Ducati Monster Forum

This was my first road trip on the Monster and my g/f's second time on the highway at all! We rode from West Berkeley to Pollock Pines. I want to thank duckwrench13 for supplying most of the route information on a different thread started by Desmostro.

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The Wolfman Mini Beta tail bag was AWESOME. That, along with a small Givi tail and Cortech tank bag had two people easily set up for 3 days of hiking, swimming, ping pong, and general good times ( [drink] ).

Sounds like a pretty nice trip, cool pictures. The bee is checking you out  ;D
Thanks for sharing  [thumbsup]

Looks great man.

The photos make me jealous

Great photos!  Any interesting stories to tell from the trip?

Most of the stories have to do with very drunken activities, but the motorcycle portion was fairly calm, which is the way I prefer! Since Sarah is new to highway riding we took it easy on the main roads (580, 205) and ended up getting passed by a couple sketchy cruiser riders and once by a scooter while we were stuck in traffic (Sarah doesn't lane share yet)!! For the most part, every rider out in the sticks waved to us, cruiser or otherwise. As soon as we got back to the Bay Area we didn't get anymore cruiser waves.  [roll] Even a cop with radar out there took a second to lean our his window and throw us a peace sign.  :o
I also had no idea there was a wine country out there. It came out of nowhere are made it a really pretty ride.

That's quite an outing for her second time on a freeway. Sounds like a good time, though.

I think people riding way out in the middle of nowhere are more prone to waving (not that I've noticed a lack elsewhere) since it's pretty likely that you've gone just as far to get there as they have. It's a "How hardcore are we? Oh yeah!" wave. :)

It felt like that sometimes! Hehe. I also felt really proud of my g/f whenever we passed a couple who were touring two-up because she rides her own motorcycle.

A few more pictures because, well, who doesn't like pictures of motorcycles?!

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and....... lets give the little Ninja credit where credit is due.

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That's very cool. :)

[beer]

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Cause Chicks who ride are awesome  [clap]

Looks like a good trip.  I am glad I have one planned cause otherwise I would be even more jealous.

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Good to hear the Wolfman bag worked out well for ya too.   [moto]

Nice! Great photos, thanks for sharing.

I did a road trip last week and was debating if I should take a Monster or the SV and finally the SV won as I wanted a little  more upright seating position for such long trips.

Yeah, I forgot to mention that I bought it because of your recommendation. I quite like it.


This trip was only 150 miles or so each way and the tiny gas tank on the Monster had me taking enough rest stops that I didn't get too fatigued. We took most of the route pretty easy on the speedo, having a little fun through the twistier stretches near our destination. All in all it was nearly 4 hours in one direction with this route. I bet the SV would be a little more comfortable, but my biggest complaint was tank size.

I like that Wolfman bag too....  May think about one in the future.

Great pics!! Glad you liked the roads. There's some seriously good schtuff up that-a-way.

Don't worry too much about the tank size... trust me! I had an old 1989 BMW R100GS, with an Acerbis 12 gallon tank, and the BMW auxiliary tanks...1.5 gallons either side under my legs. I was pulling almost 700 miles out of the whole set up. And yes, I'd ridden it non-stop a few times. I could walk, barely, and I hurt for days once I got to the end of the ride. A small-ish tank, say 3 gallons, is a very good thing!!! With a moderate load on board, and running highway speeds, you should average a fill up about every 2.5 hours. Oddly enough, that's also about the same time your ass, legs and back start hating you. So having to stop on a regular basis is always a good thing! [thumbsup]

That bike looks familiar for some reason.....

Miss it, do ya? ;)

I tried my utmost to convince Paula to tell you we had wrecked it, felt bad, and just send you some money for it.


She was tempted.

Hey, easy come, easy go. [cheeky]

Don't worry, it'll come visit for a good flogging once in a while.