So the second day of riding the new bikes through the canyons was absolutely wonderful. Traffic was extremely light as we headed out in the morning. I suppose that’s because people were sleeping in during this holiday weekend. We hit Topanga Canyon early enough that it felt like it was just Milt & I on the road, and frankly there is no better time to ride! I’m also starting to feel much more comfortbable with the dry clutch and the throttle. The differences in the engines between the R1100S and the 749 is becoming more and more apparent. We still have a long way to go until the engines are broken in, but for now there definately seems to be more feedback on the Ducs than the Beemers. You really know when the engine is engaged or disengaged via the throttle. I suppose that might be what the motorcycle mag writers call surging, but for me it seems most apparent between 1 and 3 thousand rpms. You definately feel a”clunk” when you accelerate, which I have yet to decipher, occurs. Could be the chain spinning up - almost feels like it could be the chain matching the revs of the engine - not sure. But it certainly feels more track oriented.

I also found that today I finally starting to feel much more comfortable sliding in the saddle. The bike is entirely more flickable, as Milt would put it. I have a feeling that I definately will be able to get my knee down one of these days - of course that will eventually require a new set of leathers or at least pucks.

The most interesting part of the ride actually occured on the way home. We pulled up at a stop light on Ocean Ave on the way home and a fellow on a maroon BMW 1100RT boxer pulled up next to us. He seemed to notice the BMW patches on our leathers and kept boucing his eyes back and forth from the patches to the bikes. Milt is actually the one who pointed it out, but once he did I realized that we had really toyed with this poor guys mind since I’m sure he didn’t know what to make of two marques on top of each other. Suppose I now understand those license plate frames that say things like, “my other car is a bike” or “my other car is a (fill in the blank). One of those certainly would have helpped this guy.

Slightly switching subjects, I now realize given how one is supposed to break new Ducati engines in that the worst decision a rider can make is to purchase either a Dealership Demo that is on sale or a slightly used Ducati, which there always seem to be a lot of, that has between 1,000 and 3,000 miles. Strikes me that you have no idea how hard the previous owner has riden the bike or if they have payed any attention to the engine break in period. I’m not sure exactly how much it will help to follow the factory guidelines, but I suspect that given the differences in methoods of manufacturing between BMW and Ducati that the factory wouldn’t make such a big deal out of a proper break in period if it wasn’t vastly more important than on the Beemers.