Barber Vintage Festival.  They seem like simple enough words.  “Barber.”  “Vintage.” ”Festival.”  Words….just like “Scottish Woods Resort”, “Cherohala Skyway”, and “Chinaco Reposado”.  Somehow, though, over the last few weeks those three simple words, “Barber Vintage Festival”, have acquired a deeper, more somber meaning for me.

Bill Ballon's MH900e at the Barber Vintage Festival

I left Albuquerque, NM on the morning of October 1st, 2011 with the intention of riding a lot, chatting a little, watching some racing, and viewing some of the most desireable Ducati motorcycles ever built.  I and three Ducati mounted friends loaded our bikes into a trailer and headed toward George Betzhold’s Scottish Woods Resort outside Murphy, North Carolina.  We arrived on the evening of the 2nd and went to sleep with thoughts of twisty roads and great weather on our minds (after sipping a bit of George’s Aha Toro tequila and watching the day’s MotoGP event).

DesmoPro's "Cafe 31" at the Barber Vintage Festival

I won’t bore you by raving about the riding in western North Carolina.  Either you’ve experienced it, or you should.  You either know it’s sublime, or you’ve never been there.  There’s really nothing more to say about it.  However, what I got, more than I thought I would, was a dose of great comraderie!  George is an excellent host.  I knew that going into the endeavour.  However, I didn’t know that my compatriots (Tom Rolland, Scott Metcalfe, and Jim DeBlois) are more engaging and interesting than any man has a right to expect of any friend…much less of three of them!  These four guys, accompanied by George’s fabulous wife, Pat, and several other riders who showed up over the next three days made drinking George’s premium tequila more pleasant than I expected….and I expected a lot.

Paul Smart (left) and George Betzhold at the Motorcycles By Moonlight dinner

We left the Scottish Woods on Thrusday and headed to Birmingham.  We checked in at the event hotel and immediately began renewing old friendships and starting new ones.  I finally met Harlyn Jenkins of Ducati.net fame, Bill Ballon from MH900e.org, the Bellissimoto crew (Lyle, Randall, and Amy), Ted from NED (the New England Ducati club…who rode his Ducati in from New Hampshire), Rich Lambrechts from DesmoPro, the guys from EMS, Phil Hitchcock from Road and Race in Australia, and tons of people that it would take me pages to mention now.  Additionally, I got to renew acquaintances with Vicki Smith, Doug Barnette, Scott Turner, Mark Turner, Rick Booth, Dave Hedden, Jim Calandro, Peter Bonner, and literally hundreds of my favorite people of all time.  If no bikes had been present at the event, the personal relationships would have made the trip worthwhile in my book…..but there were bikes, too!!!!!

Ducati F1 at the Barber Vintage Festival

Mh900e?  There were three that I saw.  The sad part is there were more “green frame” SSs there than that!  (I counted six including the one in the museum!!!)  F1s?  TTs?  Supermono?  You betcha!  The first Ducati was on hand (the best being Mike Cechinni’s exemplary Cucciolo, I think), as was the latest NCR offering…and virtually everything in between.  GTs?  Check.  Superbikes?  Check.  Mountaineers?  Yup.  Scooters?  Even a scooter!

A pair of MH900e at the Barber Vintage Festival

I took tons of photos at the Festival, and you can see them at http://photobucket.com/tscloninger-barber2011

Heck…I haven’t even mentioned the Motorcycles By Moonlight dinner, or the Barber Museum, or that I met tons of cool people who are also famous like Paul Smart and his lovely wife Maggie, Cook Nielson, Jason DiSalvo, Kevin Schwantz, Dave Roper, Jay Springsteen, and several others.  I also got to watch Kevin Schwantz race a ’60s Norton single to victory in a Sound of Singles race!  Then there was the swap meet….and the auction….and the Wall of Death…and Cafe Racer Magazine…and Classic Bike Magazine…and the Guzzi show….and…well…you get the idea, don’t you?  It was a weekend that is indelibly etched into my memory. 

