My new bike and a sort of introduction

[garrehz]

Hey guys, I dont know many of you guys, but I had a thought the other day I just want to share. Take it as you will.. it may even give you an insight into the kind of person I am, it may not, so consider it an introduction of sorts about a recent purchase I made.. which I think has changed me forever.


Well.. the end of 2008 I finished doing my motorbike course with the Army.. hooray! full license! and I really could not wait to purchase a motorbike and finally be able to see whats its like to lean into corners and feel the "freedom" that bikers always go on about. Now.. Ive always said if I get a motorbike, its got to be a Ducati, this is not some ego trip thing of "hey guess what, I have a duke!" its the fact that they are beautiful, I mean STUNNING.

The thing is right, im not rich, and dont have tons of money. in fact I put on my second hand leather riding jacket, and helmet I got for christmas every day to go to work. the jacket probably wont do shit, but hey, at least its something, right!? but guess what, im riding a god damn duke!

funny enough, I have always been a car man. My first car was a subaru leone... me and my bro (psi) house painted it yellow.. the car itself cost $400 yep, 400 big ones, the stereo cost 3k and sounded fkn awesome. From there I sold it for the same price I bought it for an subsequently bough my Nissan 180sx, which I love to death and still own. Now I have probably spent triple what my car is worth on A: modifying it and B: fixing it when it dies. and ill tell you, Ive had some awesome times with that car.. some not quite so legal.. hehe lets say the cops never caught me to question me Very Happy but of all the thrills and rushes ive had in the car... my god... the bike is just so much more intense.

Now... I'm not talking, break the law, run from cops, do 200k's along Perth's freeway sort of intense. im talking about feeling more than that. Now see Eric Banas love thy beast? that's what I am talking about. I mean... I am not rich right, far from it actually. but by make the beast with two backs I was getting a duke. So I went and got a loan I *probably* could not really afford to buy my bike, a 96' Ducati Monster 900M. Yep its a 96, Carrbied, lots of k's and probably not treated the best but I got it anyway.

Well when its cold right, the Duke has a hard time starting. in fact because the batteries old sometimes it wont start at all, and I have to push start it. Thats put it in second gear, run down a hill drop the clutch rev the engine and hope it starts. Well it does this alot now, the batteries getting older. but you know what? it doesnt bother me... in fact I like it. My bike has a personality, to the point where I washed it the other day because I promised it if it started in the morning when I was late for work I would give it a nice bath.. AND IT DID! first time bang how awesome is that. Also sometimes at traffic lights it will randomly stall.. so I will just try to get her going again, and get on my way. there are literally tons of things that can happen on my daily commute with this bike.

Basically what I am saying is... My bike frustrates me. its old. it's rough in the mornings. people give me shit because I wear a jacket from the great escape and my bike is a bit of a well c**t sometimes. they go on about how they own an R1 and can do 300 on the FWY. well guess what.. I don't give a damn. the feel, the sound, the fun I have with my duke surpasses any of the common everyday crap that they get with there motorbike version of dare I say, a Commodore or Holden.

So what I am saying is despite all this. I LOVE MY make the beast with two backsING BIKE!

and I think im going to keep it until I die of old age Smile

thanks for listening.

[mostro900]

Garrehz,
Let me be the first to congratulate you!! You are not one of the big crowd, but one of the smaller, smarter(?), well at least more passionate crowd I reckon. I know people say that Ducs can ahve a mind of their own, but they are still the ducks guts. Bloody brilliant bikes and put a smile on your face no matter what - even if the bloody good looking thing wont f'n start !

Enjoy and thanks for introducing yourself! There's a few sandgropers on the forum, so hopefully you can get to meet em.

[heatherp]

Hi Garrehz

Well you've found a place full of like minded people. I understand you at least.  Lost sandgroper living (surviving) in Vic currently.

Just wondering tho, where the hell in Perth do you find a hill to jump start your bike.  Guess a new battery is on the Xmas wish list.   

[Spider]

my first Duc had a battery that was surely shot.....isn't it funny how a battery can help a man find religion and suddenly become so superstitious!!!

suddenly it's "god, I'll do this" and "baby, if you start I'll do this...."

with the new battery she started every time on the first few cranks....but the fear/stress/excitement was gone...but the joy when she roars is still there!

enjoy your ride!

[Jukie]

Well Garrehz,

You just put a massive smile on my face when reading your story. the love you have for your Duc is awesome and very real. when i was little girl the one thing i wanted was to owner a Duc and now i have him,  im not letting him go. its good to have the passion

[dragonworld.]

Aaaah you screwed now!! 

The Monster has bit and the venom has circulated through your system, never to be removed!! 

The older Ducs certainly have a "Character" of their own, and most of them like problem starting are usually the inadequate starter/charging system wiring. Waay too small and too much resistance. (Got a wiring kit from DesmoTimes USA, and made a lot of difference. No more smoking wies when starting )

There are a couple of us on the site that have these "oldies", so just ask if you have a problem and I'll make a bet one or more of us has alraedy experienced it, and has the fix. 

Welcome to the group. MWWWWOOOOAAAARRRHHHHAAAAAHHHAHH.   Your life is not yer own. 

[916_tommy_s4]

Gotta love your passion mate. I was bitten hard as well... Started off as a car guy(always into the rally side of it, ie four-potters with all-wheel-fun-drive)

Early last year, was pricing up a second hand evo9. Prohibitively expensive. Ive always loved my mates monster, and always followed the Duc's in the motogp, yes, even before Casey... So when I looked at the stats, price, etc, but mostly the raw hella-fun of bikes, I decided to try and get my mates monster off him. He had it on the market for nearly a year before i managed to get him to sell it to me, he always said he didnt want a mate killing hisself, as Im not experienced on two wheels at all. None-the-less I told him Id do Q-ride, etc and he evetually came round.

Ive never looked back, Im not supposed to be riding it now cause of the over the top laws we've got here now, but I love it mate. cant get over the torque-y 4v that pulls from the get-go and mostly (from my rally past) the flying through the twisty bits. Its fun, but underneath all that, is the passion. We all feel it, some more than others. Good post mate, enjoy your Duc. I sure as hell am.

Cheers!

[monsta]

g'day garrehz,
good thing youv'e this place...   full of good info.

you may want to check your charging volts before you go running of to get a battery. The regulators have been known to shit emselves..  and if you do need a battery, you may want to look into a dry cell one so you wont get battery acid leaks.
 
I live in the northern burbs of Perth, so if your nearby and dont have a volt meter, your more than welcome to drop by and use it...
I've had my monster for more than 14 yrs, so yeah, its an old carby as well. I love it! 

 

[garrehz]

Cheers guys good to see there are plenty of others that share my passion! I'm not *currently* in Perth as I'm living in QLD due to being in the Army... but thankfully my discharge is in and ill be moving back home to Perth at the start of December. I will definitely have to look into the voltmeter as the main problem is some mornings ill roll her out, hit the starter and its literally nothing. not a thing, but when I leave work in the afternoon she fires first time every time.

Back when I was right into the car seen I used to hang out alot with the Skylines Australia crew back in Perth, and had my own car club named *Rice* if any of you in Perth ever saw the big orange *Rice* sticker on the front window of a car it was probably one of our guys, we were together for almost 3 years and had close to 25 members! very unusual for a car club these days. I hope that I can get the same camaraderie with Ozmonsters as I did with SAU and Rice.

Cheers guys and thanks for the replies 

[dragonworld.]

Hmmmm, that does sound like a blat flattery problem!!