Last night a friend of mine, Nic Rosato from Long Island, came over so I could help him repair a leaking fork seal and do a little routine maintenance on his ‘97 Monster 900.  Nic showed up around 6:30 and we got him squared away and out the door around 9:30 after repairing the leaking seal, changing the oil in both fork legs, changing his engine oil and filter, and adjusting his chain.  During the three hours we shared, Nic repeatedly thanked me for helping him while he was away from home and was sincerely thankful to have a place to work on his bike 2000 miles from his Long Island garage. 

Nic’s visit started me thinking about the community we all share, and how thankful I am to be a part of it.  During my years of riding I’ve seen motorcyclists treat each other with attitudes ranging from disdain to admiration, from callous to charitable, and from enmity to solidarity.  I bought my first Ducati in 2000 and immediately became acquainted with a different riding community.

In my experience, Ducati riders tend to treat each other with a little more respect, a bit more brotherhood, and a ton more enthusiasm than the riders of other marques.  A Ducatista rarely refuses another any reasonable request, and often goes out of his way to help another in need despite significant costs in time and resources. 

Shortly after I bought my first Ducati, a ‘95 Supersport, a fellow Ducati owner, Buddy Turner of Intrepid Cafe Racers fame, took me under his wing to show me the “ins and outs” of Ducati ownership.  When my Supersport spat its chain 40 miles from home, Karl Zaster loaned me his brand new 1098 so I could make a parts run.  When I wanted to buy a bike in San Francisco, Kevin Kachadourian volunteered to drive 50 miles out of his way to take a look at it and give me an honest evaluation of its condition.  If this was all I could relate, then my anecdotes might be considered random acts of kindness.  However, this is just the tip of the proverbial iceburg, and the number of these acts that I’ve been party to or witnessed is such that it would take me hours to type them all here!  I’m glad that I could contribute to the list.

Maybe it’s because we’re generally older, and realize that nobody can easily get along without a little help.  Maybe it’s becasue we’re more experienced, and realize that what goes around comes around.  Maybe it’s because we’re just nicer people who, for some unknown reason, are drawn to red paint and basso profundo.  Whatever the reason, I’ll wager that “you meet the nicest people on a Honda Ducati.”

Cloner:  ABQ, NM

If a picture is really worth a thousand words, then Phil Aynsley’s new book, Ducati:  A Photographic Tribute, is the most descriptive Ducati biopic ever published! 

Ducati: A Photographic Tribute

Phil has taken a look at Ducati’s history, from it’s Electronica roots to the latest Desmodromic masterpiece, and has documented it in rich photographic detail for all dedicated Ducatisti to behold.

For we MH900e owners, there are several MHe shots to tickle the fancy as well as various photos of motorcycles from Cucciolo to Desmosedici, and everything in between.

The photos in this article are copyright protected and may not be used without explicit permission from Phil Aynsley Photography.  These particular photos and are taken from Phil’s extensive catalog (not from the book).  For a look at more, you can visit Phil’s website at www.philaphoto.com.

Cloner:  ABQ, NM

Wow!  After nearly 2 weeks of administering the site, I’ve now experienced my first crash, and I’ve learned more about the innerworking of bbPress and WordPress than I ever wanted to know. 

The good news is:  The site is now up and running, so you can all jump back in and continue swimming

The bad news is:  You’re still stuck with an admin on the steep part of the learning curve

I hope you’ll all continue to be patient with me, and will trust that I’m doing my level best to keep our shared community together and moving toward a fulfilling experience together.

Cloner

After a few months of hiatus, the MH900e Owners Club is finally back.  Far from finished, but ready to serve the community of loyal Ducati MH900e aficionados.

I’m Brian De Groodt, and I guess I’m now president, ring-leader, or something official here.  In any case, it doesn’t really matter to me.  I’m just happy to put the community back together and get our group served with information and conversation about the MH.

This site is definitely still a work in progress.  I have literally gigs of information from the old site (Thanks JohnC!) and will be uploading it over the coming days, weeks, months.  If you have a specific request, please email me and let me know.  If I have it, I’m happy to share it and put it to the front of the line.

For now, here’s what we have right now.  We have this blog/main page.  We have the Forums page for all things considered.  What we don’t have right now is direct integration between MH900e.org (blog) and the forums.  So if you post a comment on the blog, you won’t need a password, but you also won’t automatically be logged into the forum section.  Everyone needs to register to participate in the forum.  It’s easy.  I think the forums give us a little more functionality than we had previously, but are still pretty basic. If there’s a reason to move to something more advanced in the future, we’ll discuss it as a group and figure out what makes sense.

I’d really like to see us get back to the same or better level of participation we had previously.  That includes owner registration, which I’ll start working on as a next step.  Ideally we can record the whereabouts of all 2,000 units.

Finally, welcome to your home! If there’s anything you’d like to see, I’d love to hear it.

That’s all for now. 

BD #760