A pair of "green frame" SSs at the Barber Vintage Festival

So, what do the words “Barber Vintage Festival” mean now that I’ve gone?  Well, that’s easy!  They mean great friends, great bikes, great times, and a must-attend event for the forseeable future.  If you haven’t been, there’s always next year, so don’t let another year slip by without attending this exceptional event.  You won’t regret it!

Mike "The Asshole in the Van" Cecchini in the Ducstock area

This month, the Member Spotlight shines on Alan Wilzig, who is the owner of MH900e #0642/2000.  For those of you who don’t have the privelege of knowing Alan personally, he was involved with Ducati North America for several years and his business relationship with that company fostered his interest in Ducati motorcycles and, indeed, all types of fine machinery!

Explaining the acquisition of his first Ducati, Alan explained, “I was the banker for Ducati North America at the time and I asked them to donate a 750 Monster and a 900SS ie to a charity gala auction I was hosting.  They graciously agreed.  I turned out to be the high bidder on the Monster, which was the only Ducati I wasn’t scared of, since my only riding experience before that time was on dirt bikes.”  Alan went on to buy the 900SS when the high bidder reneged on his bid after several weeks of excuses.

Alan’s ownership of MHe #0642 began when Ducati NA remodeled their offices in 2003.  Alan wrote, “When Ducati NA were cleaning up the lobby in their NJ place they decided to liquidate both an MH900e and a Supermono that had been displayed there.  I offered them $8750 for the MHe, which they accepted, and $50,000 for the Supermono, which they refused.  I did a LOT of banking for them, in particular setting up programs for dealers with no credit so they could buy parts and things, so their acceptance of my offer for the MHe was a particularly nice “Thank You” gesture from DNA.”

Alan then displayed the MHe in his office because, “It was a great conversation starter; Impressive to new prospective clients because I could casually mention I was the banker for Ducati North America.”  Alan related one story where the MHe helped in his business dealings:

I remember one time I was a little anxious meeting an “old time” client of the Bank after my father’s retirement.  The client was a 72 year old former Minister turned real estate developer, who was also an avid student of history.  He was enthralled listening to my Father’s stories of European history, especially World War II and his experiences as a survivor of Auschwitz.  For the first time in my career I thought, “What the hell am I going to have in common with this gentleman to break the ice and begin a relationship with him independent of my Father?

He arrived at my office five minutes before I walked in, and was poring over the MHe when I arrived.  “Boy, this brings back memories”, he said.  “When I was sixteen years old I brought an old NSU home and my Mother made me sleep in the garage with it until I sold it the next week.”

From that meager beginnig we became great friends.  We had breakfast together monthly until I sold the Bank four years later.  Of all the people I ever dealt with, this was the man I believed would think I was some immature “lucky sperm club” member who was so cavalier about business that he kept a stupid motorcycle in his office.  This relationship alone made the MHe a valuable asset!

Shortly after acquiring his MHe, Alan developed a serious case of motorcycleitis, which caused him to begin a buying spree of epic proportions.  Alan averaged buying a new motorcycle every twelve days for a period of three years from 2003 until 2006.  He explains, “… being married to a moto-friendly Belgian (Alan’s fabulous wife, Karin) certainly helped, as did selling my company in 2004 and embarking on my plans in 2005 to build the highest spec private use road racing circuit in the world.”

After a five year battle with local activists, weather, zoning authorities, building inspectors, paving contractors, and even more local activists, Alan’s “driveway” is finally finished.  Not a subtle character, Alan is having no less than the Brothers Bostrum come to his New York home to break the facility in right!

If you want to find out more about Alan, you can find lots of pretty pictures at www.wilzigracing.com or at Team Wilzig on facebook.

Michael de Koster is the first MH900e site member to be illuminated by our blog spotlight, and I’m happy to report that said light has shown no glaring blemishes.  Michael posts on the Forums as “boywonder” and has been a member since February of 2010. 

Michael is a 33 year old accountant from Amsterdam with too many hobbies, one of which is bikes.  He currently has four of them, including the latest addition to his stable, MH900e #0114/2000.

