2015 Good bye

Good bye 2015, and I am looking forward 2016 and the project of another coast to coast South route, from San Francisco to Key West. We are preparing the tour and make reservations and so far and so on.
In summary.

Very Positive:

• My Piccolina Ducati SS350 passed the historical vehicle exam gold plate, click me

Positive:

• Road trips: Death Valley ( click me ), Napa Valley and others
• Test rides: Ducati Multistrada e Panigale ( click me )

Not so positive:

• Mechanic in RWC messed up the rear wheel of my MV F4, it costed me $1,500 in order to replace the bearings and other parts. He blamed MV of a factory defect, but dude you are the defect because you did not tight up the rear wheel properly
• Nonetheless, I gave him another chance and he messed up spectacularly one more time. This time was a small fix of the gear box of my Duca GT 1000. He totally screwed up and I had to go to the Ducati dealer, cost $300 + $300... No more third chance obviously.

La Piccolina ha passato l'esame

La Piccolina ha passato l'esame! La mia Ducati SS 350 Junior ha ricevuto la certificazione di veicolo di interesse storico targa oro dall'ASI.

Andiamo con ordine, l'appuntamento e' alle 9:00, quindi sveglia prestissimo e in strada con il Ducatone alle 7:30. Freddo boia, 3C. Speriamo di non prendere ghiaccio e atterrarmi con la moto proprio il giorno dell'ispezione. 

Arrivo in via Bisceglie dove a sede l'evento che ho perso le dita delle mani e le ginocchia sono a pezzi.

Davanti a me ci sono gia' 8 moto di varia epoca. Anche dentro l'officina fa un bel freddo.

Le ispezioni proseguono lentamente, circa 20-30 minuti per veicolo. Ci sono almeno 4 ispettori su ciascuna moto, e sembrano puttosto esigenti. Giustamente.

Quando finalmente tocca a me, mi sembra di capire che 6 su 8 non hanno passato l'esame. Va beh, vado come vada.

Pero' ho fiducia perche' la moto e' praticamente originale. La cosa che mi preoccupa e' una modifica che la Ducati ha fatto in garanzia durante il primo tagliando. Modifica che consiste in tubicini che va dal carterini dell'olio a i carburatori, e fornisce un adeguata temperatura di esercizio ai carb quando si marcia a temperature prossime allo zero. Come oggi appunto.

E qui viene il bello, l'ispettore si presenta e molto cortesemente mi sorprende dicendo 'Mi deve scusare ma la sua ispezione sara' brevissima, perche' la sua moto e' perfetta'.

Porca vacca, allora e' passata. 

Pero' la domandina sulla modifica, gli ispettori che hanno gli occhi aguzzi non se la fanno perdere. Rispondo senza raccontare balle e spiego l'intervento che la Ducati ha fatto.

Bella giornata e' andata bene

Sto perdendo la ruota post.

Ieri sentivo la moto strana, poi ho sentito un tac molto sospetto mentre parcheggiavo in garage. Controllando la ruota posteriore si muoveva ahime... E allora la devo portare dentro per sistemare il problema e fare controlli. Temo che i cuscinetti sono partiti. Pero' che bella che e' la mia MV!

Art of motorcycle... MV Agusta

This year MV had a decent showroom (last year was smaller than the popcorn stall), with several motorbike on display and my beloved F4 1000. She is still the most beautiful motorcycle in the world. Many visitors, and I am sure most Americans do not know this historic brand.
To be honest with you I prefer my F4.







The F3 is in my modest opinion the best sport bike available on the market for common rider like me, she is gorgeous.
That Gatorade bottle is not mine. Looks like a urine sample, yaks!

Ducati won Race 2 also!

Fantastic weekend for Ducati and me. Davis won Race 2 as well, leading from turn 1 to the checker flag. Ducati did not score a double since 2012 (Imola with Checa, if I recall all right). Way to go Pompone!

In the pic, Canepa (another of my favorite riders) dragging the elbow on Turn 2. How do they do that? In a best day with perfect road, I can barely touch with my knee?!?

Ducati won Race 1

Finally! After coming down here to Laguna for so long, I enjoyed a Ducati victory. With Davies, I hope next time is Giuliano.
Here, Davis leading the pack of "scatenati" on Turn 2.

Giuliano going full trottle on the downhill of Corkscrew Turn

Turning with this thing

Turning with these things couldn't be any harder...

Or with this one

Il pompone

This is so beautiful that it looks like a trophy cup. It belong to an old Ducati

The queen of the weekend

This blog is about two wheels, but for the Alfa 4C I can make an exception.

Alfa Romeo 4C, if only I have the money. However, for the same money I can buy a Ducati Desmosedici, so I prefer the Ducati

Or convertible, very beautiful besides the acidella sitting in the car

Need tires?

Look at this, there are thousands and thousands of dollars of tires in this truck. And there are thre of them, full bottom to top. All these tires will be gone by the end of the weekend. Puff...

 Installing tires

A tire after use

WSBK Laguna Seca (Sunday) Piove!

Rain! Never happened in twenty years here at Laguna Seca. Che sfiga...

I woke up this morning with 1/2 cm of water in the tend and red fishes swimming in my helmet. California is in a drought, really? My tend was not very Seca, but more Laguna...

