This is about the people driving on the road, not everyone but just about. I have been riding bikes for almost two years in Kuwait, and I have been riding for five years in the US. I know that there is an inherent danger in riding, and riding in Kuwait is at another level of its own.
This is about when I’m holding my own lane or planning to pass car. I have been swept aside by cars who want to get into the lane, or people who just don’t care even after noticing. Its as if the drivers don’t care about hurting other people, they don’t give space or move out of the way. My riding is extremely tactful, I know I’m an aggressive rider, but I really have to curb myself when there are cars on the road because you really have to expect the worse from them. Even after they notice you, some people try to squeeze you in, and I have a situation where a man after seeing opens his doors intentionally and looks me in the face, acting like he wants to get something out of the back. I didn’t react to him, I just let it go and moved on. The thing is I know that in Kuwait a hit and run isn’t considered a really serious offense and they don’t make a real effort to find the person who caused the accident, so if they hit you they would just run away while your laying on the ground.
I knew that people drive badly in Kuwait, but I didn’t think that they had no heart to the point they don’t care about inflicting pain to a person riding a motorcycle. I try to ride fast enough to Keep my distance from all cars because its safer to be riding alone on the road then next to other cars.
And that aside, I want to say thank you to EVERYONE who gives a motorcycle space to ride through while stopped at traffic or lets them through when they are going faster, or even being considerate to them. Those who give me space I always wave to, because I want them to do that again to any other person on a motorcycle. I want to thank those people who are considerate to those motorcyclists who are idiots on the motorcycles who are trying to slow traffic down to look at someone or to perform stunts in the middle of traffic, I know they are stupid, but thank you to those who are considerate enough not to hurt them.
Its frustrating try to get people to respect or be considerate to motorcyclists on the road when there are idiots on motorcyclist, but thank you to everyone who is! This was just on my mind after a few good and bad experiences I have had with people on the road! I will always keep riding, and keep on riding! And I want anyone who does ride to enjoy it!
Since I haven’t ridden Robo for over 5 weeks (3 weeks waiting for replacement parts and 2 weeks since the Ducati came in!), he seems to be acting up on me a bit! I can’t blame him! So while I was riding I came to a stop to take pictures I thought about not shutting the bike off and keep the bike running, but then I thought it was hot. So I shut off the bike and started taking my shots in a nice empty area.
After finishing up I got back on Robo and started him up, well I tried. He didn’t start, and he seemed very stubborn about it. So after a few tries, I thought it was best to stop. I opened up the manual and read up all the details about the battery, and the multiple warnings that are associated with it. The details and description is very clear, and all the tools were in bike. I have to commend BMW for their logical thinking, for once a motorcycle company put the battery, and leads where it is accessible, I know some companies put it under the tank to lower the center of gravity, but in this case it was under the top panel and readily accessible. I called home and we had the jumper cables and the driver wasn’t so I asked him to come in Landcruiser with the cables. It took him about 12 minutes to get there.
Then the Landcruiser and Robo had a heart to heart and he decided to start up. During the whole thing I really couldn’t blame him for being that way. After things were going a little better I decided to go for a little ride around the area, and I remembered how powerful Robo is and what he can do! He just eats up the ground and has more to go! So much grunt power! I love it! It was an interesting day!
It has been a couple of weeks since I recieved the Ducati! And at last I have reached the break-in mark! its not 1000 Kms exactly, I got it to 1121 Kms after this weekend. So I managed to ride over 500 Kms this weekend which is better then my previous weekends. I will be calling Tristar to see when I can get it serviced, and I also have a few parts which shall be fitted. I still have to keep things in line until 1500 Kms, but at this rate it won’t be that much longer.
- Tinted Windshield
- Ducati Racing Clutch
I think those are the only two parts that need to be installed, I’m not sure if they recieved the other parts I asked for. There is a few tweaks that I hope they can work out with the Ducati regarding when I’m coming to a stop and its just about to idle, it sometimes causes the bike to stall which doesn’t happen too often, but its seems some other owners seem to be having an issue. Its minor in comparison to my whole riding experience.
That aside I am still thinking about the names!
Right now there are a few:
- Dante (Evil in essence)
- Demon
- Diablo
- Blaze
- Spitfire
- Vulcan
- Titan
- Spartan
- Pyro
Five names I’m leaning towards are Dante (The Evil Count), Vulcan, Blaze, Diablo, and Pyro (Like playing with fire). Thanks to everyone who is giving their opinion! It has been hard to name this beast since he is something special, and I want it to be just right!
And some of you thought I had no love for Robo! Well I just had to break in the Ducati over the past few weeks, and so Robo was parked for a bit, but that doesn’t mean I don’t love that bike! Robo had a few parts on order which have improved a little looks, and made things easier on me in regards to the pulling in the clutch and brakes. I keep forgetting how much torque this machine has, everytime I get back on this machine I get amazed how much power bmw packed into it, its really something the desingers and engineers went crazy with and I love it. It took me a bit to get used to the handling again, but it handles and has the power! Love the sound of the engine and exhaust!