Michael said, “I saw one last year when I was in Rome with my girlfriend, sitting in a bus on the way back from the Vatican.  When I was sitting in the bus, I saw a glimp of someting red with two wheels.  I dragged my girlfriend out of the bus and into a posh Ducati kind of lunchroom with bikes everywhere.  I sat down next to the MHe and couldn’t take my eyes from her, the Ducati that is.  I had never seen one and thought that it must be a limited edition bike, and yes it was.  This one looked standard apart of the Termi’s.” 

Michael's MHe

He continues, “When I got home a few days later, and my girlfriend was geting tired of my continued talk about the Ducati, I jumped online and started searching for one.  I found out all about the bike and, of course, I wanted one.  I start looking for one in Holland, but there are only a few ( I think 5) of them in Holland so I start looking in Germany.  I found ten of them, but the best one was for sale in Dorsten.  I went to Dorsten with my father and my grandpa and made a family trip out of it, since Dorsten is just a few miles across the border with Germany.”

“The seller was the first owner and told me all the love stories he had with this bike and that he had to sell her because of his financial situation.  Because she didn’t have a numberplate I couldn’t do a test ride, but I bought it anyway.  I was in love with it instantly.”

“Two weeks later I picked it up with a trailer.  A few weeks later I got my plates and could ride it.”

Apparently, he’s been riding it ever since!

Michael’s bike has a full Termi system, black aluminium Marchesini wheels, an aftermarket clutch cover, Ducati Performance levers, mirrors, belt covers, and air filter, and Ohlins suspension front and rear.  A perfect rider, indeed!

Michael intends to install an Ohlins steering damper in the future.  At the time he wrote me last the bike had 17,000 km on the clocks.

Livingroom Queen? I think not!

Michael’s other bikes are all Honda’s

Honda nsr 250 mc21 sp from 1993 in Rothmans colours, only 1,500 made

Honda RVF 400 nc35

Honda VTR 1000 sp1 / RC51

If you want to be the next member “In the Spotlight”, just send me a few details, preferrably along with a few pictures, and you can appear here, too!

The Barber Vintage Festival (see below) is currently the largest vintage motorcycle gathering in the United States.  However, in 2011 it will also be the official Ducati.net National Ducati Rally and EVERYBODY with a Ducati is invited.  I’ve included Vicki Smith’s description of the event, below, for your perusal, but I thought everybody in our group ought to know what’s happening and should start planning NOW to make this happen.  If we can do it, I’d like to make this this the official U.S. MH900e Rally, too!

I’ve already booked a room at the “official” hotel,  so get yours today to share the air.   

From Vicki Smith, the Ducati event organizer….

Event date - Oct 6 (track day) 7/8/9, 2011 event weekend

Plans are rapidly forming for “Ducstock”, the Ducati.net National Ducati Rally. It will take place during the huge Barbers Festival event weekend, and will contain at its core the do not miss Ducati TT1/TT2/F1 30th Anniversary celebration, which has outgrown its NY/NJ yearly location and
will for this year be open to all the Ducati lovers instead of by invitation only.

For those not familiar with the Barbers Festival, it’s a huge 3 day weekend celebration of all things gearhead including AHRMA and vintage motocross races, a huge used parts swap meet area, vendors, a Bator auction, an air show, a number of bike shows, vintage fire trucks, vintage motocross races and of course, that incredible, literally best in the world, motorcycle museum. Add to that a big Ducati hotel, Ducati only camping, a Ducati only track day and a special area for the Ducati show and activities, with a great view of the track and lots of ultra rare Ducati’s already committed to attend and display. In addition, because of the bonus of the first time ever back to back Barbers AHRMA and Biketoberfest Daytona AHRMA, groups are coming from Australia, New Zealand, the UK and more. So please pass the word. Any clubs that would like to be involved contact me directly. It’s going to take a village to pull this off but it will be worth it.

This is the link to book the Hampton Inn, Colonnade in Birmingham, AL that will be the main Ducati Owners hotel for the Ducati.net national Ducati rally at Barbers Vintage 2011. It’s close to full already, so if you plan to stay there, please book immediately.

