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Ride Report - 2015 Multi to Barber and Back

Tony Pags

Thu, Sep 23, 2021 9:49 PM

Hi all,

Some of you may recall my recent purchase and initial musings on the bike.
Happy to say I put the bike through it's touring paces recently. Here's a
quick recap by the numbers and a bit more detail below and a link to
unedited pictures from the trip:

I've got some life changes looming on the horizon, nothing terminal, just
work stuff, and while being stressed, my wife quipped "You need a long
motorcycle ride". That also meant I needed a bike for the task, and the
plan formed to buy a bike, then ride down to Barber Motorsports park in
Alabama from Pennsylvania.

I secured the bike about 2 weeks in advance from a good friend in Boston,
and rode it home some 325 miles. The only issue I had at that time was a
loose wire harness for the left control unit (fixed) and a non-functioning
fuel gauge (known issue and a recall item). I further broke the bike in
with a trip to the NJ MotoAmerica round in Millville before declaring it
ready for the long ride. Stick to 150-175 miles per tank and everything
will be fine.

I took off Thursday morning early, riding solo as I would the entire trip.
I always figure I can get 100-150 miles in before traffic starts on long
trips and this was indeed the case. My Dad lives in Lexington NC, so I
figured I'd roll straight to his house the first day, catch some yummy
chicken parm for dinner and snag a nice comfy bed. No drama the whole way
down, approx 540 miles. The bike hummed along nicely and performed as
expected.

Friday morning, I knew I had another 450 miles or so to Barber (note, the
detour to Dad's only adds about 90 minutes to the trip, so it was worth
it). Again, I got up early, got on the road, waved to the deer my Dad
promised would be on the side of the road as I exited his house, and kicked
it up a notch.

Some think super slab is boring and terrible. They're right. But I needed
the suck a bit. It's good for my soul. I've been asked what I think about
when I ride, and I think that's just it - I DON'T. I'm focused on the
road, the music, the wind noise, and the scenery. My mind blanks as miles
blend into miles. Watching the sun rise through your visor and feeling the
warmth on your back as it does is a simple pleasure I'll never get tired of.

I made it to Barber with 4 minutes to spare before the Jr. Cup Qualifying.
My boy Tyler put it on provisional pole as expected. BUT, let me stop
there for a minute. That place. WOW. It's like a college campus set up
like a golf course. There's art/statues all over the place. The grounds
are impeccable. There's a waterfall type feature. There's a frickin' tram
(multiples actually) that will take you around the spectating areas/various
corners. The place is incredible and exceeded everything I expected in the
first 10 minutes.

I knew I wouldn't have time for the rest of the weekend given all the
racing/responsibilities, so instead of meeting up with my racers, I opted
to duck into the museum for 2 hours before closing. BIG MISTAKE. 2 hours
isn't enough. I was overwhelmed just walking in the front door, knowing
what I was about to see - and then right there was a nicely restored
Cucciolo! Someone certainly knows what they're doing over there, and I was
hooked. I was informed the basement level was open, and I was welcome to
explore it. WOW. Just wow. I stopped taking pictures at one point
because it just didn't matter. Nothing can do that place justice other
than seeing it in person. It was a bucket list item for me, and I'm happy
to have checked it off, BUT I'm going to need to go back again I think.

Highlights: Got to shake Wayne Rainey's hand in the museum. "Oh look,
another national treasure" I said, and he just kind of smirked, shook my
hand, and kept on rolling.

Also got to see the #1 Motus - and got to meet it's chief designer who is
doing some sort of residency there. Pretty cool. That bike has eluded me
thus far. I'm not sure I'd love it, but it certainly deserves a mention.

There's a Britten there - yeah, but I get to see one of those all the
time. What really got me moving was Rich Oliver's very pristine,
undefeated TZ250, and right next to it Colin Edwards ratty as hell TZ250.
The contrast between the two was astonishing.

So many bikes - so many that you've never heard of - so many that aren't
even described because they're just decorations at this point. It's well
worth a trip - even a nearly 2k mile trip!

As I'm leaving the museum, I put my helmet on, strap my jacket to the back
of the bike (it was HOT at that point, and I was just going on the property
to the kart track), and the skies just opened up. I'll estimate I rode 1/4
mile and was thoroughly soaked through. Luckily, I was meeting up with a
friend who has a toy hauler there (and would be hosting me all weekend).
Met up with him, changed out of my wet clothes, chilled for a few, then
went to the kart track to catch a bunch of my favorite kids from NJ MiniGP
practice for the MotoA mini cup being hosted that weekend.

If you're not familiar, the mini cup series is a spec bike series on
Italian made Ohvale 110, 160 and 190cc motorcycles. These kids are
accomplished racers already, and the best the country has to offer at the
younger ages for sure. I was planning on helping my little buddy Nathan
Bettencourt out on Saturday in between the main MotoA races. Watching
these little kids rip is one of my greatest motorcycle pleasures and I
honestly consider some of these kids as my own. They were only racing on
Saturday, and practice was a mix of wet/dry so some kids were adapting
better than others. Nathan puts a TON of pressure on himself for these
weekends, and it was clear from his body position on the bike that he was
struggling.

I ran into his Mom immediately, and said "What the heck is going on there?"
She knew what I meant and asked me to chat with him. As he came off the
track, I joked "You look like me out there! Where's Nathan?" I grabbed
his helmet, pulled it down toward the clip-on, then tilted it up. "Head
down, look up" I repeated a handful of times - "Now GO!" (which is sort of
my mantra). I don't think it helped, but I could see it in his eyes that
he was surprised (and I hope happy) to see me!

Got a good night's sleep and was ready for the racing to begin. The whole
rest of the weekend was like end of days rain though. So we struggled
trying to stay dry and drying out leathers, bikes and gear. I split time
between the minis and main track so I could stick to my obligations.
Nathan struggled more than we'd like for sure, but he's just 11, and faster
than anyone reading this far, I promise you that. The kid is a warrior and
I'm proud that he performs at this level already.

Ty Scott on the other hand did NOT struggle. We knew he just needed to
finish near Ben Gloddy to secure the championship, having a 30 point lead
going into the final 2 races. But Tyler had other plans. He put his head
down, fought off a VERY hard charging Kayla Yaakov, and secured the victory
AND the championship. I've written his press releases all season, and have
done some minor behind the scenes work for him, so it was a pleasure to
unroll the big "CHAMP!" sign for his pitboard and have his main mechanic
parade it through the pits on the way to Parc Ferme. The kid is pretty
much unflappable, and an absolute monster on a motorcycle. Job done!

I have quite a few favorites on the Junior Cup grid, and they've been doing
great all season. Gus Rodio, Joe Limandri, Spencer Humphreys are showing
how good the program at NJMiniGP is with solid progress, wins, podiums and
polish all season long. I've been watching and racing with these kids
since they were on 50's! Again, I love them like my own and am proud of
their seasons. Special shoutout to Gus who had a crash in Race 1, but
pulled it back together for Race 2 to secure 3rd for the championship! I
also got to have two 15 minute conversations with Matt Scholtz who
surprised me by gracing me with that much time. Dude is a class act and if
you didn't see his crash in Race 1, it's one for the ages.

I was able to make it back for the last race of the mini cup and wow, what
awesomeness! Seeing 20 of these kids line up and launch these missles in
the rain right in front of me looked exactly like a mini Moto GP rain
start. The sound, the spray, the wheel spin, and the drama as they
filtered into the 1st turn was just the spike my veins needed. At the end
of it all, three more of my favorite kids, Josh Raymond, Sacha Agam and
Chris Clark stood on the podium for their respective classes. #proud

Race day 2 saw more of the same. Crashes, red flags, and torrential
downpours. Tyler skipped warmup because there was nothing to gain at all
in those conditions, which made the entire day just drag with not much to
do but watch the rain. Come race time, we knew we had to tear the bike
down due to a protest after the races, so everyone was just anxious to get
it over with. With the championship secured, surely Tyler would just ride
around, bring it home in one piece right? RIGHT?

Wrong - well sort of. He did bring it home in one piece, but he did so in
style with a 2nd win for the weekend. This kid only knows how to go fast.
As the team started tearing down the bike, I opted to suit up and start
heading north, trying to outpace the rain.

I said my goodbyes, jumped on the bike and headed north with no plan but to
ride until I was tired, knowing every mile I got in would be one less for
the morning. That didn't last long. Coming out of Barber, the roads were
washing over with flood waters, and when I got on the highway it wasn't
much better. I rode a tankful or so out, and stopped for gas just as the
sun was setting, decreasing visibility even more. As I was gassing up, I
realized my rain gear (expensive Klim stuff) was soaking through finally.
No big deal, I've done worse.

And then it happened. As I was zipping up my jacket, some rain dripped in,
ran down my stomach and started spreading JUST as I caught a glimpse of a
Quality Inn sign. I didn't want to, but the temptation was far too great
and I gave in to a warm shower and cool bed. I knew if I wanted to make it
home Monday, it would be a long day. Turned out to be 745 miles long.

Nothing to note travel wise on the way home really other than the most
amazing pink and purple sunrise somewhere in southern Virginia (I think),
that I never got the opportunity to snap a picture of.

But let's talk a bit about the bike. My first 4 hours were mostly in the
rain and my gear hadn't fully dried out from the weekend, so that sucked.
BUT, man this 2015 seems better, smoother and quite a bit faster than my
2010 was. The wind buffeting isn't nearly as bad as the previous bike. It
might have to do with not having a trunk on this bike, or the front
fairing/windshield combo. Whatever it is, it's dramatically better.

Cruise control on a motorcycle - especially any motorcycle you're going to
ride on a slab is a godsend. Like the first time you put heated grips on a
bike, cruise control becomes an instant "must-have" on motorcycles. In
fact, I sought out a 15 rather than an earlier model because I knew it came
with factory cruise. It's function is as smooth as my BMW R1200RT, but it
also has a feature where you can roll the throttle forward with a bit of
force to cancel the cruise. It was super convenient, and helped me make
better time than I would have without for sure. Added comfort by allowing
me to stretch the throttle hand from time to time is absolutely welcome.
And yeah, there were definitely stretches where I rode with no hands,
screaming "I'm the king of the world" with my arms outstretched. Don't
tell my wife.

Side note - the grips are HARD and bumpy - with gloves on you don't notice
so much, but even pushing the bike to a parking spot after fueling up, you
definitely notice it.

The factory USB port under the passenger seat is clutch. I ran a cable
from that, under the tanks and up to the handlebars to power my phone for
the entire trip. Easy peasy.

The seat isn't quite all day comfortable, but my ass isn't really up to the
task as most of my riding in the past 3 years has been short trips. It
definitely slopes forward, and after a while you realize you've been
sitting on some bits not made for sitting on. The seat is adjustable, but
in it's lowest position already. So after moving side to side, fore and
aft ad nauseum during the ride I had a brainstorm. I put the front seat
mounts (sort of a tongue and slot situation) on TOP of the slots to level
it out a bit. It's not quite secure like that, but on the slabs acceptable
and levels the seat out a bit.

It's not clear to me if that was a significant improvement, or if just the
change in position was enough to help out, but it definitely made the last
250 miles or so less miserable.

In fact, after it stopped raining, I got a solid nap in at a Virginia rest
stop in the shade on a concrete picnic table. I remember thinking "It's
loud, I'll never sleep, so I'll just rest a bit" before my alarm, that I
set for 45 minutes just in case, went off! A bit of drool wipeage, jumping
back into my nearly dry gear, and I was off again.

