The 600 Mile Service (Again!)
Amazingly enough I’ve ridden over 600 miles on the new Duc. So yesterday I bounced out of work a bit early and dropped the bike off at ProItalia for the first service. Around noon today they called to say it was already finished. That kind of blew my mind. Usually it takes a bit longer to get it done. So in less than twenty four hours I head back out to Glendale again and picked up the Diva. Even though traffic was a bit of a bitch (like when isn’t it in LA???), the bike felt like a whole other beast. It’s just flat out amazing how a little bit of tweaking can make it feel so much more solid in such a short order. Of course I suppose I’m reacting a bit to being able to get a bit higher on the tach too. So now I’m offically halfway to a full break-in!!!! Sweet.
The 600 Mile Service
So Lil’ Diva and her sister (aka MotorMilt’s Red Duc) is headed to ProItalia for their respective 600 mile services. We’re a bit late on both bikes since both MotorMilt & I crossed over 800 miles respectively this past weekend, but well deserved regardless. Hopefully we’ll get the bikes back for this weekend so we can squeeze a ride in but with Italian Motorcycles, who knows how viable that idea will turn out to be.
Working on the Ducs
Both MotorMilt & I got a little wrenching in today - Nothing major mind you - It was mostly extremely basic stuff. Right now we’re both nearing our first service with the new Ducs - The dreaded 600 mile service - And as luck would have it the local Duc dealer seems to have a horde of bikes in line waiting to get serviced. So with our appointment a few weeks off we carved a bit of time out of our day and set out to top off the oil levels and clean the bikes. As I said nothing major… Of course while I was at it and had half the fairing off I couldn’t just let the bike go basically untouched, so for the first time I started playing around with the stock footpeg/brake lever positions. It’ll be interesting to see how that affects the coming rides. It obviously wasn’t something I had to screw with but seeing as how I could and I’ve always been curious if I had stuff like that in the right position for myself, I thought why not. So hence the change. We’ll see if it makes a difference. That aside, it was truly enjoyable to spend some quality time with the bikes away from the streets. Reminded me that I really don’t do that often enough. There’s just something magical about playing with your tools and your machine. No doubt many others out there feel the same or Craftsman Tools and all the major beer labels wouldn’t do so well. And again I was seriously impressed by the product design that the Ducati boys back in Bolognia have done. It’s a very slick install job under those pristine fairings! Compared to my BMW days it seems much more logical, go figure. So now I’m thinking that perhaps I’ll try to carve out a little cash to throw down for a fancy clutch cover simply for the sole purpose of more wrenching!
