Amante

 I took my VFR in to the shop in early July for the mysterious bogging down issue it had. I figured it was something in the fuel system but they found that the front CCT was going bad. OK fine, fix it. Between the summer backlog and the pandemic effing up the shipping of parts, I didn't get it back until early August.

Well 2020 is doing me good and hard. When I got it home and rode it I found that the problem was still there. So I dragged it back to the shop and dropped it off. Unfortunately the tech who does Hondas was out for a MotoAmerica race weekend and I still haven't heard anything. On the way back from dropping it off I came to a rough decision: I was going to buy another sport bike.

I haven't gotten the grand trip I was planning on, at least I should get some sport riding in. I haven't heard back from anyone I've applied with, but that doesn't mean I won't at some point, so I need to start doing something with my "sabbatical".

I'll cut to the chase I bought a 2017 Ducati SuperSport. I found a quite low mileage (1100 or so miles) garage queen in Tacoma, contacted the owner, and went up the next day. It was a case of a middle aged gentleman who had bought it and realized that he wasn't able to ride a sport bike anymore. We talked about the bike for near an hour before loading it up. It was almost like the previous owner wanted to make sure it was going to a good responsible rider as much as selling it.

Anyways because its Ducati it has a few "character" flaws that I need(ed) to address.

-the battery was flat from sitting in a dealership and then in a garage (replaced)

-the chain was garbage (replaced)

-the fork seals were weeping (used a seal mate and lubricated the seals with grease)

-the transmission is difficult in 1-N-2, but that can be adjusted by the dealer. I'm just not going to have two bikes in the shop at the same time...

-the rear cylinder cooks your legs. Its HOT.

-the mirrors are kind of useless at speed because they buzz

Well anyways now that I have another bike I'm getting out and about again. Given that its hot in Eastern Oregon and California is off limits, I'm thinking maybe Olympic Peninsula as a first "trip" (I've already put 700 miles on it locally).

People have asked me: "what's the plan when you get the VFR back?" to which I say "I don't know, I don't have a plan". The VFR has hard bags (hard bags for the SS are like $2k), and doesn't run as hot, but even when they fix the bogging issue who knows what might fail next on a 43k mile bike? Not like a used VFR fetches much though these days. I'll agonize about that when I get it back. At least now I'm not in a *mental* hurry to get it back.

Remember my blog post about superstition and how my bikes determine what happens in pro racing? Well go read it then read the next section.

OK so just after my VFR started having bad problems what happens? Marc Marquez crashes and bangs himself up badly, and is out.

Totally a coincidence right? Fabio Q on a Yamaha does well the next two races.

Then I buy a Ducati. The next two races Ducati suddenly starts doing well again (JZ5 put a year old Ducati on the podium at Brno and AD4 won at Austria race 1).

More total coincidence... or is it?