Honestly, the most drama I had all weekend was the rain. Other than that,
the Duc performed as I hoped it would, and was as enjoyable as my RT was on
similar trips. But faster. WAY faster. This thing is a rocketship. The
kind that makes you wonder how litre bikes are even legal at all! I bought
her with 740 miles on it, and did more than that in a single day. She's
now over 3k miles and going in next week for the fuel gauge and a couple of
other recall items (and belts if there's time). I'm super happy with my
purchase for sure!

Thanks for reading. I'm sure I missed a bunch of stuff, but figured I'd get
most of it out of the way - stay safe out there!
Pags

Hi all, Some of you may recall my recent purchase and initial musings on the bike. Happy to say I put the bike through it's touring paces recently. Here's a quick recap by the numbers and a bit more detail below and a link to unedited pictures from the trip: 1898 - the number of miles I put on the bike over 3.2 days of riding 745 - the number of miles I put on the bike in a single day 3.2 - the number of riding days (the .2 is because I only got a little bit of mileage in on Sunday due to rain/visibility) 2 - the number of race wins for the kid I was the umbrella fella for, Tyler Scott 1 - representing the MotoAmerica Junior Cup Championship he won 4,181,365,187,436 - the number of brain cells melted by roaming the Barber Museum 30 - the approximate number of gallons of water my Klim gear eventually soaked up Pics: https://photos.app.goo.gl/5e57ZbuDBGbyYF2G8 I've got some life changes looming on the horizon, nothing terminal, just work stuff, and while being stressed, my wife quipped "You need a long motorcycle ride". That also meant I needed a bike for the task, and the plan formed to buy a bike, then ride down to Barber Motorsports park in Alabama from Pennsylvania. I secured the bike about 2 weeks in advance from a good friend in Boston, and rode it home some 325 miles. The only issue I had at that time was a loose wire harness for the left control unit (fixed) and a non-functioning fuel gauge (known issue and a recall item). I further broke the bike in with a trip to the NJ MotoAmerica round in Millville before declaring it ready for the long ride. Stick to 150-175 miles per tank and everything will be fine. I took off Thursday morning early, riding solo as I would the entire trip. I always figure I can get 100-150 miles in before traffic starts on long trips and this was indeed the case. My Dad lives in Lexington NC, so I figured I'd roll straight to his house the first day, catch some yummy chicken parm for dinner and snag a nice comfy bed. No drama the whole way down, approx 540 miles. The bike hummed along nicely and performed as expected. Friday morning, I knew I had another 450 miles or so to Barber (note, the detour to Dad's only adds about 90 minutes to the trip, so it was worth it). Again, I got up early, got on the road, waved to the deer my Dad promised would be on the side of the road as I exited his house, and kicked it up a notch. Some think super slab is boring and terrible. They're right. But I needed the suck a bit. It's good for my soul. I've been asked what I think about when I ride, and I think that's just it - I DON'T. I'm focused on the road, the music, the wind noise, and the scenery. My mind blanks as miles blend into miles. Watching the sun rise through your visor and feeling the warmth on your back as it does is a simple pleasure I'll never get tired of. I made it to Barber with 4 minutes to spare before the Jr. Cup Qualifying. My boy Tyler put it on provisional pole as expected. BUT, let me stop there for a minute. That place. WOW. It's like a college campus set up like a golf course. There's art/statues all over the place. The grounds are impeccable. There's a waterfall type feature. There's a frickin' tram (multiples actually) that will take you around the spectating areas/various corners. The place is incredible and exceeded everything I expected in the first 10 minutes. I knew I wouldn't have time for the rest of the weekend given all the racing/responsibilities, so instead of meeting up with my racers, I opted to duck into the museum for 2 hours before closing. BIG MISTAKE. 2 hours isn't enough. I was overwhelmed just walking in the front door, knowing what I was about to see - and then right there was a nicely restored Cucciolo! Someone certainly knows what they're doing over there, and I was hooked. I was informed the basement level was open, and I was welcome to explore it. WOW. Just wow. I stopped taking pictures at one point because it just didn't matter. Nothing can do that place justice other than seeing it in person. It was a bucket list item for me, and I'm happy to have checked it off, BUT I'm going to need to go back again I think. Highlights: Got to shake Wayne Rainey's hand in the museum. "Oh look, another national treasure" I said, and he just kind of smirked, shook my hand, and kept on rolling. Also got to see the #1 Motus - and got to meet it's chief designer who is doing some sort of residency there. Pretty cool. That bike has eluded me thus far. I'm not sure I'd love it, but it certainly deserves a mention. There's a Britten there - yeah, but I get to see one of those all the time. What really got me moving was Rich Oliver's very pristine, undefeated TZ250, and right next to it Colin Edwards ratty as hell TZ250. The contrast between the two was astonishing. So many bikes - so many that you've never heard of - so many that aren't even described because they're just decorations at this point. It's well worth a trip - even a nearly 2k mile trip! As I'm leaving the museum, I put my helmet on, strap my jacket to the back of the bike (it was HOT at that point, and I was just going on the property to the kart track), and the skies just opened up. I'll estimate I rode 1/4 mile and was thoroughly soaked through. Luckily, I was meeting up with a friend who has a toy hauler there (and would be hosting me all weekend). Met up with him, changed out of my wet clothes, chilled for a few, then went to the kart track to catch a bunch of my favorite kids from NJ MiniGP practice for the MotoA mini cup being hosted that weekend. If you're not familiar, the mini cup series is a spec bike series on Italian made Ohvale 110, 160 and 190cc motorcycles. These kids are accomplished racers already, and the best the country has to offer at the younger ages for sure. I was planning on helping my little buddy Nathan Bettencourt out on Saturday in between the main MotoA races. Watching these little kids rip is one of my greatest motorcycle pleasures and I honestly consider some of these kids as my own. They were only racing on Saturday, and practice was a mix of wet/dry so some kids were adapting better than others. Nathan puts a TON of pressure on himself for these weekends, and it was clear from his body position on the bike that he was struggling. I ran into his Mom immediately, and said "What the heck is going on there?" She knew what I meant and asked me to chat with him. As he came off the track, I joked "You look like me out there! Where's Nathan?" I grabbed his helmet, pulled it down toward the clip-on, then tilted it up. "Head down, look up" I repeated a handful of times - "Now GO!" (which is sort of my mantra). I don't think it helped, but I could see it in his eyes that he was surprised (and I hope happy) to see me! Got a good night's sleep and was ready for the racing to begin. The whole rest of the weekend was like end of days rain though. So we struggled trying to stay dry and drying out leathers, bikes and gear. I split time between the minis and main track so I could stick to my obligations. Nathan struggled more than we'd like for sure, but he's just 11, and faster than anyone reading this far, I promise you that. The kid is a warrior and I'm proud that he performs at this level already. Ty Scott on the other hand did NOT struggle. We knew he just needed to finish near Ben Gloddy to secure the championship, having a 30 point lead going into the final 2 races. But Tyler had other plans. He put his head down, fought off a VERY hard charging Kayla Yaakov, and secured the victory AND the championship. I've written his press releases all season, and have done some minor behind the scenes work for him, so it was a pleasure to unroll the big "CHAMP!" sign for his pitboard and have his main mechanic parade it through the pits on the way to Parc Ferme. The kid is pretty much unflappable, and an absolute monster on a motorcycle. Job done! I have quite a few favorites on the Junior Cup grid, and they've been doing great all season. Gus Rodio, Joe Limandri, Spencer Humphreys are showing how good the program at NJMiniGP is with solid progress, wins, podiums and polish all season long. I've been watching and racing with these kids since they were on 50's! Again, I love them like my own and am proud of their seasons. Special shoutout to Gus who had a crash in Race 1, but pulled it back together for Race 2 to secure 3rd for the championship! I also got to have two 15 minute conversations with Matt Scholtz who surprised me by gracing me with that much time. Dude is a class act and if you didn't see his crash in Race 1, it's one for the ages. I was able to make it back for the last race of the mini cup and wow, what awesomeness! Seeing 20 of these kids line up and launch these missles in the rain right in front of me looked exactly like a mini Moto GP rain start. The sound, the spray, the wheel spin, and the drama as they filtered into the 1st turn was just the spike my veins needed. At the end of it all, three more of my favorite kids, Josh Raymond, Sacha Agam and Chris Clark stood on the podium for their respective classes. #proud Race day 2 saw more of the same. Crashes, red flags, and torrential downpours. Tyler skipped warmup because there was nothing to gain at all in those conditions, which made the entire day just drag with not much to do but watch the rain. Come race time, we knew we had to tear the bike down due to a protest after the races, so everyone was just anxious to get it over with. With the championship secured, surely Tyler would just ride around, bring it home in one piece right? RIGHT? Wrong - well sort of. He did bring it home in one piece, but he did so in style with a 2nd win for the weekend. This kid only knows how to go fast. As the team started tearing down the bike, I opted to suit up and start heading north, trying to outpace the rain. I said my goodbyes, jumped on the bike and headed north with no plan but to ride until I was tired, knowing every mile I got in would be one less for the morning. That didn't last long. Coming out of Barber, the roads were washing over with flood waters, and when I got on the highway it wasn't much better. I rode a tankful or so out, and stopped for gas just as the sun was setting, decreasing visibility even more. As I was gassing up, I realized my rain gear (expensive Klim stuff) was soaking through finally. No big deal, I've done worse. And then it happened. As I was zipping up my jacket, some rain dripped in, ran down my stomach and started spreading JUST as I caught a glimpse of a Quality Inn sign. I didn't want to, but the temptation was far too great and I gave in to a warm shower and cool bed. I knew if I wanted to make it home Monday, it would be a long day. Turned out to be 745 miles long. Nothing to note travel wise on the way home really other than the most amazing pink and purple sunrise somewhere in southern Virginia (I think), that I never got the opportunity to snap a picture of. But let's talk a bit about the bike. My first 4 hours were mostly in the rain and my gear hadn't fully dried out from the weekend, so that sucked. BUT, man this 2015 seems better, smoother and quite a bit faster than my 2010 was. The wind buffeting isn't nearly as bad as the previous bike. It might have to do with not having a trunk on this bike, or the front fairing/windshield combo. Whatever it is, it's dramatically better. Cruise control on a motorcycle - especially any motorcycle you're going to ride on a slab is a godsend. Like the first time you put heated grips on a bike, cruise control becomes an instant "must-have" on motorcycles. In fact, I sought out a 15 rather than an earlier model because I knew it came with factory cruise. It's function is as smooth as my BMW R1200RT, but it also has a feature where you can roll the throttle forward with a bit of force to cancel the cruise. It was super convenient, and helped me make better time than I would have without for sure. Added comfort by allowing me to stretch the throttle hand from time to time is absolutely welcome. And yeah, there were definitely stretches where I rode with no hands, screaming "I'm the king of the world" with my arms outstretched. Don't tell my wife. Side note - the grips are HARD and bumpy - with gloves on you don't notice so much, but even pushing the bike to a parking spot after fueling up, you definitely notice it. The factory USB port under the passenger seat is clutch. I ran a cable from that, under the tanks and up to the handlebars to power my phone for the entire trip. Easy peasy. The seat isn't quite all day comfortable, but my ass isn't really up to the task as most of my riding in the past 3 years has been short trips. It definitely slopes forward, and after a while you realize you've been sitting on some bits not made for sitting on. The seat is adjustable, but in it's lowest position already. So after moving side to side, fore and aft ad nauseum during the ride I had a brainstorm. I put the front seat mounts (sort of a tongue and slot situation) on TOP of the slots to level it out a bit. It's not quite secure like that, but on the slabs acceptable and levels the seat out a bit. It's not clear to me if that was a significant improvement, or if just the change in position was enough to help out, but it definitely made the last 250 miles or so less miserable. In fact, after it stopped raining, I got a solid nap in at a Virginia rest stop in the shade on a concrete picnic table. I remember thinking "It's loud, I'll never sleep, so I'll just rest a bit" before my alarm, that I set for 45 minutes just in case, went off! A bit of drool wipeage, jumping back into my nearly dry gear, and I was off again. Honestly, the most drama I had all weekend was the rain. Other than that, the Duc performed as I hoped it would, and was as enjoyable as my RT was on similar trips. But faster. WAY faster. This thing is a rocketship. The kind that makes you wonder how litre bikes are even legal at all! I bought her with 740 miles on it, and did more than that in a single day. She's now over 3k miles and going in next week for the fuel gauge and a couple of other recall items (and belts if there's time). I'm super happy with my purchase for sure! Thanks for reading. I'm sure I missed a bunch of stuff, but figured I'd get most of it out of the way - stay safe out there! Pags