There will be a special Ducati camping area as well, within the track, which will accommodate tents, trailers and motor homes, and will be in a premium area, not part of general camping. Information on how to book that area is not available yet.

All rooms are $99 plus tax, we have 100% of the rooms so it’s the Ducati Dorm . Those that stayed at the main Indy DOC hotel can vouch for the special camaraderie this creates. There will be special Ducati parking at the entrance, space for trailers in the back, lots of restaurants within walking and the road out of the hotel is a lovely, tree covered ride down a pretty 2 lane road that goes straight to the Barbers gate (12 miles or so,about 15 minutes ride) The hotel is at the freeway entrance if that is your preference. A shuttle to shopping and the airport will be available as well.

Event dates: Track day is expected to be on Oct. 6th, event dates are Oct 7/8/9, 2011

Some details about the area: Barbers Motorsport Park is located in Leeds AL, which is in close proximity to some of the best riding roads in N. America.

2 hours from Atlanta International Airport, airfare and rental cars are remarkably reasonable (my trip to this year’s event was $110 r/t on Delta and $120 for 5 days rental car)

To book the hotel:

1. Contact the Hampton Inn Colonnade directly 1-800-861-7168 referencing the group name “Ducati “.

2. Our Hotel website www.birminghamcolonnade.hamptoninn.com
<http://www.birminghamcolonnade.hamptoninn.com/> using the group code DUC.

3. Your personalized link for your group block listed below.

http://hamptoninn.hilton.com/en/hp/groups/personalized/B/BHMCOHX-DUC-20111004/index.jhtml?WT.mc_id=POG

Regarding the event: There will be a special area for clubs that wish to have a display area. If you just want to be involved, bless you, contact me directly J If you have a Ducati that you’d like to show off, you will never find a more appreciate audience, and there will be plenty of area to display it. Start/finish those restorations! If you would like to volunteer to help, display merchandise or act as a sponsor of this event please contact me directly.

That’s it for now, more details as we have them..

Vicki 

The 2010 SMRI racing season is at an end.  The final race of the year was anticlimactic for me, as the bike ran poorly, but I ended up finishing fifth in the championship, so I’ll consider the season a success!  Next year, with the addition of the new motor, should be even better.

On the MHe end of things, due to your urgings I’ve started compiling an owner’s registry.  I hope to have it in a publishable form by the end of the year so that our community can continue to build a strong identity and provide good provenance for these machines for years to come.  If you have any suggestions for the registry, or if you’d like to be included in it, just send me a note via the forums and I’ll see that your thoughts are considered and/or included.

One final bit of news to share.  Stuart Baker, of Flight Cycles, and I have decided to jointly form a new business to provide independent maintenance for New Mexico Ducati owners.  Our new venture is called Desert Desmo, and we are already booking appointments.  I know none of you are close enough to take advantage of our services, but what the heck…..I just thought I’d throw it out there! 

As always, if you have news that might excite or interest the group, or if you just plain want to say something here, please drop me a line and I’ll see if I can accomodate you.

OK…so after a member recently posted a video of his exploits aboard his MHe, I promised to take similar video of the roads here in New Mexico and post them to the board.  To honor that promise, I purchaed a GoPro Hero HD Motorsports kit and took the following video….

MH900e on Sandia Crest Road

This should answer a couple of the questions raised by the original video:

Yes, the tach will climb above 5,000 rpm

Yes, there are twisty roads in America

No, I’m not Valentino Rossi….well….that wasn’t an original question, I just thought I’d point it out. 

Whilst I’m typing, I’ll share the excuse for my recent lack of blog updates.  The last two races at Sandia Raceway have been canceled due to inclement weather, so I haven’t really had much to write about.  During the practice sessions for the last race (before it was scrubbed due to heavy rain later) I met one of my personal goals of a 1:10 lap.  I guess I’ll have to set the bar a little higher and shoot for 1:08, huh?