So I show a few pics from yesterday, because today there is nothing show yet, it is all dump and wet.
Click me for more pics
 

Kawa today

Kawa yesterday

Yamaha R1 front

R1 Rear

Monterey for dinner

As custom, Saturday night is in Monterey for dinner. Cannary Row is closed to traffic and truned into a giant parking lot (motorcycle only).

Wait a minute. the hobbits are in town

 

Ducati pole!

Ducati 1st and 2nd, Davis and Giuliano. Here at the press conference after the superpole session. Giuliano and Torres are super funny!

Their English however has room for improvements,  but Davis helped them out

Another day of work at the office

It is really cool to watch the mechanics working on the bike

Here few pics, starting with Yamaha team

Ducati team

Honda team

Aprilia team

WSBK Laguna Seca (Saturday)

A classic. It is always a lot of fun to come down here. This year there are a lot more people than last year and weather is warm and sunny for a change...

Click me for more pics

First thing first, set up camp. Same spot, I am really a creature of habbit

A must stop at Ducati Island to enjoy a cup of coffee

Lots of people!

And then watch the bullets riding

Godzilla is in town!

One of my neighbor have bought a military vehicle. Huge!

But, can you think about having an accident with this Godzilla of the road?
 

My Ducati is as big as the one wheel of this truck, the ultimate SUV.

Qui non posso parcheggiare

Guarda un po' che cosa ho trovato. Va beh, qui non posso parcheggiare la mia moto
Terun e' un ristorante ovviamente italiano a Palo Alto ed e' anche molto buono. Gestito da italiani, fanno un sacco di soldi con questo ristorante, sono bravi se lo meritano. Bella idea.
 

Suzuki DR600 Dakar

Still sorting out my old pics and found this one with my Suzuki DR 600 Dakar.

I loved this bike, the only problem was the height (I am 170cm) and the kick start (so hard).

I had also a couple of crashes with her. One in Milan, I did slide down while turning on a patch of oil left by some car.

The other one was weird. I was riding off-road on the sandy beaches of Ticino river when I lost control of the bike and fell down. The bike sank in the soft sand deep at least 30 cm and if it wasn't for a couple of fisherman that help me out, I would have been stuck there for hours! I think they still laughing at me.

Che figura di merda...
 

My Vespa PX150, long long time ago

I am still organizing my photos and look at this.

This was my Vespa PX 150. The one sitting on top is me, unbelievable. This pic was take long long time ago.
 

Gone but not forgotten. My Ducati Paso 750

I was organizing my photos, when I came across this pic of my Ducati Paso 750 taken in 2001.

Unfortunately, I sold her before moving to work in France, because I was told that it was very difficult to register this motorcycle there. It was all bullshit, excuse my English...
So I will always regret to have sold her.

I sold her via craiglist to a guy located in New York. He did organize the pick-up by FedEx and everything.
Curiously, I met him in person this year at Austin while attending the MotoGP event. I first recognized the her (my Paso) and then I introduced myself and we chatted for a while. It was cool.

She was a rough girl. Specially the clutch. But fun.

Gone but not forgotten.
 

Is it a car or a motorcycle?

I have seen a lot of weird things, but this one is one of the weirdest. Don't you agree?

Back side

I wonder if it pays the toll like a car or like a bike...

Port Costa

Gran bel giro, Yen ha trovato su la rivista di AAA questo paesino sul delta. Si chiama Port Costa, molto molto bellino.

Per andarci abbiamo fatto la strada tra le colline nella zona di Castro Valley. Grande, non c'e' nessuno in giro tante curve e tanto bel verde.

A Port Costa ci sono 10 case massimo, di cui un pub, un ristorante quasi chic e un lodge.
Noi che non siamo molto chic abbiamo mangiato al pub che e' un  posto fenomenale, in piu' fanno un sandwich con la salsiccia alla griglia che e' buono.

 

Shopping... Il negozio vende solo cappelli (escludendo la paraphernalia che c'e' li davanti)

Queste sedie sono un po' rustiche ma commode...

E ora a casa (sotto il capo mafia)

Il giro e' finito

Il giro e' finito, mi sono divertito molto (caduta a parte, ma senza danni per me e la moto. Cadere nel fango ha i suoi vantaggi).

Totale: 1,705 Km / 1,101 Miles

La ducatona e' andata egregiamente, una cosa che avrei cambiato sono le ruote con delle piu' artigliate (per avere piu' grip nello sporco e ridurre il rischio di forature).
Il motore della mia Ducati non e' elastico come quello della BMW GS800 (che a volte sembra quasi un mono marcia e nei tour e' un vantaggio). Pero' il ducatone tira come una bestia (100HP su poco peso si sentono).
Le borse ducati sono sicuramente piccole per due passeggeri. Su questo il BMW e' meglio a mani basse.

Ecco alcune foto che ho preso con la camera: Clicca qui

Tioga Pass finalmente

Oggi giornata stupenda, Tioga pass e' aperto finalmente.

Caspita c'e' neve anche a Tioga gate che per la stagione e' un po' strano.

Chiudo le trasmissioni. Nel prossimo post metto tutte le foto fatte con la macchina fotografica. Ciao e grazie

Ultimo giorno si torna a casa!

Come sempre le vacanze finiscono in fretta. Oggi attraverso Yosemite via Tioga pass.

Cirillo curiosone (sotto) controlla che carico bene la moto.

Ultima cena un classico da Bodie Mike's

Della serie "creature of habbits", l'ultima cena di questo road trip e' dal mitico Bodie Mike's.

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