Paul March

Thu, Sep 23, 2021 10:08 PM

Paul

On Thu, Sep 23, 2021 at 5:50 PM Tony Pags ajpags@gmail.com wrote:

Hi all,

Some of you may recall my recent purchase and initial musings on the
bike. Happy to say I put the bike through it's touring paces recently.
Here's a quick recap by the numbers and a bit more detail below and a link
to unedited pictures from the trip:

I took off Thursday morning early, riding solo as I would the entire
trip. I always figure I can get 100-150 miles in before traffic starts on
long trips and this was indeed the case. My Dad lives in Lexington NC, so
I figured I'd roll straight to his house the first day, catch some yummy
chicken parm for dinner and snag a nice comfy bed. No drama the whole way
down, approx 540 miles. The bike hummed along nicely and performed as
expected.

Some think super slab is boring and terrible. They're right. But I
needed the suck a bit. It's good for my soul. I've been asked what I
think about when I ride, and I think that's just it - I DON'T. I'm focused
on the road, the music, the wind noise, and the scenery. My mind blanks as
miles blend into miles. Watching the sun rise through your visor and
feeling the warmth on your back as it does is a simple pleasure I'll never
get tired of.

I made it to Barber with 4 minutes to spare before the Jr. Cup
Qualifying. My boy Tyler put it on provisional pole as expected. BUT, let
me stop there for a minute. That place. WOW. It's like a college campus
set up like a golf course. There's art/statues all over the place. The
grounds are impeccable. There's a waterfall type feature. There's a
frickin' tram (multiples actually) that will take you around the spectating
areas/various corners. The place is incredible and exceeded everything I
expected in the first 10 minutes.

Highlights: Got to shake Wayne Rainey's hand in the museum. "Oh look,
another national treasure" I said, and he just kind of smirked, shook my
hand, and kept on rolling.

So many bikes - so many that you've never heard of - so many that aren't
even described because they're just decorations at this point. It's well
worth a trip - even a nearly 2k mile trip!

I ran into his Mom immediately, and said "What the heck is going on
there?" She knew what I meant and asked me to chat with him. As he came
off the track, I joked "You look like me out there! Where's Nathan?" I
grabbed his helmet, pulled it down toward the clip-on, then tilted it up.
"Head down, look up" I repeated a handful of times - "Now GO!" (which is
sort of my mantra). I don't think it helped, but I could see it in his
eyes that he was surprised (and I hope happy) to see me!

I have quite a few favorites on the Junior Cup grid, and they've been
doing great all season. Gus Rodio, Joe Limandri, Spencer Humphreys are
showing how good the program at NJMiniGP is with solid progress, wins,
podiums and polish all season long. I've been watching and racing with
these kids since they were on 50's! Again, I love them like my own and am
proud of their seasons. Special shoutout to Gus who had a crash in Race 1,
but pulled it back together for Race 2 to secure 3rd for the championship!
I also got to have two 15 minute conversations with Matt Scholtz who
surprised me by gracing me with that much time. Dude is a class act and if
you didn't see his crash in Race 1, it's one for the ages.

I said my goodbyes, jumped on the bike and headed north with no plan but
to ride until I was tired, knowing every mile I got in would be one less
for the morning. That didn't last long. Coming out of Barber, the roads
were washing over with flood waters, and when I got on the highway it
wasn't much better. I rode a tankful or so out, and stopped for gas just
as the sun was setting, decreasing visibility even more. As I was gassing
up, I realized my rain gear (expensive Klim stuff) was soaking through
finally. No big deal, I've done worse.

Nothing to note travel wise on the way home really other than the most
amazing pink and purple sunrise somewhere in southern Virginia (I think),
that I never got the opportunity to snap a picture of.

Side note - the grips are HARD and bumpy - with gloves on you don't notice
so much, but even pushing the bike to a parking spot after fueling up, you
definitely notice it.

The factory USB port under the passenger seat is clutch. I ran a cable
from that, under the tanks and up to the handlebars to power my phone for
the entire trip. Easy peasy.

The seat isn't quite all day comfortable, but my ass isn't really up to
the task as most of my riding in the past 3 years has been short trips. It
definitely slopes forward, and after a while you realize you've been
sitting on some bits not made for sitting on. The seat is adjustable, but
in it's lowest position already. So after moving side to side, fore and
aft ad nauseum during the ride I had a brainstorm. I put the front seat
mounts (sort of a tongue and slot situation) on TOP of the slots to level
it out a bit. It's not quite secure like that, but on the slabs acceptable
and levels the seat out a bit.

It's not clear to me if that was a significant improvement, or if just the
change in position was enough to help out, but it definitely made the last
250 miles or so less miserable.

Thanks for reading. I'm sure I missed a bunch of stuff, but figured I'd
get most of it out of the way - stay safe out there!
Pags

To get the links and updates on all today's Ducati news:
http://www.ductalk.com/
and
https://www.facebook.com/ducnet

Ducati mailing list -- ducati@list.ducati.net
To unsubscribe send an email to ducati-leave@list.ducati.net
Mailto: %(user_address)s