I also recently acquired an Aermacchi/HD CRS engine, which will mean very little to many of you, but it’s a factory racing engine (for dirt racing…..it would be CRTT for a roadracing engine) that should push my efforts much further toward podium finishes.  The engine alone should be good for five seconds per lap, so maybe there’s hope of putting this bike in the sub-one-minute club before all is said and done.  Keep your fingers crossed!

That’s all I have for now.  If you have information that you’d like shared with the community, please forward it to my attention via email or a post on the Forum and I’ll see that it makes it way to this page.  If you’d like to see a story about YOU appear here, please let me know and I”ll put you in the “Member Spotlight”!

Greeting to all you, MH900e owners and fans alike.  This installment of the blog will be short and sweet, as I don’t have anything extraordinary to tell you, but I didn’t want to leave things untended for too long, so here goes.

I raced in late June, and though I placed an unremarkable fifth of sixteen entrants, it was definitely the most enjoyable day of racing thus far.  The Aermacchi ran beautifully for the first time this year, and I got to dice with two other riders for every lap of the race, which always makes it more enjoyable for me!  I won’t bore you with details, but I think I’ve maximized the bike’s mechanical potential, so now it’s time to start working on mine.  I’m currently 3rd in the points standings, but I expect that to slip somewhat as more bikes with substantial horsepower advantages have begun racing as the year has progressed.  I think my best possible finish barring failure by one of the faster bikes is fourth…..but I’ll keep hammering at it!

Chris Scherle, a member of our small band, is working on a sweatshirt/polo shirt/golf shirt/whatever kind of shirt you want to embroider upon design for the club.  We’re trying to make sure it’s kosher to use the MH900e logo, but I think we’ll find that we’re OK to embroider that onto shirts for our use.  See the forum for additional details, or to leave feedback/encouragement for Chris.

And, finally, happy Independence Day for those of you in the United States.  For those who don’t know, the 4th of July is a major holiday in the United States, as it’s the day the United States formally declared independence from Great Britain in 1776.  Be careful out there, and watch for drunk drivers.  I’ll be celebrating by taking a ride through Jemez, NM with the local Ducati Club.

As always, holler if you’re having problems with the site, or if you have suggestions or opinions, or if you just want to say “Hi”.

By the way, any MH900e owner is welcome to write a piece for submission to this blog page.  All you have to do is:

1)  Do something interesting

2)  Write about it

3)  Take a couple of pictures

4)  Send your story and pictures to me for editing, formatting, and uploading.

I’m sure lots of others would love to live vicariously through you, so write about your adventures and send them in.  Your submission doesn’t necessarily have to involve your MH900e as long as it’s about something important to you and interesting to others.

OK, for this week, the blog will trend back toward the MH900e corner of my personal attention span with a quick primer on how to get rid of the Autoretract Sidestand on your MH900e.  This procedure is very simple and took me a total of about 5 minutes including taking the photographs.

To undertake this modification you’ll simply need a pair of pliers and a new spring plate from Ducati, part number 82912602A.  The new spring plate cost me approximately $6 U.S., so it’s a very inexpensive part.

Replacement Spring Plate

 This part replaces the spring plate installed by Ducati at the factory.  The original piece is rather straight and interferes with the nut on the sidestand pivot bolt.  This keeps the sidestand spring from going “over center” where it would hold the sidestand down.

Original Sidestand Spring Plate Still Installed

 The replacement plate is curved so that it won’t interfere with the sidestand pivot nut.  Here’s a photo of the two pieces side-by-side.  The original bracket is the one with the springs still attached.

Side-By-Side Comparison of Spring Plates (new one below old)

 To change the spring plate, begin by using a pair of pliers to disengage the two sidestand springs from their catch on the sidestand, then slip the spring plate off of its catch pin on the sidestand bracket attached to the motor.  Not lay the two brackets as show above and transfer the springs from the old bracket to the new one.  Now slip the new spring plate over its catch pin (with the elbow of the plate away from the sidestand pivot bolt) and reattach the springs to their catch on the sidestand. 

