So this is pretty nifty, but Pro Italia is raffling off a brand-spanking new 2009 Ducati M696 to benefit the International Rett Syndrome Foundation. Tickets are $25 each (or buy 5 chances for $100), limited to 500 total and can be purchased online or in the showroom.
Tixs will be onsale for the next two weeks and the winner will be announced on the 26th of October at the annual Love Ride in Pomona. The first prize winner will win a 2009 Ducati Monster 696 (MSRP $8,995) and the second prize …

Always nice to wake up to good news It seems that veteran moto-journalist Jim McDermott, a long time contributor to SuperbikePlanet.com, has started a blog — Called “Real World Rider” — And for one of his first posts he’s penned a review of “Ducati: A Story of Passion” , the DVD that we produced for Pro Italia Motorcycles last year!

A few folks noticed that I never explained what happened to MotorMilt’s Ducati. As some of you might recall Milt’s 999 started smoking during the middle of a ride up to the canyons right after we got both of our bikes back from ProItalia after they had done the 600 mile service. In what I tend to think of as a typically Italian Adventure, Milt’s bike went in for the 600 mile service and also for what seemed like a low revving throttle response issue. When it came back both …

I don’t know why but it always seems like life is a bit empty when the bike is at the dealer for service. Thankfully the gang at ProItalia made quick work of the 600 mile service on both our bikes. Given what was written up on the invoices, my bike went pretty smoothly. MotorMilt on the other hand had some warranty work done already. His throttle advance seemed to be set a bit high, requiring him to give his bike a fair amount of gas while engaging the clutch. Otherwise …

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.

The saga of motorcycle anguish and despair finally ended this morning and it feels absolutely great to finally ride myself of this awful nightmare once and for all. Thankfully everything worked out in the end and MotorMilt & I are luckily back on Ducati Motorcycles once again.
At 10am this morning we pulled up to ProItalia in Glendale, California. We had been talking to Bill Nation and Jake for the past couple of weeks trying to see if we could pull off a spectacular switch. Taking the insurance payout from …