Glad the bike worked out, probably the best bike choice given the weather. I like that kids goals, race against Marquez and win a MotoGP World Championship! Sounds like it was your first visit to the museum, it is quite an experience, I took two days and they offer a tour of the back area where they keep projects :) Paul On Thu, Sep 23, 2021 at 5:50 PM Tony Pags <ajpags@gmail.com> wrote: > Hi all, > > Some of you may recall my recent purchase and initial musings on the > bike. Happy to say I put the bike through it's touring paces recently. > Here's a quick recap by the numbers and a bit more detail below and a link > to unedited pictures from the trip: > > 1898 - the number of miles I put on the bike over 3.2 days of riding > 745 - the number of miles I put on the bike in a single day > 3.2 - the number of riding days (the .2 is because I only got a little bit > of mileage in on Sunday due to rain/visibility) > 2 - the number of race wins for the kid I was the umbrella fella for, > Tyler Scott > 1 - representing the MotoAmerica Junior Cup Championship he won > 4,181,365,187,436 - the number of brain cells melted by roaming the Barber > Museum > 30 - the approximate number of gallons of water my Klim gear eventually > soaked up > Pics: https://photos.app.goo.gl/5e57ZbuDBGbyYF2G8 > > I've got some life changes looming on the horizon, nothing terminal, just > work stuff, and while being stressed, my wife quipped "You need a long > motorcycle ride". That also meant I needed a bike for the task, and the > plan formed to buy a bike, then ride down to Barber Motorsports park in > Alabama from Pennsylvania. > > I secured the bike about 2 weeks in advance from a good friend in Boston, > and rode it home some 325 miles. The only issue I had at that time was a > loose wire harness for the left control unit (fixed) and a non-functioning > fuel gauge (known issue and a recall item). I further broke the bike in > with a trip to the NJ MotoAmerica round in Millville before declaring it > ready for the long ride. Stick to 150-175 miles per tank and everything > will be fine. > > I took off Thursday morning early, riding solo as I would the entire > trip. I always figure I can get 100-150 miles in before traffic starts on > long trips and this was indeed the case. My Dad lives in Lexington NC, so > I figured I'd roll straight to his house the first day, catch some yummy > chicken parm for dinner and snag a nice comfy bed. No drama the whole way > down, approx 540 miles. The bike hummed along nicely and performed as > expected. > > Friday morning, I knew I had another 450 miles or so to Barber (note, the > detour to Dad's only adds about 90 minutes to the trip, so it was worth > it). Again, I got up early, got on the road, waved to the deer my Dad > promised would be on the side of the road as I exited his house, and kicked > it up a notch. > > Some think super slab is boring and terrible. They're right. But I > needed the suck a bit. It's good for my soul. I've been asked what I > think about when I ride, and I think that's just it - I DON'T. I'm focused > on the road, the music, the wind noise, and the scenery. My mind blanks as > miles blend into miles. Watching the sun rise through your visor and > feeling the warmth on your back as it does is a simple pleasure I'll never > get tired of. > > I made it to Barber with 4 minutes to spare before the Jr. Cup > Qualifying. My boy Tyler put it on provisional pole as expected. BUT, let > me stop there for a minute. That place. WOW. It's like a college campus > set up like a golf course. There's art/statues all over the place. The > grounds are impeccable. There's a waterfall type feature. There's a > frickin' tram (multiples actually) that will take you around the spectating > areas/various corners. The place is incredible and exceeded everything I > expected in the first 10 minutes. > > I knew I wouldn't have time for the rest of the weekend given all the > racing/responsibilities, so instead of meeting up with my racers, I opted > to duck into the museum for 2 hours before closing. BIG MISTAKE. 2 hours > isn't enough. I was overwhelmed just walking in the front door, knowing > what I was about to see - and then right there was a nicely restored > Cucciolo! Someone certainly knows what they're doing over there, and I was > hooked. I was informed the basement level was open, and I was welcome to > explore it. WOW. Just wow. I stopped taking pictures at one point > because it just didn't matter. Nothing can do that place justice other > than seeing it in person. It was a bucket list item for me, and I'm happy > to have checked it off, BUT I'm going to need to go back again I think. > > Highlights: Got to shake Wayne Rainey's hand in the museum. "Oh look, > another national treasure" I said, and he just kind of smirked, shook my > hand, and kept on rolling. > > Also got to see the #1 Motus - and got to meet it's chief designer who is > doing some sort of residency there. Pretty cool. That bike has eluded me > thus far. I'm not sure I'd love it, but it certainly deserves a mention. > > There's a Britten there - yeah, but I get to see one of those all the > time. What really got me moving was Rich Oliver's very pristine, > undefeated TZ250, and right next to it Colin Edwards ratty as hell TZ250. > The contrast between the two was astonishing. > > So many bikes - so many that you've never heard of - so many that aren't > even described because they're just decorations at this point. It's well > worth a trip - even a nearly 2k mile trip! > > As I'm leaving the museum, I put my helmet on, strap my jacket to the back > of the bike (it was HOT at that point, and I was just going on the property > to the kart track), and the skies just opened up. I'll estimate I rode 1/4 > mile and was thoroughly soaked through. Luckily, I was meeting up with a > friend who has a toy hauler there (and would be hosting me all weekend). > Met up with him, changed out of my wet clothes, chilled for a few, then > went to the kart track to catch a bunch of my favorite kids from NJ MiniGP > practice for the MotoA mini cup being hosted that weekend. > > If you're not familiar, the mini cup series is a spec bike series on > Italian made Ohvale 110, 160 and 190cc motorcycles. These kids are > accomplished racers already, and the best the country has to offer at the > younger ages for sure. I was planning on helping my little buddy Nathan > Bettencourt out on Saturday in between the main MotoA races. Watching > these little kids rip is one of my greatest motorcycle pleasures and I > honestly consider some of these kids as my own. They were only racing on > Saturday, and practice was a mix of wet/dry so some kids were adapting > better than others. Nathan puts a TON of pressure on himself for these > weekends, and it was clear from his body position on the bike that he was > struggling. > > I ran into his Mom immediately, and said "What the heck is going on > there?" She knew what I meant and asked me to chat with him. As he came > off the track, I joked "You look like me out there! Where's Nathan?" I > grabbed his helmet, pulled it down toward the clip-on, then tilted it up. > "Head down, look up" I repeated a handful of times - "Now GO!" (which is > sort of my mantra). I don't think it helped, but I could see it in his > eyes that he was surprised (and I hope happy) to see me! > > Got a good night's sleep and was ready for the racing to begin. The whole > rest of the weekend was like end of days rain though. So we struggled > trying to stay dry and drying out leathers, bikes and gear. I split time > between the minis and main track so I could stick to my obligations. > Nathan struggled more than we'd like for sure, but he's just 11, and faster > than anyone reading this far, I promise you that. The kid is a warrior and > I'm proud that he performs at this level already. > > Ty Scott on the other hand did NOT struggle. We knew he just needed to > finish near Ben Gloddy to secure the championship, having a 30 point lead > going into the final 2 races. But Tyler had other plans. He put his head > down, fought off a VERY hard charging Kayla Yaakov, and secured the victory > AND the championship. I've written his press releases all season, and have > done some minor behind the scenes work for him, so it was a pleasure to > unroll the big "CHAMP!" sign for his pitboard and have his main mechanic > parade it through the pits on the way to Parc Ferme. The kid is pretty > much unflappable, and an absolute monster on a motorcycle. Job done! > > I have quite a few favorites on the Junior Cup grid, and they've been > doing great all season. Gus Rodio, Joe Limandri, Spencer Humphreys are > showing how good the program at NJMiniGP is with solid progress, wins, > podiums and polish all season long. I've been watching and racing with > these kids since they were on 50's! Again, I love them like my own and am > proud of their seasons. Special shoutout to Gus who had a crash in Race 1, > but pulled it back together for Race 2 to secure 3rd for the championship! > I also got to have two 15 minute conversations with Matt Scholtz who > surprised me by gracing me with that much time. Dude is a class act and if > you didn't see his crash in Race 1, it's one for the ages. > > I was able to make it back for the last race of the mini cup and wow, what > awesomeness! Seeing 20 of these kids line up and launch these missles in > the rain right in front of me looked exactly like a mini Moto GP rain > start. The sound, the spray, the wheel spin, and the drama as they > filtered into the 1st turn was just the spike my veins needed. At the end > of it all, three more of my favorite kids, Josh Raymond, Sacha Agam and > Chris Clark stood on the podium for their respective classes. #proud > > Race day 2 saw more of the same. Crashes, red flags, and torrential > downpours. Tyler skipped warmup because there was nothing to gain at all > in those conditions, which made the entire day just drag with not much to > do but watch the rain. Come race time, we knew we had to tear the bike > down due to a protest after the races, so everyone was just anxious to get > it over with. With the championship secured, surely Tyler would just ride > around, bring it home in one piece right? RIGHT? > > Wrong - well sort of. He did bring it home in one piece, but he did so in > style with a 2nd win for the weekend. This kid only knows how to go fast. > As the team started tearing down the bike, I opted to suit up and start > heading north, trying to outpace the rain. > > I said my goodbyes, jumped on the bike and headed north with no plan but > to ride until I was tired, knowing every mile I got in would be one less > for the morning. That didn't last long. Coming out of Barber, the roads > were washing over with flood waters, and when I got on the highway it > wasn't much better. I rode a tankful or so out, and stopped for gas just > as the sun was setting, decreasing visibility even more. As I was gassing > up, I realized my rain gear (expensive Klim stuff) was soaking through > finally. No big deal, I've done worse. > > And then it happened. As I was zipping up my jacket, some rain dripped in, > ran down my stomach and started spreading JUST as I caught a glimpse of a > Quality Inn sign. I didn't want to, but the temptation was far too great > and I gave in to a warm shower and cool bed. I knew if I wanted to make it > home Monday, it would be a long day. Turned out to be 745 miles long. > > Nothing to note travel wise on the way home really other than the most > amazing pink and purple sunrise somewhere in southern Virginia (I think), > that I never got the opportunity to snap a picture of. > > But let's talk a bit about the bike. My first 4 hours were mostly in the > rain and my gear hadn't fully dried out from the weekend, so that sucked. > BUT, man this 2015 seems better, smoother and quite a bit faster than my > 2010 was. The wind buffeting isn't nearly as bad as the previous bike. It > might have to do with not having a trunk on this bike, or the front > fairing/windshield combo. Whatever it is, it's dramatically better. > > Cruise control on a motorcycle - especially any motorcycle you're going to > ride on a slab is a godsend. Like the first time you put heated grips on a > bike, cruise control becomes an instant "must-have" on motorcycles. In > fact, I sought out a 15 rather than an earlier model because I knew it came > with factory cruise. It's function is as smooth as my BMW R1200RT, but it > also has a feature where you can roll the throttle forward with a bit of > force to cancel the cruise. It was super convenient, and helped me make > better time than I would have without for sure. Added comfort by allowing > me to stretch the throttle hand from time to time is absolutely welcome. > And yeah, there were definitely stretches where I rode with no hands, > screaming "I'm the king of the world" with my arms outstretched. Don't > tell my wife. > > Side note - the grips are HARD and bumpy - with gloves on you don't notice > so much, but even pushing the bike to a parking spot after fueling up, you > definitely notice it. > > The factory USB port under the passenger seat is clutch. I ran a cable > from that, under the tanks and up to the handlebars to power my phone for > the entire trip. Easy peasy. > > The seat isn't quite all day comfortable, but my ass isn't really up to > the task as most of my riding in the past 3 years has been short trips. It > definitely slopes forward, and after a while you realize you've been > sitting on some bits not made for sitting on. The seat is adjustable, but > in it's lowest position already. So after moving side to side, fore and > aft ad nauseum during the ride I had a brainstorm. I put the front seat > mounts (sort of a tongue and slot situation) on TOP of the slots to level > it out a bit. It's not quite secure like that, but on the slabs acceptable > and levels the seat out a bit. > > It's not clear to me if that was a significant improvement, or if just the > change in position was enough to help out, but it definitely made the last > 250 miles or so less miserable. > > In fact, after it stopped raining, I got a solid nap in at a Virginia rest > stop in the shade on a concrete picnic table. I remember thinking "It's > loud, I'll never sleep, so I'll just rest a bit" before my alarm, that I > set for 45 minutes just in case, went off! A bit of drool wipeage, jumping > back into my nearly dry gear, and I was off again. > > Honestly, the most drama I had all weekend was the rain. Other than that, > the Duc performed as I hoped it would, and was as enjoyable as my RT was on > similar trips. But faster. WAY faster. This thing is a rocketship. The > kind that makes you wonder how litre bikes are even legal at all! I bought > her with 740 miles on it, and did more than that in a single day. She's > now over 3k miles and going in next week for the fuel gauge and a couple of > other recall items (and belts if there's time). I'm super happy with my > purchase for sure! > > Thanks for reading. I'm sure I missed a bunch of stuff, but figured I'd > get most of it out of the way - stay safe out there! > Pags > > > > > > > To get the links and updates on all today's Ducati news: > http://www.ductalk.com/ > and > https://www.facebook.com/ducnet > _____________________ > Ducati mailing list -- ducati@list.ducati.net > To unsubscribe send an email to ducati-leave@list.ducati.net > Mailto: %(user_address)s

Marc Grossman

Thu, Sep 23, 2021 10:13 PM

Great read & understanding wife…..

Marc

On Sep 23, 2021, at 5:49 PM, Tony Pags ajpags@gmail.com wrote:

Hi all,

Some of you may recall my recent purchase and initial musings on the bike. Happy to say I put the bike through it's touring paces recently. Here's a quick recap by the numbers and a bit more detail below and a link to unedited pictures from the trip:

I've got some life changes looming on the horizon, nothing terminal, just work stuff, and while being stressed, my wife quipped "You need a long motorcycle ride". That also meant I needed a bike for the task, and the plan formed to buy a bike, then ride down to Barber Motorsports park in Alabama from Pennsylvania.

I secured the bike about 2 weeks in advance from a good friend in Boston, and rode it home some 325 miles. The only issue I had at that time was a loose wire harness for the left control unit (fixed) and a non-functioning fuel gauge (known issue and a recall item). I further broke the bike in with a trip to the NJ MotoAmerica round in Millville before declaring it ready for the long ride. Stick to 150-175 miles per tank and everything will be fine.

I took off Thursday morning early, riding solo as I would the entire trip. I always figure I can get 100-150 miles in before traffic starts on long trips and this was indeed the case. My Dad lives in Lexington NC, so I figured I'd roll straight to his house the first day, catch some yummy chicken parm for dinner and snag a nice comfy bed. No drama the whole way down, approx 540 miles. The bike hummed along nicely and performed as expected.

Friday morning, I knew I had another 450 miles or so to Barber (note, the detour to Dad's only adds about 90 minutes to the trip, so it was worth it). Again, I got up early, got on the road, waved to the deer my Dad promised would be on the side of the road as I exited his house, and kicked it up a notch.

Some think super slab is boring and terrible. They're right. But I needed the suck a bit. It's good for my soul. I've been asked what I think about when I ride, and I think that's just it - I DON'T. I'm focused on the road, the music, the wind noise, and the scenery. My mind blanks as miles blend into miles. Watching the sun rise through your visor and feeling the warmth on your back as it does is a simple pleasure I'll never get tired of.

I made it to Barber with 4 minutes to spare before the Jr. Cup Qualifying. My boy Tyler put it on provisional pole as expected. BUT, let me stop there for a minute. That place. WOW. It's like a college campus set up like a golf course. There's art/statues all over the place. The grounds are impeccable. There's a waterfall type feature. There's a frickin' tram (multiples actually) that will take you around the spectating areas/various corners. The place is incredible and exceeded everything I expected in the first 10 minutes.

I knew I wouldn't have time for the rest of the weekend given all the racing/responsibilities, so instead of meeting up with my racers, I opted to duck into the museum for 2 hours before closing. BIG MISTAKE. 2 hours isn't enough. I was overwhelmed just walking in the front door, knowing what I was about to see - and then right there was a nicely restored Cucciolo! Someone certainly knows what they're doing over there, and I was hooked. I was informed the basement level was open, and I was welcome to explore it. WOW. Just wow. I stopped taking pictures at one point because it just didn't matter. Nothing can do that place justice other than seeing it in person. It was a bucket list item for me, and I'm happy to have checked it off, BUT I'm going to need to go back again I think.

Highlights: Got to shake Wayne Rainey's hand in the museum. "Oh look, another national treasure" I said, and he just kind of smirked, shook my hand, and kept on rolling.

Also got to see the #1 Motus - and got to meet it's chief designer who is doing some sort of residency there. Pretty cool. That bike has eluded me thus far. I'm not sure I'd love it, but it certainly deserves a mention.

There's a Britten there - yeah, but I get to see one of those all the time. What really got me moving was Rich Oliver's very pristine, undefeated TZ250, and right next to it Colin Edwards ratty as hell TZ250. The contrast between the two was astonishing.