Sidestand with New Spring Plate

Voila!  Now you have a sidestand that stays put when you put it down.  You’ll notice in the final photo that the new plate curves around the sidestand pivot bolt nut, allowing the spring to extend “over center” to hold the sidestand in place when in the lowered position.  Be careful when riding your bike, as you might be more used to the autoretract feature than you realize….and nobody wants to put thier MH on the ground over something as minute as a spring plate.

Feel free to post on the Forum if you have any questions about this procedure, or anything else you might want to know.

Cloner in ABQ

Last time I took to the keyboard I told you, my loyal readers, of my intent to renege on my 20 year old roadracing retirement and head for the track.  I’m happy to report in this newest installment of the MH900e blog that I have fulfilled that intent and I’m both faster and slower than I could have imagined.  I guess an explaination is in order.

As background, I built my 1967 Harley Davidson/Aermacchi Sprint 250 from the bones of a bike I acquired in 1989 whilst helping a friend find parts for his parallel twin Indian.  We found a motorcycle salvage yard in Statesville, North Carolina that was going out of business and the owner was trying to clear his property for development.  The owner had staked out the entire yard in 1 yard square lots and his deal was $100 per square yard.  If you found anything you wanted, though, you had to take EVERYTHING in the lot!  Troy, my Indian mounted accomplice, found three lots with desireable parts in them, but they were mostly filled with HD/Aermacchi Sprint parts.  As payment for helping him load parts for nearly two hours Troy let me have enough parts to build a Sprint, plus a few spares.  From those meager beginnings my racer was born.

The only stock parts I’ve used are the engine (which is still mostly stock in the spirit of the class where I’m racing), part of the frame, and the swingarm.  The rest has been replaced by bits from various and sundry sources across the globe.  Betor forks from Spain.  Ceriani triple clamps, Tommaselli clip-ons, and Tarozzi rear sets from Italy.  Excel wheels and a Mikuni carburetor from Japan.  MZ-B Magneto electronic ignition from Germany.  Motion Pro cables and Glass From the Past bodywork from the U.S.A.  She’s an international beauty queen in my eyes, though she definitely has an Italian heart.

I told you that I went slower than I thought I would.  That was because the bike started out rich and the hotter it got the worse it ran.  I bought the carburetor from Ron Lancaster at Lancaster Aermacchi already jetted for my application.  It came with a 230 main jet and a 40 pilot jet, but at those settings the bike’s plug was black and the bike was misfiring in no time.  I jetted down throughout the day and ended up racing with a 200 main jet and a 35 pilot jet with the needle 2 slots up from its initial setting.  The bike was still a little rich during the race, but it pulled well for the first two laps, so I guess I’m getting closer.

I also told you that I was faster than I thought.  Well, the final tally is that I finished second in class!  I would have finished first without a doubt, but as the bike got hotter it pulled less and less, and by the final lap I could tell things would get tight at the line.  As I approached the finish line a ‘68 Ducati caught and passed me, beating my by 0.3 seconds.  Drat!!!  

As a side note, I should have been third, but the guy who blew both me and the Ducati away forgot to attach his transponder, so he was disqualified.  He was nearly a second a lap quicker than we were, but I think with a little practice and a little tuning I can hold his pace.  Heck, I’ll probably get half of it with proper jetting!  If I can shed a few stone I might even put him down a notch!!!  That’d be pretty cool considering he’s a national AHRMA series racer!

More to come in May.

Cloner.  SMRI #250

….for racing!  As MotoGP, World Superbike, and seemingly every other racing series in the world is kicking off a new season, I thought it was time to get back on track after a 20 year hiatus, so I’ve decided to go racing.  In fact, being an old racer, I figured I should race an older bike, so I’ve built a ‘67 Aermacchi to race in the local SMRI Historic Vintage Ultra Lightweight class.

The old girl is up and running, so I took her out to Sandia Raceway for the licensing class this past weekend.  A few adjustments are in order, but the bike seems strong enough to be competitive in its class, and if nothing else it should make for an entertaining summer.

This really has nothing at all to do with MH900e, but as the site administrator I’ve taken a bit of license in the hope that my adventures will, at the very least, be interesting to a few readers.

Look for updates throughout the upcoming race season!