Valves checked for clearances at SoCal Ducati in Brea and resulted in perfect tolerances. Yay!
They always do good work and fast. Thanks guys!
15,000 Mile Servicing
Brakes Upgrade
I’m currently in winter hibernation mode and ready to work on upgrading my stock Brembo calipers to the Brembo Goldlines. This is a 2 piston to 4 piston axial caliper conversion. This caliper comes off a Ducati 748/996/998.
The stock master cylinder should work fine and after lots of research, these Brembo Goldlines should bolt right up nicely after I remove 4mm off the mounting bosses so that the caliper lines up with the rotors. The Alpina rim’s spokes clear the back of the calipers.
Braking will substantially be significantly stronger (not that it wasn’t already) and modulation should be very nice, too.
The inspiration came from riding a KTM 1190 cc RC8-R on the track with radial mounted monobloc 4-piston/4-pad calipers. Dual rotors at 320mm. Sick braking but too “digital” for me. The goal for these brakes is somewhere in between.
With these calipers, I should be close to the KTM but smoother. 🙂
Below: The Brembo Goldline caliper
Below: Me on the KTM 1190 RC8-R and it’s crazy brakes and 180hp
R.I.P.
I never thought I’d post something like this here: Fallen Rider.
Ray McQueen (standing on left) – Rest in Peace.
Tales from the Pilot Seat Documentary – Update
It’s really, really coming together. Major sections of the short film are completed including interviews with those that I ride with. I’m still gathering up more footage a possible a couple more interviews.
I’m expecting the final cut sometime in a month.
Tales from the Pilot Seat – Documentary
It’s a work in progress.
I’ve made Part 1 and the closing credits of this short film documenting my travels on this SportClassic. I’m not sure when I’ll release it but as the great George Brossard says “It’s done when it’s done”.
Stay tuned, kiddies!
New banner
Just changed the banner to this blog. The new picture on the right is my motocycle with my daughter’s. 😀
About the photos above…
Just in case you were wondering about the photos above, one of them is me (the left) and the other one is of a fellow Ducati SportClassic racer – ThunderDuc Racing.
My photo was taken by photographer Rob Zaleski as part of a motorsports portfolio he is creating during his off-time. Excellent work and very nice guy.
The right side photo is of ThunderDuc Racing’s Chris Gorel’s Ducati SportClassic. It’s the actual bike he races. This photo was used in the 2008 Rev’it Motorcycle catalogue.
Another Raven Gets Schooled.
This time it is a Yamaha R1 Raven. This one is pretty funny.
So I rode my bike to work and in my rear view mirrors I can see a motorcycle coming pretty fast up to the stop light. …So I move over to make some room.
Light turns green and Tool-boy rides a wheelie for about a hundred feet. This guy was the typical squid – jeans, tennis shoes, t-shirt, and easily about 240 lbs. His ass was so big it was swallowing the poor bike.
SO this tool speeds down the street over 70 mph to the next light and gets into the left turn lane.
I’m thinking that the people in cars are probably saying to themselves that motorcycle riders are jerks. I just take my sweet time to the red light where tool-boy is waiting for the green arrow.
We wait….we wait…we wait for the green light.
Light turns green for me and the oncoming traffic. Left turn arrow stays RED! HAHA!
Raven gets schooled by the left turn arrow!
Hello world!
I’m here! I got my bike! Ducati SportClassic 1000S.
I have modified the bike a bit since I bought it so I have a jump start on this blog. Not to worry, I’ll back-track some of the work I have done to document the changes.
Meanwhile, sit back and enjoy. Your mileage will vary.
Tales from the pilot seat of a Ducati SportClassic 