So many bikes - so many that you've never heard of - so many that aren't even described because they're just decorations at this point. It's well worth a trip - even a nearly 2k mile trip!

As I'm leaving the museum, I put my helmet on, strap my jacket to the back of the bike (it was HOT at that point, and I was just going on the property to the kart track), and the skies just opened up. I'll estimate I rode 1/4 mile and was thoroughly soaked through. Luckily, I was meeting up with a friend who has a toy hauler there (and would be hosting me all weekend). Met up with him, changed out of my wet clothes, chilled for a few, then went to the kart track to catch a bunch of my favorite kids from NJ MiniGP practice for the MotoA mini cup being hosted that weekend.

If you're not familiar, the mini cup series is a spec bike series on Italian made Ohvale 110, 160 and 190cc motorcycles. These kids are accomplished racers already, and the best the country has to offer at the younger ages for sure. I was planning on helping my little buddy Nathan Bettencourt out on Saturday in between the main MotoA races. Watching these little kids rip is one of my greatest motorcycle pleasures and I honestly consider some of these kids as my own. They were only racing on Saturday, and practice was a mix of wet/dry so some kids were adapting better than others. Nathan puts a TON of pressure on himself for these weekends, and it was clear from his body position on the bike that he was struggling.

I ran into his Mom immediately, and said "What the heck is going on there?" She knew what I meant and asked me to chat with him. As he came off the track, I joked "You look like me out there! Where's Nathan?" I grabbed his helmet, pulled it down toward the clip-on, then tilted it up. "Head down, look up" I repeated a handful of times - "Now GO!" (which is sort of my mantra). I don't think it helped, but I could see it in his eyes that he was surprised (and I hope happy) to see me!

Got a good night's sleep and was ready for the racing to begin. The whole rest of the weekend was like end of days rain though. So we struggled trying to stay dry and drying out leathers, bikes and gear. I split time between the minis and main track so I could stick to my obligations. Nathan struggled more than we'd like for sure, but he's just 11, and faster than anyone reading this far, I promise you that. The kid is a warrior and I'm proud that he performs at this level already.

Ty Scott on the other hand did NOT struggle. We knew he just needed to finish near Ben Gloddy to secure the championship, having a 30 point lead going into the final 2 races. But Tyler had other plans. He put his head down, fought off a VERY hard charging Kayla Yaakov, and secured the victory AND the championship. I've written his press releases all season, and have done some minor behind the scenes work for him, so it was a pleasure to unroll the big "CHAMP!" sign for his pitboard and have his main mechanic parade it through the pits on the way to Parc Ferme. The kid is pretty much unflappable, and an absolute monster on a motorcycle. Job done!

I have quite a few favorites on the Junior Cup grid, and they've been doing great all season. Gus Rodio, Joe Limandri, Spencer Humphreys are showing how good the program at NJMiniGP is with solid progress, wins, podiums and polish all season long. I've been watching and racing with these kids since they were on 50's! Again, I love them like my own and am proud of their seasons. Special shoutout to Gus who had a crash in Race 1, but pulled it back together for Race 2 to secure 3rd for the championship! I also got to have two 15 minute conversations with Matt Scholtz who surprised me by gracing me with that much time. Dude is a class act and if you didn't see his crash in Race 1, it's one for the ages.

I was able to make it back for the last race of the mini cup and wow, what awesomeness! Seeing 20 of these kids line up and launch these missles in the rain right in front of me looked exactly like a mini Moto GP rain start. The sound, the spray, the wheel spin, and the drama as they filtered into the 1st turn was just the spike my veins needed. At the end of it all, three more of my favorite kids, Josh Raymond, Sacha Agam and Chris Clark stood on the podium for their respective classes. #proud

Race day 2 saw more of the same. Crashes, red flags, and torrential downpours. Tyler skipped warmup because there was nothing to gain at all in those conditions, which made the entire day just drag with not much to do but watch the rain. Come race time, we knew we had to tear the bike down due to a protest after the races, so everyone was just anxious to get it over with. With the championship secured, surely Tyler would just ride around, bring it home in one piece right? RIGHT?

Wrong - well sort of. He did bring it home in one piece, but he did so in style with a 2nd win for the weekend. This kid only knows how to go fast. As the team started tearing down the bike, I opted to suit up and start heading north, trying to outpace the rain.

I said my goodbyes, jumped on the bike and headed north with no plan but to ride until I was tired, knowing every mile I got in would be one less for the morning. That didn't last long. Coming out of Barber, the roads were washing over with flood waters, and when I got on the highway it wasn't much better. I rode a tankful or so out, and stopped for gas just as the sun was setting, decreasing visibility even more. As I was gassing up, I realized my rain gear (expensive Klim stuff) was soaking through finally. No big deal, I've done worse.

And then it happened. As I was zipping up my jacket, some rain dripped in, ran down my stomach and started spreading JUST as I caught a glimpse of a Quality Inn sign. I didn't want to, but the temptation was far too great and I gave in to a warm shower and cool bed. I knew if I wanted to make it home Monday, it would be a long day. Turned out to be 745 miles long.

Nothing to note travel wise on the way home really other than the most amazing pink and purple sunrise somewhere in southern Virginia (I think), that I never got the opportunity to snap a picture of.

But let's talk a bit about the bike. My first 4 hours were mostly in the rain and my gear hadn't fully dried out from the weekend, so that sucked. BUT, man this 2015 seems better, smoother and quite a bit faster than my 2010 was. The wind buffeting isn't nearly as bad as the previous bike. It might have to do with not having a trunk on this bike, or the front fairing/windshield combo. Whatever it is, it's dramatically better.

Cruise control on a motorcycle - especially any motorcycle you're going to ride on a slab is a godsend. Like the first time you put heated grips on a bike, cruise control becomes an instant "must-have" on motorcycles. In fact, I sought out a 15 rather than an earlier model because I knew it came with factory cruise. It's function is as smooth as my BMW R1200RT, but it also has a feature where you can roll the throttle forward with a bit of force to cancel the cruise. It was super convenient, and helped me make better time than I would have without for sure. Added comfort by allowing me to stretch the throttle hand from time to time is absolutely welcome. And yeah, there were definitely stretches where I rode with no hands, screaming "I'm the king of the world" with my arms outstretched. Don't tell my wife.

Side note - the grips are HARD and bumpy - with gloves on you don't notice so much, but even pushing the bike to a parking spot after fueling up, you definitely notice it.

The factory USB port under the passenger seat is clutch. I ran a cable from that, under the tanks and up to the handlebars to power my phone for the entire trip. Easy peasy.

The seat isn't quite all day comfortable, but my ass isn't really up to the task as most of my riding in the past 3 years has been short trips. It definitely slopes forward, and after a while you realize you've been sitting on some bits not made for sitting on. The seat is adjustable, but in it's lowest position already. So after moving side to side, fore and aft ad nauseum during the ride I had a brainstorm. I put the front seat mounts (sort of a tongue and slot situation) on TOP of the slots to level it out a bit. It's not quite secure like that, but on the slabs acceptable and levels the seat out a bit.

It's not clear to me if that was a significant improvement, or if just the change in position was enough to help out, but it definitely made the last 250 miles or so less miserable.

In fact, after it stopped raining, I got a solid nap in at a Virginia rest stop in the shade on a concrete picnic table. I remember thinking "It's loud, I'll never sleep, so I'll just rest a bit" before my alarm, that I set for 45 minutes just in case, went off! A bit of drool wipeage, jumping back into my nearly dry gear, and I was off again.

Honestly, the most drama I had all weekend was the rain. Other than that, the Duc performed as I hoped it would, and was as enjoyable as my RT was on similar trips. But faster. WAY faster. This thing is a rocketship. The kind that makes you wonder how litre bikes are even legal at all! I bought her with 740 miles on it, and did more than that in a single day. She's now over 3k miles and going in next week for the fuel gauge and a couple of other recall items (and belts if there's time). I'm super happy with my purchase for sure!

Thanks for reading. I'm sure I missed a bunch of stuff, but figured I'd get most of it out of the way - stay safe out there!
Pags

