DesmoSouthwest

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Randy F. had his 1995 Monster 900 stolen from the River and La Canada area. If you know anything about this, keep an eye out here for contact info for the police.

EDIT: The bike was recovered in the Sahuarita area. The damage is rather extensive. The bike will probably not survive intact unfortunately.

We had a good weekend last weekend. There were 5 Ducatis at the MHC/P1 trackday at the kart track on Saturday, here are 2 of them:
Click on the images for a larger version.

That’s Mark on his 1198SP and me on my 998. Those bikes are almost 10 years apart in age!

We also had Richard on his 848, Francisco on his Monster 800, and Chris on his 1198S.

If anyone has more Ducati trackday pictures, please send them so I can put them up.

On Sunday we rode to Patagonia instead of the usual Mt. Lemmon ride:

Unfortunately I couldn’t make this ride, but I hope to next time.

Come out and see us next weekend at LeBuzz!

We’ll be at Bob Dobb’s at the corner of 6th St. and Tucson Blvd. for the first club meeting of 2012.

Bob Dobb’s is a Tucson landmark, it’s been there for as long as I can remember. They have good food, and nice drink specials. Coincedentally, the dinner special on Wednesdays is spaghetti and meatballs, which fits in nicely with our italian motorcycle club theme.

Meet there 6:30PM. We’ll try to park the bikes out front on the 6th St. side, or maybe just around the corner on the Tucson Blvd. side. We’ll eat dinner and then we can move into the new back room which has a pool table if we want.

More info on the Club Activities page:

http://www.desmosouthwest.com/blog/?page_id=30

See you there!

The monthly club meeting will be at Tony’s Italian Deli at 6:30 PM on Wednesday.

This is an Italian Deli in the same style as the ones in New York City. The food is really great here, this is a treat.

We’ll be in the patio in the back. As you enter, go toward the right and then turn left at the hallway and go back until there is a door on the left to the patio.

There is a map on the Club Activities page.

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Ducati quietly introduced the latest 848 at the same time as the 1199 Panigale.

This might just be the best trackday bike Ducati has ever produced. The 1098 and 1198 are really fast, possibly a bit too fast for those of us who are not AMA Superbike riders to have fun on. The 848 combines the feel of a twin with a revvy nature for a really fun riding experience at the limit.

And now you get DTC (Ducati Traction Control), a quick shifter, An Ohlins rear shock and 330mm brake discs (although the specs still show 320mm like the previous bikes). All this for only $1000 more than the 848 EVO, which is a great deal.

This color scheme was previously available on the 1198S Corse and 1198R Corse. But it’s showing up now on the Multistrada and Hypermotard as well.

The traction control seems a bit optimistic for the track because you’d have to really be trying to spin this thing hard, and if you’re trying that hard you probably want it to spin But I imagine it’s a good idea for street and rain riding. The quick shifter is always a nice addition though, it’s something you come to appreciate very quickly at the track.

If you think back about some of the best Superbikes Ducati has ever produced, they are usually at the end of the production run for that model. The latest 748 and 998 were the best ones of the entire run, and so were the latest 749 and 999 bikes. The 1198 SP is the best non “R” superbike of the current series. So this will probably go down as the best ever 848, unless they make an “R” that is. Seems unlikely at this point.

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Well, here it is, finally: The Ducati 1199 Panigale (pan-ee-gahl-eh) in Strada, S, and Tricolore versions.

Here is the official site:

http://www.1199panigale.ducati.com/en/

There isn’t a lot about them that hasn’t already been leaked on the internet that you don’t already know about, other than maybe the electronically adjustable suspension on the S and Tricolore. It’s similar to what the Multistrada 1200 has.

The spring preload will still be adjusted manually, but the compression and rebound damping are adjusted electronically. These also will have presets to correspond to engine performance. On other bikes, you get sort of a “rain”, “sport”, and “race” mode for engine mapping. On this bike, you get that as well but Ducati takes it a step further and also adjusts suspension compression and rebound damping for each mode.

I might be showing my age here, but this gives me the heebie jeebies a little bit. Anyone that has owned a 2 door car where both power windows broke at the same time might know what I’m talking about. And I’m not really sure that someone else can make a better decision about suspension setup than I can. I’m guessing it will be adjustable by the rider so we don’t have to stick with whatever Ducati decides is best for us. Maybe it’s the best thing since sliced bread though.

(Edit: The suspension setting presets are adjustable by the rider.)

The engine is totally new. It’s a short stroke 1200 which has a shorter stroke than my Multistrada 620 and a bigger bore than any other motorcycle that I’m aware of. There are no longer belts driving the cams, which is probably a good thing. You can get more consistent cam timing with chains and they should be lower maintenance. It also has a wet clutch, so no more clutch noise. This might be nice though, you won’t get bothered from people telling you that your bike is about to blow up.

The dash is now a TFT display which a lot of cars are using these days. Hopefully it will be bright enough to see in the sunlight. The automotive press is kind of split on this idea so far, we’ll have to see how it translates to bikes.

