So today Milt & I got another ride in and once again it was great! Topanga Canyon was closed because of a parade, so we popped up Las Virgines Canyon to Mullhulland Canyon and got some eats at The Rock Store. The ride up was pleasant, but not exactly spectacular because of a heavier amount of traffic than I was expecting. The police were definately out in force. Sometimes I wonder about their priorities. On a day when half the US is out drinking in excess and in all probability then driving home, why the cops obsess with motorcyclists in the canyons is beyond me. In a scale of magnitude I find it hard to believe that if a motorcyclist does something stupid today that they are more dangerous to greater civilization than a drunk driver flying up the PCH. Who is going to take out more civilians?

Okay so downshifting now, while we were at The Rock Store we saw two young women who were riding by themselves - I’ve now hung out at The Rock Store a ton of times and I can’t say that I’ve ever seen two women riding up there without company. Usually - actually the only time you see women at The Rock Store is when they’re there with their boyfriends, either as passangers on the back of the bike or at best on a seriously underpowered ride next to the BF’s Nija ZX11 or some comperable bike. So to be completely honest I was pretty shocked to see these two women hanging out and also pretty excited. Both couldn’t have been more than say 28 or 30 at best, both were hot and both rode pretty decked out rides. One had a Suzuki SV 650 with a custom paint job, while the other was on a red Honda CBR 600 - two pretty decent rice rockets for the canyons. Oh yeah, and both seemed to be pretty fast riders. So I have no idea where to find gals like that, but I think it’s pretty awesome that they exsist and I hope that one day I’ll meet a few. It’d be pretty cool to be able to share riding - and I don’t mean as a passanger - with some one of the opposite gender…

Okay, so on to a few new observations of the new bikes. Engine braking is something that doesn’t seem to work as well on the new bikes. On the Beemers I usually do quite a bit of engine braking - that is downshifting before a corner instead of using the brake to slow the bike down before the corner. On the Ducati just simply downshifting doesn’t have the same result. First of all it doesn’t slow the bike down because of the differences in how the two bikes are geared. Secondly, downshifting without matching the rpms - a meaningless concern on the BMWs - seems to continue to break the back end loose. It happened to me twice today, both times not seriously to cause an accident, but definately apparent enough to make me think twice before doing it again. Breaking the back tire loose doesn’t freak me out like once would have, but it still gives me pause because it could result in a tailfish reaction that could cause an accident… And I’d like to avoid that if possible. Downshifting works very well if you crack open the throttle just a bit and match the rpms. Then you effectively can change the rpm range and prepare for the corner ahead…

But to slow the bike down you really need to get on the brakes. Today it seemed like the brakes were finally braking in (pardon the pun). I suspect that since they were fresh discs they needed some scuffing to reach their power potential. That certainly seemed to be the case today. They were grabbing much better which is a good thing given the lack of engine braking on this bike. On the Beemer, Milt is alway commenting on how little my taillight goes on and just about every other week he asks me to squeeze the brake lever while we’re off the bikles because he’s concerned that the light may not be working. So I guess the bottom line is that Milt will now know when I’m slowing down ahead of him because I don’t see how else you can ride the Duc, except to use the front and rear brakes.

Now we’re only about 280 miles into the new bikes, but already I get the sense that riding the Duc will effect how I ride the BMW. My guess is that in the past when I felt like I was really leaning the Beemer over, it will now feel like I can push it a bit more since I now have a better idea what a more leaned over riding position feels like. Also, given the change in how I will have to use the brakes vs. engine braking, I’m going to guess that eventually I’ll engine brake less on the BMW and use the power assisted brakes more. In a big picture sense that’s probably a good idea since brakes are cheaper to replace than clutches - that’s what everyone tells me anyway… So I guess we’ll have to wait and see… Overall it is fun to have more motorcycle stuff to talk about again. Up until now the BMWs have gotten to the point that I feel extremely comfortable on them and basically know how to ride them in a way that I enjoy - so when Milt & I get off the bikes there isn’t much to talk about anymore. With the Ducs there seems to be an endless collection of observations, concerns, excitements, enjoyments, and amazements to discuss. That’s really cool, because that’s one of the great joys of riding as far as I’m concerned. I always tell folks that it’s about the ride, but truth is, it’s also about the conversation afterwards and it’s nice to have stuff to talk about again!