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Great read & understanding wife….. Marc > On Sep 23, 2021, at 5:49 PM, Tony Pags <ajpags@gmail.com> wrote: > > Hi all, > > Some of you may recall my recent purchase and initial musings on the bike. Happy to say I put the bike through it's touring paces recently. Here's a quick recap by the numbers and a bit more detail below and a link to unedited pictures from the trip: > > 1898 - the number of miles I put on the bike over 3.2 days of riding > 745 - the number of miles I put on the bike in a single day > 3.2 - the number of riding days (the .2 is because I only got a little bit of mileage in on Sunday due to rain/visibility) > 2 - the number of race wins for the kid I was the umbrella fella for, Tyler Scott > 1 - representing the MotoAmerica Junior Cup Championship he won > 4,181,365,187,436 - the number of brain cells melted by roaming the Barber Museum > 30 - the approximate number of gallons of water my Klim gear eventually soaked up > Pics: https://photos.app.goo.gl/5e57ZbuDBGbyYF2G8 <https://photos.app.goo.gl/5e57ZbuDBGbyYF2G8> > > I've got some life changes looming on the horizon, nothing terminal, just work stuff, and while being stressed, my wife quipped "You need a long motorcycle ride". That also meant I needed a bike for the task, and the plan formed to buy a bike, then ride down to Barber Motorsports park in Alabama from Pennsylvania. > > I secured the bike about 2 weeks in advance from a good friend in Boston, and rode it home some 325 miles. The only issue I had at that time was a loose wire harness for the left control unit (fixed) and a non-functioning fuel gauge (known issue and a recall item). I further broke the bike in with a trip to the NJ MotoAmerica round in Millville before declaring it ready for the long ride. Stick to 150-175 miles per tank and everything will be fine. > > I took off Thursday morning early, riding solo as I would the entire trip. I always figure I can get 100-150 miles in before traffic starts on long trips and this was indeed the case. My Dad lives in Lexington NC, so I figured I'd roll straight to his house the first day, catch some yummy chicken parm for dinner and snag a nice comfy bed. No drama the whole way down, approx 540 miles. The bike hummed along nicely and performed as expected. > > Friday morning, I knew I had another 450 miles or so to Barber (note, the detour to Dad's only adds about 90 minutes to the trip, so it was worth it). Again, I got up early, got on the road, waved to the deer my Dad promised would be on the side of the road as I exited his house, and kicked it up a notch. > > Some think super slab is boring and terrible. They're right. But I needed the suck a bit. It's good for my soul. I've been asked what I think about when I ride, and I think that's just it - I DON'T. I'm focused on the road, the music, the wind noise, and the scenery. My mind blanks as miles blend into miles. Watching the sun rise through your visor and feeling the warmth on your back as it does is a simple pleasure I'll never get tired of. > > I made it to Barber with 4 minutes to spare before the Jr. Cup Qualifying. My boy Tyler put it on provisional pole as expected. BUT, let me stop there for a minute. That place. WOW. It's like a college campus set up like a golf course. There's art/statues all over the place. The grounds are impeccable. There's a waterfall type feature. There's a frickin' tram (multiples actually) that will take you around the spectating areas/various corners. The place is incredible and exceeded everything I expected in the first 10 minutes. > > I knew I wouldn't have time for the rest of the weekend given all the racing/responsibilities, so instead of meeting up with my racers, I opted to duck into the museum for 2 hours before closing. BIG MISTAKE. 2 hours isn't enough. I was overwhelmed just walking in the front door, knowing what I was about to see - and then right there was a nicely restored Cucciolo! Someone certainly knows what they're doing over there, and I was hooked. I was informed the basement level was open, and I was welcome to explore it. WOW. Just wow. I stopped taking pictures at one point because it just didn't matter. Nothing can do that place justice other than seeing it in person. It was a bucket list item for me, and I'm happy to have checked it off, BUT I'm going to need to go back again I think. > > Highlights: Got to shake Wayne Rainey's hand in the museum. "Oh look, another national treasure" I said, and he just kind of smirked, shook my hand, and kept on rolling. > > Also got to see the #1 Motus - and got to meet it's chief designer who is doing some sort of residency there. Pretty cool. That bike has eluded me thus far. I'm not sure I'd love it, but it certainly deserves a mention. > > There's a Britten there - yeah, but I get to see one of those all the time. What really got me moving was Rich Oliver's very pristine, undefeated TZ250, and right next to it Colin Edwards ratty as hell TZ250. The contrast between the two was astonishing. > > So many bikes - so many that you've never heard of - so many that aren't even described because they're just decorations at this point. It's well worth a trip - even a nearly 2k mile trip! > > As I'm leaving the museum, I put my helmet on, strap my jacket to the back of the bike (it was HOT at that point, and I was just going on the property to the kart track), and the skies just opened up. I'll estimate I rode 1/4 mile and was thoroughly soaked through. Luckily, I was meeting up with a friend who has a toy hauler there (and would be hosting me all weekend). Met up with him, changed out of my wet clothes, chilled for a few, then went to the kart track to catch a bunch of my favorite kids from NJ MiniGP practice for the MotoA mini cup being hosted that weekend. > > If you're not familiar, the mini cup series is a spec bike series on Italian made Ohvale 110, 160 and 190cc motorcycles. These kids are accomplished racers already, and the best the country has to offer at the younger ages for sure. I was planning on helping my little buddy Nathan Bettencourt out on Saturday in between the main MotoA races. Watching these little kids rip is one of my greatest motorcycle pleasures and I honestly consider some of these kids as my own. They were only racing on Saturday, and practice was a mix of wet/dry so some kids were adapting better than others. Nathan puts a TON of pressure on himself for these weekends, and it was clear from his body position on the bike that he was struggling. > > I ran into his Mom immediately, and said "What the heck is going on there?" She knew what I meant and asked me to chat with him. As he came off the track, I joked "You look like me out there! Where's Nathan?" I grabbed his helmet, pulled it down toward the clip-on, then tilted it up. "Head down, look up" I repeated a handful of times - "Now GO!" (which is sort of my mantra). I don't think it helped, but I could see it in his eyes that he was surprised (and I hope happy) to see me! > > Got a good night's sleep and was ready for the racing to begin. The whole rest of the weekend was like end of days rain though. So we struggled trying to stay dry and drying out leathers, bikes and gear. I split time between the minis and main track so I could stick to my obligations. Nathan struggled more than we'd like for sure, but he's just 11, and faster than anyone reading this far, I promise you that. The kid is a warrior and I'm proud that he performs at this level already. > > Ty Scott on the other hand did NOT struggle. We knew he just needed to finish near Ben Gloddy to secure the championship, having a 30 point lead going into the final 2 races. But Tyler had other plans. He put his head down, fought off a VERY hard charging Kayla Yaakov, and secured the victory AND the championship. I've written his press releases all season, and have done some minor behind the scenes work for him, so it was a pleasure to unroll the big "CHAMP!" sign for his pitboard and have his main mechanic parade it through the pits on the way to Parc Ferme. The kid is pretty much unflappable, and an absolute monster on a motorcycle. Job done! > > I have quite a few favorites on the Junior Cup grid, and they've been doing great all season. Gus Rodio, Joe Limandri, Spencer Humphreys are showing how good the program at NJMiniGP is with solid progress, wins, podiums and polish all season long. I've been watching and racing with these kids since they were on 50's! Again, I love them like my own and am proud of their seasons. Special shoutout to Gus who had a crash in Race 1, but pulled it back together for Race 2 to secure 3rd for the championship! I also got to have two 15 minute conversations with Matt Scholtz who surprised me by gracing me with that much time. Dude is a class act and if you didn't see his crash in Race 1, it's one for the ages. > > I was able to make it back for the last race of the mini cup and wow, what awesomeness! Seeing 20 of these kids line up and launch these missles in the rain right in front of me looked exactly like a mini Moto GP rain start. The sound, the spray, the wheel spin, and the drama as they filtered into the 1st turn was just the spike my veins needed. At the end of it all, three more of my favorite kids, Josh Raymond, Sacha Agam and Chris Clark stood on the podium for their respective classes. #proud > > Race day 2 saw more of the same. Crashes, red flags, and torrential downpours. Tyler skipped warmup because there was nothing to gain at all in those conditions, which made the entire day just drag with not much to do but watch the rain. Come race time, we knew we had to tear the bike down due to a protest after the races, so everyone was just anxious to get it over with. With the championship secured, surely Tyler would just ride around, bring it home in one piece right? RIGHT? > > Wrong - well sort of. He did bring it home in one piece, but he did so in style with a 2nd win for the weekend. This kid only knows how to go fast. As the team started tearing down the bike, I opted to suit up and start heading north, trying to outpace the rain. > > I said my goodbyes, jumped on the bike and headed north with no plan but to ride until I was tired, knowing every mile I got in would be one less for the morning. That didn't last long. Coming out of Barber, the roads were washing over with flood waters, and when I got on the highway it wasn't much better. I rode a tankful or so out, and stopped for gas just as the sun was setting, decreasing visibility even more. As I was gassing up, I realized my rain gear (expensive Klim stuff) was soaking through finally. No big deal, I've done worse. > > And then it happened. As I was zipping up my jacket, some rain dripped in, ran down my stomach and started spreading JUST as I caught a glimpse of a Quality Inn sign. I didn't want to, but the temptation was far too great and I gave in to a warm shower and cool bed. I knew if I wanted to make it home Monday, it would be a long day. Turned out to be 745 miles long. > > Nothing to note travel wise on the way home really other than the most amazing pink and purple sunrise somewhere in southern Virginia (I think), that I never got the opportunity to snap a picture of. > > But let's talk a bit about the bike. My first 4 hours were mostly in the rain and my gear hadn't fully dried out from the weekend, so that sucked. BUT, man this 2015 seems better, smoother and quite a bit faster than my 2010 was. The wind buffeting isn't nearly as bad as the previous bike. It might have to do with not having a trunk on this bike, or the front fairing/windshield combo. Whatever it is, it's dramatically better. > > Cruise control on a motorcycle - especially any motorcycle you're going to ride on a slab is a godsend. Like the first time you put heated grips on a bike, cruise control becomes an instant "must-have" on motorcycles. In fact, I sought out a 15 rather than an earlier model because I knew it came with factory cruise. It's function is as smooth as my BMW R1200RT, but it also has a feature where you can roll the throttle forward with a bit of force to cancel the cruise. It was super convenient, and helped me make better time than I would have without for sure. Added comfort by allowing me to stretch the throttle hand from time to time is absolutely welcome. And yeah, there were definitely stretches where I rode with no hands, screaming "I'm the king of the world" with my arms outstretched. Don't tell my wife. > > Side note - the grips are HARD and bumpy - with gloves on you don't notice so much, but even pushing the bike to a parking spot after fueling up, you definitely notice it. > > The factory USB port under the passenger seat is clutch. I ran a cable from that, under the tanks and up to the handlebars to power my phone for the entire trip. Easy peasy. > > The seat isn't quite all day comfortable, but my ass isn't really up to the task as most of my riding in the past 3 years has been short trips. It definitely slopes forward, and after a while you realize you've been sitting on some bits not made for sitting on. The seat is adjustable, but in it's lowest position already. So after moving side to side, fore and aft ad nauseum during the ride I had a brainstorm. I put the front seat mounts (sort of a tongue and slot situation) on TOP of the slots to level it out a bit. It's not quite secure like that, but on the slabs acceptable and levels the seat out a bit. > > It's not clear to me if that was a significant improvement, or if just the change in position was enough to help out, but it definitely made the last 250 miles or so less miserable. > > In fact, after it stopped raining, I got a solid nap in at a Virginia rest stop in the shade on a concrete picnic table. I remember thinking "It's loud, I'll never sleep, so I'll just rest a bit" before my alarm, that I set for 45 minutes just in case, went off! A bit of drool wipeage, jumping back into my nearly dry gear, and I was off again. > > Honestly, the most drama I had all weekend was the rain. Other than that, the Duc performed as I hoped it would, and was as enjoyable as my RT was on similar trips. But faster. WAY faster. This thing is a rocketship. The kind that makes you wonder how litre bikes are even legal at all! I bought her with 740 miles on it, and did more than that in a single day. She's now over 3k miles and going in next week for the fuel gauge and a couple of other recall items (and belts if there's time). I'm super happy with my purchase for sure! > > Thanks for reading. I'm sure I missed a bunch of stuff, but figured I'd get most of it out of the way - stay safe out there! > Pags > > > > > > > To get the links and updates on all today's Ducati news: > http://www.ductalk.com/ > and > https://www.facebook.com/ducnet > _____________________ > Ducati mailing list -- ducati@list.ducati.net > To unsubscribe send an email to ducati-leave@list.ducati.net > Mailto: %(user_address)s