The one thing I dont like about most bikes is the levers. The levers on the K1200R is too big in my opinion, some people my feel differently. These levers are shorter with adjustable distance from your fingers. If you use two or three fingers for shifting or breaking then you wont be crushing your pinky or other fingers because of the way this lever is shaped. So I think this is an extremely needed upgrade! The distance from the hand can be adjusted two ways and the length of the lever can be adjusted as well. Loving it!
This upgrade is an all LED Brake light which gives a different look to the back end of the bike, previous it was all red so this change gave it a different look.
This strut is lighter and just as strong as the standard strut. And it looks really cool since the whole bottom of the bike is powder coated black this is a little different since its a silver Rizoma Paralever Strut.
Carbon Fiber Heel Gaurds
The heel gaurds just continue the look of the of the caron fiber pieces cross the bike.
Usually Mark and I meet up for Friday and keep our ride in and around the city. This time I thought to take him some where different since he is getting a bit bored of the usual route and he is more capable of his bike at this point! I decided to head out to Mina Abdulla and take the internal roads from there! I wish there was an internal road starting from Fahaheel but damn refinery is in the way.
When starting in Mina Abdulla we had a few curves and things were getting interesting, lots of beautiful comfortable curves on the internal roads and I’m happy most of it has been repaved. There weren’t a lot of people on the road since it was a little early on a Friday morning. I love taking those sweeping curves trying to drop my bike as much as possible, and at first Mark would be way behind, but after a little while he was getting the hang of it. It was comfortable sweeps on these nice two lane roads.
When we got to Julai’a we had to go through the Naval Base security check point, I wasn’t sure if they were going to let us through. Last year they didn’t let me through, but the guy waved us through when we were on the bikes. As we got towards the end you can really see all the equipment and presence of the American military, then we hit the second check point and he let us out this road. We continued our ride until we reached the end of Bnaider and decided to head back at that point, refueling at the Al Zoor gas station before riding back since we did a decent amount of riding.
On the way back we were cruising at 140 kph and at times we were holding at 160 kph and Mark was still passing me! The roads were great, and Marks’ riding improved drasticly which was fantastic! By the time we got back on the Gulf road starting at Salwa our bodies were slightly sore, but it was one hell of ride!
I have been trying to take some photographs at night, but when on the bike I can only take my point and shoot camera with me since I can’t carry any equipment. I do have two good cameras to take night shots with, especially the Canon Rebel XT would do an amazing job. I want to get the light reflecting off the red, to give it that mysterious look at night.
I wish I could do a better job with these night shot, this camera doesn’t do this machine justice. With the light hitting the parked Ducati, it gives off this feeling of evil and mystery. I will try setting it up so that I could take some pictures at night at the right spot with the right camera. I just have to carry the gear.
I was looking forward to riding this thursday since I wanted to get some more milage on the bike. The weather was beautiful but it was feeling a bit hot if I wasn’t constantly moving, I love riding in the morning and at night, but during the afternoon it was getting a bit hot.
I wanted to pass by The One at Marina and I have to say that it was packed full of people and I just wanted to take a quick look. Then I left and continued my ride until I got home. After all this riding the only thing that made sense was to take a shower, but then I continued riding over to my brothers pad to get a bite to eat! I napped a bit on his couch and woke up to my nephew saying “Ball Ball Ball Ball” and that made me laugh!
Alot of people keep asking me the question so I would make a short post about the difference between the two machines to justify the financial difference, just so you know what your getting:
1098:
- Showa Suspension
- Showa Steering Dampener
- Cast Marchesini Rims
1098s:
- Ohlins Suspension
- Ohlins Steering Dampner
- Forged Marchesini Rims (Lighter)
- Carbon Fiber Front End
Same Engine for both machines.
Difference:
With the lighter rims and carbon fiber front end the unsprung weight is reduced, and with the superior Ohlins suspension it handles better, that is why it is designated as the “S” model for sport.
If you go these upgrades for the 1098 as the components as already included in the 1098S, it would definately be more expensive.
1098 Cost: 6000KD
1098S Cost: 8200KD
Seperatly the Ohlins shocks on their own would cost 2000KD without installation and the forged Marchesini rims cost 1000KD a piece which would amount for a total of 4000 KD. So the 2200 KD between the standard model and the “S” model is very much justified.
I would also throw in a full Termignoni System into as well since it t is a nice 12 bhp bump and has all the pieces to complement the motorcycle.
I have been riding this machine for days now, trying to ride as much as possible whenever I can. I try to take inside roads instead of highways, curved roads instead of straight, road with no stop lights, roads with the least amount of possible traffic. It is impossible to ride this machine slow, it etches to rip the ground beneath you apart. This machine brings out the demon in me, I haven’t ridden a support sport V-Twin in a long time, and it makes things seems so easy. It feels like I’m going into battle with this machine as my shield. Even when riding next to Al Koot, I was flying around the round about when it was empty getting pretty low, and reaching my destination, every time I feel that I have gone as low as possible it goes lower, my skills are no way close enough to reach the limits of this machine, I want to hone my skills and improve them just to ride this machine right, I want to take to a track. My blood is still pumping from it!
The Names I have came up with:
- Spartan
- Jet Fire
- Demon
- Hellion
Any other recommendations?
People just don’t realize how fast these machines can accelerate. Check out these videos.