The new wheel designs are, ahh, different aren’t they? The Strada model has sort of a 5/10 spoke thing that looks like a split spoke version of the Marchesini wheels on my 998. The S and Tricolore have a very unique looking 3/9 spoke forged aluminum wheel that looks pretty light. The rear tire is a 200/55 which is big and should have quite a large contact patch with the 6″ wheel.

There are some other details which are notable:

o The fork spacing is “World Superbike” spec which might mean it’s wider? I don’t know, I’ll have to look into it. The fork spacing on most bikes has been 8″ for a long time now.

o ABS will be available, but I don’t know if it will be standard on all bikes. It seems like it won’t be. This isn’t a huge surprise since some of the more socially backward countries are requiring it these days.

o The S and Tricolore have all LED lights, apparently including the headlights. The Strada has regular bulbs for the headlights from what I can tell.

o It’s a very light motorcycle. Dry weight is 361.5 pounds, and wet weight is 414.5 pounds. I believe this is lighter than any other 1000 class sportbike. Dry weights these days are meaningless, because some companies measure it without any fluids at all (no fork oil for example), and sometimes even without tires. Seems silly to me.

Anyway, I like it. I’m still not 100% sure that I’ll be getting one, but it’s quickly growing on me. Problem is I have other growths I would need to get rid of first

Thanks to everyone who came out on Sunday October 30th to the Concorso event!

We had probably 25 or so bikes show up. They ranged from Vintage to new, 250cc to 1100cc. We had 3 bevel drive bikes, one single and 2 twins. An ex British Superbike racer. Speaking of Superbikes, we had 3 eras of Superbikes show up. A Monster won the people’s choice award. And there was much more.

I’d be able to show you if I spent more time taking pictures. I only got a few:

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This is Scot’s ex British Superbike 996RS. A 996 from this era did a lap around Donnington Park faster than Valentino Rossi did on his 500cc GP bike. These were very fast motorcycles.

This is Charlie’s 250cc bevel drive single project. I was really happy to see this, I like the old single cylinder bikes.

If anyone has more pictures, please email me a few to the address I use to send out club emails.

We’ll be doing more events like this in the future for sure.

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I was going back and forth over writing something regarding the crash and subsequent death of Marco Simoncelli this past weekend. Those of you who watch the MotoGP races on TV with us know that I wasn’t his biggest fan. But I’m going to say something anyway.

I think an explanation of why I felt this way is in order before I talk about the crash.

Simoncelli was known for riding, how should we say, “at the limit of his talent or above” when he got on a MotoGP bike this year. He had some on track tangles with other riders who are more accomplished than he was, including Jorge Lorenzo and Daniel Pedrosa. In reaction, Lorenzo said something like “MotoGP is not a game”, which I translate loosely as “There are some risks which shouldn’t be taken”. And I completely agree with this. I’m a former racer, and I’ve ridden with people who didn’t take my safety, let alone their own, seriously. Motorcycle racing is dangerous. Adding a rider who is willing to put other riders at unnecessary risk for his own benefit can be a big problem, and this is why I wasn’t a fan of Simoncelli’s riding. I know there are plenty who don’t agree with me about this. What Simoncelli did to Hector Barbera a few years ago at Mugello in the 250 race was almost unthinkable.

These same riders who were victims of Simoncelli’s on track antics all had good words to say about Marco Simoncelli after his death, which speaks of him as a person more than a rider I think. He obviously was well liked off the track despite what happened on it. I never met him, but I wish I did so I could find out for myself.

How ironic is it that he was killed trying to save a crash? It’s an instinctive reaction for one’s own safety. In doing so he was hit by Valentino Rossi (probably his best friend in the paddock) and Colin Edwards. It’s something that could have happened to any rider on the track that day.

There is one situation that current technology can’t solve, and that’s when one rider is hit by another. Many other riders have been killed this way recently, including Peter Lenz, Shoya Tomizawa, and Craig Jones. It’s a risk that cannot be solved.

I really hope that there is not a knee jerk reaction to place blame for this, because there is none.

Marco Simoncelli wanted, like many other riders, too much too soon. And now he’ll never achieve what he wanted. Which is the whole point of wanting too much too soon isn’t it?

This is a first for me, and probably many of you: A trackday in Tucson!

The Musselman’s Honda Circuit (MHC) has “sportbike” events once in a while, and the next one is only 1 week away.

More info is here:
http://www.p1kartcircuit.com/event_types/sportbikes

I also have an entry on the Club Activities page:
http://www.desmosouthwest.com/blog/?page_id=30

You need to have 1 or 2 piece leathers or a textile suit which has armor, boots, gloves, and a helmet. Your bike needs to be in good condition.

This is the schedule:

Friday Oct 21st 6-10PM – Novice/Beginner
Saturday Oct 22nd 6-10PM – Intermediate/Expert

I don’t see why you can’t suit up and just ride your bike over there and participate.

The price is $60 for non members and $40 for members. Membership is $150 for a year, and you get one event for free with membership.

The track is a kart track, so speeds will be low. This is great for starting out. It’s only about .8 miles long. No matter what you do, you’re going to get passed by guys on dirt bikes with street tires

Riding on the track is a great way to really learn how to ride a bike. If you haven’t ever done a track day, there’s no better way to start than this.