sftompkins

Fri, Sep 24, 2021 12:17 AM

Great trip and report! Epic weekend. Glad the 2015 is living up to the 'hype'.
-------- Original message --------From: Tony Pags ajpags@gmail.com Date: 9/23/21 2:50 PM (GMT-08:00) To: Ducati Owners Group ducati@list.ducati.net Subject: [Ducati] Ride Report - 2015 Multi to Barber and Back Hi all,Some of you may recall my recent purchase and initial musings on the bike. Happy to say I put the bike through it's touring paces recently. Here's a quick recap by the numbers and a bit more detail below and a link to unedited pictures from the trip:1898 - the number of miles I put on the bike over 3.2 days of riding745 - the number of miles I put on the bike in a single day 3.2 - the number of riding days (the .2 is because I only got a little bit of mileage in on Sunday due to rain/visibility)2 - the number of race wins for the kid I was the umbrella fella for, Tyler Scott1 - representing the MotoAmerica Junior Cup Championship he won4,181,365,187,436 - the number of brain cells melted by roaming the Barber Museum30 - the approximate number of gallons of water my Klim gear eventually soaked upPics: https://photos.app.goo.gl/5e57ZbuDBGbyYF2G8I've got some life changes looming on the horizon, nothing terminal, just work stuff, and while being stressed, my wife quipped "You need a long motorcycle ride". That also meant I needed a bike for the task, and the plan formed to buy a bike, then ride down to Barber Motorsports park in Alabama from Pennsylvania.I secured the bike about 2 weeks in advance from a good friend in Boston, and rode it home some 325 miles. The only issue I had at that time was a loose wire harness for the left control unit (fixed) and a non-functioning fuel gauge (known issue and a recall item). I further broke the bike in with a trip to the NJ MotoAmerica round in Millville before declaring it ready for the long ride. Stick to 150-175 miles per tank and everything will be fine.I took off Thursday morning early, riding solo as I would the entire trip. I always figure I can get 100-150 miles in before traffic starts on long trips and this was indeed the case. My Dad lives in Lexington NC, so I figured I'd roll straight to his house the first day, catch some yummy chicken parm for dinner and snag a nice comfy bed. No drama the whole way down, approx 540 miles. The bike hummed along nicely and performed as expected.Friday morning, I knew I had another 450 miles or so to Barber (note, the detour to Dad's only adds about 90 minutes to the trip, so it was worth it). Again, I got up early, got on the road, waved to the deer my Dad promised would be on the side of the road as I exited his house, and kicked it up a notch.Some think super slab is boring and terrible. They're right. But I needed the suck a bit. It's good for my soul. I've been asked what I think about when I ride, and I think that's just it - I DON'T. I'm focused on the road, the music, the wind noise, and the scenery. My mind blanks as miles blend into miles. Watching the sun rise through your visor and feeling the warmth on your back as it does is a simple pleasure I'll never get tired of.I made it to Barber with 4 minutes to spare before the Jr. Cup Qualifying. My boy Tyler put it on provisional pole as expected. BUT, let me stop there for a minute. That place. WOW. It's like a college campus set up like a golf course. There's art/statues all over the place. The grounds are impeccable. There's a waterfall type feature. There's a frickin' tram (multiples actually) that will take you around the spectating areas/various corners. The place is incredible and exceeded everything I expected in the first 10 minutes.I knew I wouldn't have time for the rest of the weekend given all the racing/responsibilities, so instead of meeting up with my racers, I opted to duck into the museum for 2 hours before closing. BIG MISTAKE. 2 hours isn't enough. I was overwhelmed just walking in the front door, knowing what I was about to see - and then right there was a nicely restored Cucciolo! Someone certainly knows what they're doing over there, and I was hooked. I was informed the basement level was open, and I was welcome to explore it. WOW. Just wow. I stopped taking pictures at one point because it just didn't matter. Nothing can do that place justice other than seeing it in person. It was a bucket list item for me, and I'm happy to have checked it off, BUT I'm going to need to go back again I think. Highlights: Got to shake Wayne Rainey's hand in the museum. "Oh look, another national treasure" I said, and he just kind of smirked, shook my hand, and kept on rolling.Also got to see the #1 Motus - and got to meet it's chief designer who is doing some sort of residency there. Pretty cool. That bike has eluded me thus far. I'm not sure I'd love it, but it certainly deserves a mention.There's a Britten there - yeah, but I get to see one of those all the time. What really got me moving was Rich Oliver's very pristine, undefeated TZ250, and right next to it Colin Edwards ratty as hell TZ250. The contrast between the two was astonishing.So many bikes - so many that you've never heard of - so many that aren't even described because they're just decorations at this point. It's well worth a trip - even a nearly 2k mile trip!As I'm leaving the museum, I put my helmet on, strap my jacket to the back of the bike (it was HOT at that point, and I was just going on the property to the kart track), and the skies just opened up. I'll estimate I rode 1/4 mile and was thoroughly soaked through. Luckily, I was meeting up with a friend who has a toy hauler there (and would be hosting me all weekend). Met up with him, changed out of my wet clothes, chilled for a few, then went to the kart track to catch a bunch of my favorite kids from NJ MiniGP practice for the MotoA mini cup being hosted that weekend.If you're not familiar, the mini cup series is a spec bike series on Italian made Ohvale 110, 160 and 190cc motorcycles. These kids are accomplished racers already, and the best the country has to offer at the younger ages for sure. I was planning on helping my little buddy Nathan Bettencourt out on Saturday in between the main MotoA races. Watching these little kids rip is one of my greatest motorcycle pleasures and I honestly consider some of these kids as my own. They were only racing on Saturday, and practice was a mix of wet/dry so some kids were adapting better than others. Nathan puts a TON of pressure on himself for these weekends, and it was clear from his body position on the bike that he was struggling.I ran into his Mom immediately, and said "What the heck is going on there?" She knew what I meant and asked me to chat with him. As he came off the track, I joked "You look like me out there! Where's Nathan?" I grabbed his helmet, pulled it down toward the clip-on, then tilted it up. "Head down, look up" I repeated a handful of times - "Now GO!" (which is sort of my mantra). I don't think it helped, but I could see it in his eyes that he was surprised (and I hope happy) to see me!Got a good night's sleep and was ready for the racing to begin. The whole rest of the weekend was like end of days rain though. So we struggled trying to stay dry and drying out leathers, bikes and gear. I split time between the minis and main track so I could stick to my obligations. Nathan struggled more than we'd like for sure, but he's just 11, and faster than anyone reading this far, I promise you that. The kid is a warrior and I'm proud that he performs at this level already.Ty Scott on the other hand did NOT struggle. We knew he just needed to finish near Ben Gloddy to secure the championship, having a 30 point lead going into the final 2 races. But Tyler had other plans. He put his head down, fought off a VERY hard charging Kayla Yaakov, and secured the victory AND the championship. I've written his press releases all season, and have done some minor behind the scenes work for him, so it was a pleasure to unroll the big "CHAMP!" sign for his pitboard and have his main mechanic parade it through the pits on the way to Parc Ferme. The kid is pretty much unflappable, and an absolute monster on a motorcycle. Job done!I have quite a few favorites on the Junior Cup grid, and they've been doing great all season. Gus Rodio, Joe Limandri, Spencer Humphreys are showing how good the program at NJMiniGP is with solid progress, wins, podiums and polish all season long. I've been watching and racing with these kids since they were on 50's! Again, I love them like my own and am proud of their seasons. Special shoutout to Gus who had a crash in Race 1, but pulled it back together for Race 2 to secure 3rd for the championship! I also got to have two 15 minute conversations with Matt Scholtz who surprised me by gracing me with that much time. Dude is a class act and if you didn't see his crash in Race 1, it's one for the ages. I was able to make it back for the last race of the mini cup and wow, what awesomeness! Seeing 20 of these kids line up and launch these missles in the rain right in front of me looked exactly like a mini Moto GP rain start. The sound, the spray, the wheel spin, and the drama as they filtered into the 1st turn was just the spike my veins needed. At the end of it all, three more of my favorite kids, Josh Raymond, Sacha Agam and Chris Clark stood on the podium for their respective classes. #proudRace day 2 saw more of the same. Crashes, red flags, and torrential downpours. Tyler skipped warmup because there was nothing to gain at all in those conditions, which made the entire day just drag with not much to do but watch the rain. Come race time, we knew we had to tear the bike down due to a protest after the races, so everyone was just anxious to get it over with. With the championship secured, surely Tyler would just ride around, bring it home in one piece right? RIGHT?Wrong - well sort of. He did bring it home in one piece, but he did so in style with a 2nd win for the weekend. This kid only knows how to go fast. As the team started tearing down the bike, I opted to suit up and start heading north, trying to outpace the rain.I said my goodbyes, jumped on the bike and headed north with no plan but to ride until I was tired, knowing every mile I got in would be one less for the morning. That didn't last long. Coming out of Barber, the roads were washing over with flood waters, and when I got on the highway it wasn't much better. I rode a tankful or so out, and stopped for gas just as the sun was setting, decreasing visibility even more. As I was gassing up, I realized my rain gear (expensive Klim stuff) was soaking through finally. No big deal, I've done worse. And then it happened. As I was zipping up my jacket, some rain dripped in, ran down my stomach and started spreading JUST as I caught a glimpse of a Quality Inn sign. I didn't want to, but the temptation was far too great and I gave in to a warm shower and cool bed. I knew if I wanted to make it home Monday, it would be a long day. Turned out to be 745 miles long.Nothing to note travel wise on the way home really other than the most amazing pink and purple sunrise somewhere in southern Virginia (I think), that I never got the opportunity to snap a picture of.But let's talk a bit about the bike. My first 4 hours were mostly in the rain and my gear hadn't fully dried out from the weekend, so that sucked. BUT, man this 2015 seems better, smoother and quite a bit faster than my 2010 was. The wind buffeting isn't nearly as bad as the previous bike. It might have to do with not having a trunk on this bike, or the front fairing/windshield combo. Whatever it is, it's dramatically better.Cruise control on a motorcycle - especially any motorcycle you're going to ride on a slab is a godsend. Like the first time you put heated grips on a bike, cruise control becomes an instant "must-have" on motorcycles. In fact, I sought out a 15 rather than an earlier model because I knew it came with factory cruise. It's function is as smooth as my BMW R1200RT, but it also has a feature where you can roll the throttle forward with a bit of force to cancel the cruise. It was super convenient, and helped me make better time than I would have without for sure. Added comfort by allowing me to stretch the throttle hand from time to time is absolutely welcome. And yeah, there were definitely stretches where I rode with no hands, screaming "I'm the king of the world" with my arms outstretched. Don't tell my wife.Side note - the grips are HARD and bumpy - with gloves on you don't notice so much, but even pushing the bike to a parking spot after fueling up, you definitely notice it.The factory USB port under the passenger seat is clutch. I ran a cable from that, under the tanks and up to the handlebars to power my phone for the entire trip. Easy peasy.The seat isn't quite all day comfortable, but my ass isn't really up to the task as most of my riding in the past 3 years has been short trips. It definitely slopes forward, and after a while you realize you've been sitting on some bits not made for sitting on. The seat is adjustable, but in it's lowest position already. So after moving side to side, fore and aft ad nauseum during the ride I had a brainstorm. I put the front seat mounts (sort of a tongue and slot situation) on TOP of the slots to level it out a bit. It's not quite secure like that, but on the slabs acceptable and levels the seat out a bit.It's not clear to me if that was a significant improvement, or if just the change in position was enough to help out, but it definitely made the last 250 miles or so less miserable.In fact, after it stopped raining, I got a solid nap in at a Virginia rest stop in the shade on a concrete picnic table. I remember thinking "It's loud, I'll never sleep, so I'll just rest a bit" before my alarm, that I set for 45 minutes just in case, went off! A bit of drool wipeage, jumping back into my nearly dry gear, and I was off again.Honestly, the most drama I had all weekend was the rain. Other than that, the Duc performed as I hoped it would, and was as enjoyable as my RT was on similar trips. But faster. WAY faster. This thing is a rocketship. The kind that makes you wonder how litre bikes are even legal at all! I bought her with 740 miles on it, and did more than that in a single day. She's now over 3k miles and going in next week for the fuel gauge and a couple of other recall items (and belts if there's time). I'm super happy with my purchase for sure!Thanks for reading. I'm sure I missed a bunch of stuff, but figured I'd get most of it out of the way - stay safe out there!Pags

