Ducati Monster Forum

Sometimes military units take a day and gather all the riders in the unit together for a safety day.

today was ours.

we started with the typical safety checks gear/motorcycles then onto the normal MSF type drills and end with a long SLOOOOW ride around the hills.

I learned I still can't do the figure 8 box with the new clipons. BUT getting better, a little more clutch control and I'll have it.

also learned that there is a TOO loud for loud exhausts.
Some guy had a Nightrod with 18 long slash cut pipes... no baffling, nothing... I couldn't hear ANYTHING else when i was behind him on the ride. I had to switch positions so I could listen to myself and my bike for shifting, etc. I wanted to hear to shift to avoid looking down at the dash in the long line.

Also ran into a local Monster owner (after the ride), who isn't on the forum yet, but told him about the place. He has a 1998 Monster 750.
He was a little confused about my bike and how high it was, etc.

In fact that was kinda the theme. Some people recognized it as a Monster, but were confused about the changes... then others were like... why did you take the fairings off your Ducati...
the clipons really had them confused I guess.
 
90% of the bikes were Harley/Harley wannabees. I kinda see now why  Ducati wants a piece of that market. It's HUGE.

I had the only Ducati (the guy i met was not a part of it)
One guy had a GSXR and one had a Yamaha YZF or something.
Oh and of course the Hayabusa and K1300R humongous bikes

I know there are more riders in the unit, but I think the comraderie and 'safety' these events promote don't bring out your typical sportbike rider.

All in all it was a good day. Met a few cool guys and learned a bit more about my bike.
AND... like I said, now I know what TOO loud is for bikes.

Another helper during slow maneuvers is a touch of rear brake. Give it some gas, a bit of slip in the clutch and a touch/little bit of drag of rear brake and you can pull some moves.

A perfect application of that technique would be the slow ride lines from the basic MSF course. Sure with some clutch slip you can make the bike move slowly, but it'll want to wobble a bit, and you'll find you wander off the line. That touch/light drag of rear brake helps the bike track smoothly.

errrrrrrrrrr i totally forgot about that technique.
we had a slow ride race as well. I freaking had it, but grabbed the clutch too hard... that technique would have won it.