when one of the riders calls me "sir" as I say goodbye, and I overhear his buddies making fun of him for it as I walk into the store. Shortly thereafter, I ended up at the Stewart's Point Store:  I take a quick break, eat some chips, lost interest halfway through the bag, drink the rest of my root beer, and head into the forest up Skaggs Spring road. Incidentally, the road is also the evacuation point in case of emergency. Traffic is minimal, which is good considering the road starts out as a goat trail with no center line. After 20 miles or so of that, things open up and I start to understand why sportbikers go so nuts for the road. Despite being either a 30 or 40 zone, the sight lines are excellent, the pavement is very nice, the corners are all banked nicely, and they're pretty much even radius corners all the way through, with the exception of one tight 25mph corner halfway through. Under those conditions, the chassis on the Ducati shows it's strengths, staying composed on braking, smooth and undisturbed through the corners, and then pushing the rear tire to the limits of traction on exit with minimal drama. I enjoyed letting the bike do what it does best down that road enough to turn around and run it again, knowing that conditions were pretty set and enjoying the sound and feeling of actually using a little of the performance of a bike I'd wanted since I'd first seen one in a showroom nearly a decade ago. The remainder of the trip was a quiet freeway ride home, giving me some time to think about my family, the bike, and the future. The next day, I headed into the dealership after work to talk to the guys there about picking up those parts and to ask the question I had to ask...did they know of anyone selling any cosmetically rough but mechanically sound 999s that I could use as a trackbike? As it turns out, the head mechanic said he might know someone, I should hear back from him in the next few days. While chatting with the salesman who sold me the 999, he mentioned that he's selling his 675 shortly and I mentioned that I'd be interested in taking that off his hands as well. Sometime next week, most likely. Fingers crossed, I'll have 2 999s and 2 675s in the garage soon... So, with all of that done, it's pretty clear to me that I still can't be trusted with a 130hp superbike as a commuter, but that's irrelevant as the wife claimed the bike after the first time she rode it. Nothing would make me happier now than a 999 trackbike, so I figure I may as well try and get one going. I'll probably steal some of the nice bits off of the new Daytona if I end up picking it up, drop them on my 675 trackbike, sell it, and then maybe it's time to buy an Aprilia RSV-R, one big twin deserves another, right? The goal with the Ducati will be to see it make it to 100k miles....
|
|
#
?
Apr 25, 2013 06:13
|
|
|
Nice writeup! What maintenance are you expecting in the long run to comically hit 100k? Do the 999's require the same rebuild times as the 749's and 848's on the track?
|
|
#
?
Apr 25, 2013 06:26
|
|
|
Xovaan posted:Nice writeup! I'm going to get it set up with a mild tune on the nemesis ECU (street oriented, so more midrange, less revs), and the usual valves/belts/spark plugs/filters/etc. There's no reason the 999 engine wouldn't go the distance with proper care. Oh, I also need to pull and clean the starter if the fresh battery doesn't fix everything. Might do it anyways just because.
|
|
#
?
Apr 25, 2013 06:46
|
|
|
Z3n posted:There's no reason the 999 engine wouldn't go the distance with proper care. I wouldn't be surprised if you need to hone and re-ring it before you hit 100k.
|
|
#
?
Apr 25, 2013 13:57
|
|
|
Yeah I ciuld see that one going either way.
|
|
#
?
Apr 25, 2013 15:37
|
|
|
I'll have to hit up Skaggs after reading your report. I tried Mines road from Livermore last weekend and it was pretty blind and tight for my liking, although good fun if you cruise through it without turning it into a game of chicken at every corner.
|
|
#
?
Apr 25, 2013 18:26
|
|
|
Short update - went to AFM last weekend, the 675's frame is straight! I helped one of my friends make it out on track after his engine blew, and got harassed by enough racer friends that I think I'm going to go racing again. We'll see how things turn out. As soon as the parts get here for the multistrada, I'll be replacing the shift fork and drum to fix the shifter, and then selling bikes and starting down the path of going racing again...
|
|
#
?
May 6, 2013 20:01
|
|
|
Please race again. Give me more of an incentive to move back up to the bay area when I get settled after graduation. (Because whereisnovember and I would come see you every race) 
|
|
#
?
May 7, 2013 03:34
|
|
|
 New commuter!  TOR exhaust is going to go on the racebike, it'll get a handlebar kit, and become my daily driver.
|
|
#
?
May 10, 2013 04:21
|
|
|
Z3n posted:New commuter! Hope I get to ride it, before the thugs get their hands on this one.
|
|
#
?
May 10, 2013 17:01
|
|
|
tarzanspuma posted:Hope I get to ride it, before the thugs get their hands on this one. Let's be honest - if this one got stolen, lord only knows what I would buy. Maybe the V4 Tuono I've been threatening for a year?
|
|
#
?
May 10, 2013 17:51
|
|
|
So I was agonizing over how to paint the racebike, given that Zool has dazzle on his R6, I did gulf racing on the GSX-R, and frankly, I'm poo poo at good ideas. Finally, I came up with the real solution: CROWDSOURCING. Kickstarter does it, microfunding does it, it's a hot marketing buzzword, how can I go wrong? Gonna order enough of this and go hog wild. Figure that I can order this for the streetbike and leave a little note and some chalk on the handlebar and see what I get. (it'll be penises) The to-do list on the streetbike is the usual list of crap, battery, filters, handlebar kit. Also need to respring the rear shock and change the fork oil, as well as removing the rear shock shim, because the last thing Daytonas need is less trail. On the trackbike, it's the same respring plus a shock and fork oil service, takeoffs, tech spec install, SRF brake fluid, EBC Extreme Pros, install Brembo MC, lube all swingarm/shock pivot points, steering head bearings, oil, new frame sliders, and make rearset plates to jack up the rearsets so my stubby legs fit into the cutouts on the gas tank. In other news, still waiting on Ducati to get me the parts for the multistrada. Should be a busy weekend
|
|
#
?
May 10, 2013 19:39
|
|
|
|
|
#
?
May 11, 2013 13:30
|
|
|
Trying to parse that is frying my brain.
|
|
#
?
May 12, 2013 21:21
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 31, 2024 16:27 |
|
|
I think you should get someone who is really good at chalk signage, ie anyone you know who's worked as a barista at a hipster/indie coffee shop. You should pay that person to replicate a cool racing livery like JPS in chalk, then use a matte clear coat over it. Or just do a different livery every time.
|
|
#
?
May 17, 2013 19:47
|
|