Great trip and report! Epic weekend. Glad the 2015 is living up to the 'hype'. -------- Original message --------From: Tony Pags <ajpags@gmail.com> Date: 9/23/21 2:50 PM (GMT-08:00) To: Ducati Owners Group <ducati@list.ducati.net> Subject: [Ducati] Ride Report - 2015 Multi to Barber and Back Hi all,Some of you may recall my recent purchase and initial musings on the bike. Happy to say I put the bike through it's touring paces recently. Here's a quick recap by the numbers and a bit more detail below and a link to unedited pictures from the trip:1898 - the number of miles I put on the bike over 3.2 days of riding745 - the number of miles I put on the bike in a single day 3.2 - the number of riding days (the .2 is because I only got a little bit of mileage in on Sunday due to rain/visibility)2 - the number of race wins for the kid I was the umbrella fella for, Tyler Scott1 - representing the MotoAmerica Junior Cup Championship he won4,181,365,187,436 - the number of brain cells melted by roaming the Barber Museum30 - the approximate number of gallons of water my Klim gear eventually soaked upPics: https://photos.app.goo.gl/5e57ZbuDBGbyYF2G8I've got some life changes looming on the horizon, nothing terminal, just work stuff, and while being stressed, my wife quipped "You need a long motorcycle ride". That also meant I needed a bike for the task, and the plan formed to buy a bike, then ride down to Barber Motorsports park in Alabama from Pennsylvania.I secured the bike about 2 weeks in advance from a good friend in Boston, and rode it home some 325 miles. The only issue I had at that time was a loose wire harness for the left control unit (fixed) and a non-functioning fuel gauge (known issue and a recall item). I further broke the bike in with a trip to the NJ MotoAmerica round in Millville before declaring it ready for the long ride. Stick to 150-175 miles per tank and everything will be fine.I took off Thursday morning early, riding solo as I would the entire trip. I always figure I can get 100-150 miles in before traffic starts on long trips and this was indeed the case. My Dad lives in Lexington NC, so I figured I'd roll straight to his house the first day, catch some yummy chicken parm for dinner and snag a nice comfy bed. No drama the whole way down, approx 540 miles. The bike hummed along nicely and performed as expected.Friday morning, I knew I had another 450 miles or so to Barber (note, the detour to Dad's only adds about 90 minutes to the trip, so it was worth it). Again, I got up early, got on the road, waved to the deer my Dad promised would be on the side of the road as I exited his house, and kicked it up a notch.Some think super slab is boring and terrible. They're right. But I needed the suck a bit. It's good for my soul. I've been asked what I think about when I ride, and I think that's just it - I DON'T. I'm focused on the road, the music, the wind noise, and the scenery. My mind blanks as miles blend into miles. Watching the sun rise through your visor and feeling the warmth on your back as it does is a simple pleasure I'll never get tired of.I made it to Barber with 4 minutes to spare before the Jr. Cup Qualifying. My boy Tyler put it on provisional pole as expected. BUT, let me stop there for a minute. That place. WOW. It's like a college campus set up like a golf course. There's art/statues all over the place. The grounds are impeccable. There's a waterfall type feature. There's a frickin' tram (multiples actually) that will take you around the spectating areas/various corners. The place is incredible and exceeded everything I expected in the first 10 minutes.I knew I wouldn't have time for the rest of the weekend given all the racing/responsibilities, so instead of meeting up with my racers, I opted to duck into the museum for 2 hours before closing. BIG MISTAKE. 2 hours isn't enough. I was overwhelmed just walking in the front door, knowing what I was about to see - and then right there was a nicely restored Cucciolo! Someone certainly knows what they're doing over there, and I was hooked. I was informed the basement level was open, and I was welcome to explore it. WOW. Just wow. I stopped taking pictures at one point because it just didn't matter. Nothing can do that place justice other than seeing it in person. It was a bucket list item for me, and I'm happy to have checked it off, BUT I'm going to need to go back again I think. Highlights: Got to shake Wayne Rainey's hand in the museum. "Oh look, another national treasure" I said, and he just kind of smirked, shook my hand, and kept on rolling.Also got to see the #1 Motus - and got to meet it's chief designer who is doing some sort of residency there. Pretty cool. That bike has eluded me thus far. I'm not sure I'd love it, but it certainly deserves a mention.There's a Britten there - yeah, but I get to see one of those all the time. What really got me moving was Rich Oliver's very pristine, undefeated TZ250, and right next to it Colin Edwards ratty as hell TZ250. The contrast between the two was astonishing.So many bikes - so many that you've never heard of - so many that aren't even described because they're just decorations at this point. It's well worth a trip - even a nearly 2k mile trip!As I'm leaving the museum, I put my helmet on, strap my jacket to the back of the bike (it was HOT at that point, and I was just going on the property to the kart track), and the skies just opened up. I'll estimate I rode 1/4 mile and was thoroughly soaked through. Luckily, I was meeting up with a friend who has a toy hauler there (and would be hosting me all weekend). Met up with him, changed out of my wet clothes, chilled for a few, then went to the kart track to catch a bunch of my favorite kids from NJ MiniGP practice for the MotoA mini cup being hosted that weekend.If you're not familiar, the mini cup series is a spec bike series on Italian made Ohvale 110, 160 and 190cc motorcycles. These kids are accomplished racers already, and the best the country has to offer at the younger ages for sure. I was planning on helping my little buddy Nathan Bettencourt out on Saturday in between the main MotoA races. Watching these little kids rip is one of my greatest motorcycle pleasures and I honestly consider some of these kids as my own. They were only racing on Saturday, and practice was a mix of wet/dry so some kids were adapting better than others. Nathan puts a TON of pressure on himself for these weekends, and it was clear from his body position on the bike that he was struggling.I ran into his Mom immediately, and said "What the heck is going on there?" She knew what I meant and asked me to chat with him. As he came off the track, I joked "You look like me out there! Where's Nathan?" I grabbed his helmet, pulled it down toward the clip-on, then tilted it up. "Head down, look up" I repeated a handful of times - "Now GO!" (which is sort of my mantra). I don't think it helped, but I could see it in his eyes that he was surprised (and I hope happy) to see me!Got a good night's sleep and was ready for the racing to begin. The whole rest of the weekend was like end of days rain though. So we struggled trying to stay dry and drying out leathers, bikes and gear. I split time between the minis and main track so I could stick to my obligations. Nathan struggled more than we'd like for sure, but he's just 11, and faster than anyone reading this far, I promise you that. The kid is a warrior and I'm proud that he performs at this level already.Ty Scott on the other hand did NOT struggle. We knew he just needed to finish near Ben Gloddy to secure the championship, having a 30 point lead going into the final 2 races. But Tyler had other plans. He put his head down, fought off a VERY hard charging Kayla Yaakov, and secured the victory AND the championship. I've written his press releases all season, and have done some minor behind the scenes work for him, so it was a pleasure to unroll the big "CHAMP!" sign for his pitboard and have his main mechanic parade it through the pits on the way to Parc Ferme. The kid is pretty much unflappable, and an absolute monster on a motorcycle. Job done!I have quite a few favorites on the Junior Cup grid, and they've been doing great all season. Gus Rodio, Joe Limandri, Spencer Humphreys are showing how good the program at NJMiniGP is with solid progress, wins, podiums and polish all season long. I've been watching and racing with these kids since they were on 50's! Again, I love them like my own and am proud of their seasons. Special shoutout to Gus who had a crash in Race 1, but pulled it back together for Race 2 to secure 3rd for the championship! I also got to have two 15 minute conversations with Matt Scholtz who surprised me by gracing me with that much time. Dude is a class act and if you didn't see his crash in Race 1, it's one for the ages. I was able to make it back for the last race of the mini cup and wow, what awesomeness! Seeing 20 of these kids line up and launch these missles in the rain right in front of me looked exactly like a mini Moto GP rain start. The sound, the spray, the wheel spin, and the drama as they filtered into the 1st turn was just the spike my veins needed. At the end of it all, three more of my favorite kids, Josh Raymond, Sacha Agam and Chris Clark stood on the podium for their respective classes. #proudRace day 2 saw more of the same. Crashes, red flags, and torrential downpours. Tyler skipped warmup because there was nothing to gain at all in those conditions, which made the entire day just drag with not much to do but watch the rain. Come race time, we knew we had to tear the bike down due to a protest after the races, so everyone was just anxious to get it over with. With the championship secured, surely Tyler would just ride around, bring it home in one piece right? RIGHT?Wrong - well sort of. He did bring it home in one piece, but he did so in style with a 2nd win for the weekend. This kid only knows how to go fast. As the team started tearing down the bike, I opted to suit up and start heading north, trying to outpace the rain.I said my goodbyes, jumped on the bike and headed north with no plan but to ride until I was tired, knowing every mile I got in would be one less for the morning. That didn't last long. Coming out of Barber, the roads were washing over with flood waters, and when I got on the highway it wasn't much better. I rode a tankful or so out, and stopped for gas just as the sun was setting, decreasing visibility even more. As I was gassing up, I realized my rain gear (expensive Klim stuff) was soaking through finally. No big deal, I've done worse. And then it happened. As I was zipping up my jacket, some rain dripped in, ran down my stomach and started spreading JUST as I caught a glimpse of a Quality Inn sign. I didn't want to, but the temptation was far too great and I gave in to a warm shower and cool bed. I knew if I wanted to make it home Monday, it would be a long day. Turned out to be 745 miles long.Nothing to note travel wise on the way home really other than the most amazing pink and purple sunrise somewhere in southern Virginia (I think), that I never got the opportunity to snap a picture of.But let's talk a bit about the bike. My first 4 hours were mostly in the rain and my gear hadn't fully dried out from the weekend, so that sucked. BUT, man this 2015 seems better, smoother and quite a bit faster than my 2010 was. The wind buffeting isn't nearly as bad as the previous bike. It might have to do with not having a trunk on this bike, or the front fairing/windshield combo. Whatever it is, it's dramatically better.Cruise control on a motorcycle - especially any motorcycle you're going to ride on a slab is a godsend. Like the first time you put heated grips on a bike, cruise control becomes an instant "must-have" on motorcycles. In fact, I sought out a 15 rather than an earlier model because I knew it came with factory cruise. It's function is as smooth as my BMW R1200RT, but it also has a feature where you can roll the throttle forward with a bit of force to cancel the cruise. It was super convenient, and helped me make better time than I would have without for sure. Added comfort by allowing me to stretch the throttle hand from time to time is absolutely welcome. And yeah, there were definitely stretches where I rode with no hands, screaming "I'm the king of the world" with my arms outstretched. Don't tell my wife.Side note - the grips are HARD and bumpy - with gloves on you don't notice so much, but even pushing the bike to a parking spot after fueling up, you definitely notice it.The factory USB port under the passenger seat is clutch. I ran a cable from that, under the tanks and up to the handlebars to power my phone for the entire trip. Easy peasy.The seat isn't quite all day comfortable, but my ass isn't really up to the task as most of my riding in the past 3 years has been short trips. It definitely slopes forward, and after a while you realize you've been sitting on some bits not made for sitting on. The seat is adjustable, but in it's lowest position already. So after moving side to side, fore and aft ad nauseum during the ride I had a brainstorm. I put the front seat mounts (sort of a tongue and slot situation) on TOP of the slots to level it out a bit. It's not quite secure like that, but on the slabs acceptable and levels the seat out a bit.It's not clear to me if that was a significant improvement, or if just the change in position was enough to help out, but it definitely made the last 250 miles or so less miserable.In fact, after it stopped raining, I got a solid nap in at a Virginia rest stop in the shade on a concrete picnic table. I remember thinking "It's loud, I'll never sleep, so I'll just rest a bit" before my alarm, that I set for 45 minutes just in case, went off! A bit of drool wipeage, jumping back into my nearly dry gear, and I was off again.Honestly, the most drama I had all weekend was the rain. Other than that, the Duc performed as I hoped it would, and was as enjoyable as my RT was on similar trips. But faster. WAY faster. This thing is a rocketship. The kind that makes you wonder how litre bikes are even legal at all! I bought her with 740 miles on it, and did more than that in a single day. She's now over 3k miles and going in next week for the fuel gauge and a couple of other recall items (and belts if there's time). I'm super happy with my purchase for sure!Thanks for reading. I'm sure I missed a bunch of stuff, but figured I'd get most of it out of the way - stay safe out there!Pags

SCOTT ROTHERMEL

Fri, Sep 24, 2021 12:34 AM

On Sep 23, 2021, at 7:17 PM, sftompkins sftompkins@gmail.com wrote:

Great trip and report! Epic weekend.
Glad the 2015 is living up to the 'hype'.

-------- Original message --------
From: Tony Pags ajpags@gmail.com
Date: 9/23/21 2:50 PM (GMT-08:00)
To: Ducati Owners Group ducati@list.ducati.net
Subject: [Ducati] Ride Report - 2015 Multi to Barber and Back