2009 Ducati Model Rumors - Fact or Fiction?
Once again the new model rumor mill is heating up as we get closer to the annual Ducati USA dealer meeting and the Milan Motorcycle show in November, where historically the company introduces their new bikes to the public.
Just a few days ago Ducati itself toss fuel on the fire by announcing that both the Multistrada and Hypermotard will be available in pearl white. I guess that means we won’t be seeing a retooled Strada this year after all…
Of course the big news before and after that minor announcement has undoubtedly been the reported cell phone camera shots of the new Ducati Monster 1100 taken by an Italian Ducati Riding Club member. In short order they appeared all over the net, including a featured spot on AutoBlog - Clearly when it comes to the Monster everyone wants to know what’s coming next…
The grainy cell phone images seem to foreshadow the next new Monster - The same look as last years 696 but with more power in the form of the 1100 DS engine found in the Hypermotard. If this in fact turns out to be the big news at the Milan show you certainly can’t fault Ducati, after all it’s the next logical evolution of the new Monster design. Yet am I the only wondering when we’ll see a 1098 derived Monster? Isn’t that really the naked bike we’re waiting for???
Gleams of Light and Luck
Stray shards of light bounce off a twinkling black asphalt as the bike tips into the corner once more and I make yet another pass on this life. It’s an exaggerated, pendulum like movement that quickly tosses me from one side of the saddle to the other — with forceful haste and while it seems wildly chaotic and intrinsically unsettling, ironically it feels exactly the opposite… I haven’t felt this planted all day…
The far-flung movement, which at first seems overstated and highly saturated, somehow allows me to just ‘let it go’ and wrap my fingers around the moment. To exist alone among that rare blend of solitude and loneliness, where your best friend and greatest enemy is the desolate concrete realty that’s slicing, cutting and transcribing the outer confines of the countryside. And as I begin to forge a directly correlated relationship with the machine, I start bending the bike in easy, simple, graceful movements that seem so matter of fact and so sincere that I swear the tires are actually contort their contour directly to the road itself. The rubber morphing to the moment as the complex compounds cave in on the weight of the work week. Tossing out the pent up emotions of the past several days with each tilting pass. A wonderfully repeatable transfer of kinetic energy that’s called release – and today that’s worth more then any help a celebrity shrink could possibly offer, on TV or in real life…
A few miles down the line, I’m standing by the bike, peering out over the endless expanse of a California country abyss that’s in the midst of swallowing an entire farmstead whole, while taking a long, slow drag on the last smoke in the pack as the final embers of self-preservation fall away. Bright flakes of my soul that immediate illuminate before quickly dissolving into nothingness as they float away in the light ambling SoCal wind.
Looking out over the nearly infinite vista, it finally feels as if I’ve touched a bit of luck.
Not within the ride itself but rather because of it. Just a few hours ago this felt like a day that was tied in knots, straining for each breath and chasing what has to be done tomorrow, yet over the course of just a few canyon roads the Hypermotard has slowly peeled back the layers. Removed the angst, the concern, the ‘what have I got to do next’ mentality, until all that’s left is a raw, exposed, emotional tap on my humanity – that odd place where there is no clock, just pure emotions free to fumble towards enjoyment.
Shaking my head, I listen to the cacophony of canyon silence, which is intermittently interrupted by the odd cow that starts singing or the errant bird flapping away from Point A to Point B, when it slowly begins to dawn on me that the vast majority of time whenever I’ve tasted luck that meant it was just about to expire. ‘Luck’ after all is not an inception emotion. It’s not something we feel when it begins, but rather a reflection emotion which you feel in the afterglow. The kind of post-conceived feeling that you remark about after the fact. Yet here, today, on this road, in this canyon, seemingly miles away from everything else, there’s a palpable sense of ‘luck’ in this day and from the day and it’s the best thing I’ve felt in quite awhile… Because to champion lady luck is to avail yourself of the potential in what might be standing around the very next bend in the road…
More Picts after the Jump… (more…)
The Winds of Fate
Photo by Scott Craven
The road is bending over itself; twisting, turning, and tumbling towards the edge. Off in the not so distant future lies fragments of tree tops. Big, green conifers that are a visible reminder that a whole new kind of experience awaits on the other side. A hundred foot plus free fall, which from a distance allows one to see the magical expanse of California and yet up close also plainly exposes the danger of the moment. The danger of life. It’s an Alice in Wonderland rabbit hole that if visited will surely take you on a trip down a different path.
Seeing it, you hesitate. You hold your breath. You try to tell yourself you’ve been here a million times before — you can do this. The tires will hold. The bike will survive. The moment will pass. There’s pleasure in this… Really…
Quickly, the engine winds up, spits fire and tosses you towards the apex. It’s a heartwarming experience on a day when the heat stifles even the most hardboiled of riders. Waves of vapor rise from the tarmac. Big, proud, optical illusions that in an flash alter what’s real and what isn’t. It’s all about perception now — even though it feels almost uncontrollable. The corner which looked so conducive to pleasure suddenly seems snake bitten and you don’t know why…
So once again, you force yourself to remember that every problem has a solution, every moment a meaning, each challenge a victor… And as the perceptual clock in your head counts down the possible solutions dwindle. Until you find yourself having to acknowledge that there’s only one course of action left.
To toss the bike into the bend, to ignore the apprehension, and to let go of the emotional baggage from the recent work weeks.
With frayed nerves, the bike continues to hustle onward. Hitting the apex before you even realize it. And when it does life changes once again. The impending doom suddenly seems like a distant memory. Your only recollection the realization that somehow, some way, you’ve survived yet another frantic moment near the edge.
Ducati To Show Hypermotard Concept In Long Beach, Ca.
Roadracing World is reporting that Ducati is going to show the Hypermotard Concept bike December 9-11 during the Long Beach, California International Motorcycle Show.
DUCATI HYPERMOTARD MAKES ONLY NORTH AMERICAN APPEARANCE IN LONG BEACH
EICMA “Best of Show” winning concept bike on display December 9th – 11th at Long Beach Cycle World IMS Show
Cupertino, CA – December 2, 2005 – Just a few hours from its unveiling, the new concept bike, the Ducati Hypermotard, had already won its first prestigious and important recognition. The prototype designed by Pierre Terblanche was awarded “Best of Show” at the “Designers Night” held by the Motorcycle Design Association. The new Ducati “jewel” was chosen from the many new motorcycles proposed at EICMA, the 63rd International Motorcycle Exhibition.
Now US enthusiasts have a rare chance to see this bike at the Long Beach Cycle World International Motorcycle Show on December 9th through December 11th, 2005.
Kinda cool, perhaps I’ll have to try and make my way over there…
