The 1098R is a machine to be reckoned with, literally the best v-twin motorcycle made yet. And Ducati has dedicated this one to Troy Bayliss for winning three Superbike World Champions with his Ducati. Only 500 are being made at $45000, signed by Ducati CEO Gabriele Del Torchio and Troy Bayliss with the production number. It would take a real Ducatista to appreciate this work of art.
Link: Luxist
I am always paranoid about the data on my phone, losing my phone numbers, pictures, ring tones, and messages. I try to back up my phone often, but the last months of 2008 I didn’t back up my phone and I added a lot of phone numbers and took off to the states. Around the 2 week of January I was riding my motorcycle to Palo Alto (Stanford) to get a bite to eat and then head back from there. When I was riding back to San Jose it started to rain, I stopped at the gas station next to the house to fill up gas, and as I was riding out I left my jacket zipper open which had my phone, so when I rode up hill I felt something fall out of my pocket. I stopped right away and saw my phone sliding a bit down the hill, I got off and tried to get to it before it slipped into a puddle, but I was too late.
I picked up the phone right away, wiped it off and saw the screen flickering to its death. I pulled out the battery right away, then I used a fan to try to dry it off a bit. I was hoping for the best, but I’m in the states with no spare phone, and I pretty much lost all my numbers. I’m lucky I have most of the important numbers memorized but I lost a lot of new numbers. I went picked up a crappy Sony Ericsson from Tmobile to last me the last two weeks. I wanted to break the phone in half after the first day, from such a good phone to a crappy one. I tried powering it up after three days of drying and heat, it came on, the phone shook, the keyboard lit up, but the screen would no power up. I was very annoyed at this, so I took out the battery and left it at that.
When I got back to Kuwait I took the phone to Phone Center in Sharq, 24040890, and told them the situation. They didn’t think it was salvageable. I gave them my spare phone in Kuwait, and I was hoping they can do something about it. They called me and told me that the phone is completely damaged and not worth fixing, but they managed to recover all the phone numbers off of it and transfer it to my spare phone. I have to say that the good news really made my day, and now I’m backing up the phone numbers and I have to make sure that I don’t overwrite any of the new ones.
It seems the 1198/1198S are getting rave reviews, I think Ducati has another gem on their hand with this one. The new 1198S comes with the Ducati Traction Control (DTC) which is featured on the more expensive 1098R. There is increase of torque on this engine, I can’t imagine how more torque would feel since I do love my 1098S, and the claimed 170 bhp is just amazing.
Link: MCN
Dar Al Shifa Hospital and Kuwait BMW Motorcycle Club will hold the first Ride-to-Sav3 drive on Saturday 15th November, starting 3pm.
Bikers from the club and other fellow bikers (BMW motorcycles, Ducatis, Harleys) will drive from the Green Island to Dar Al Shifa Hospital to donate blood. The convoy of bikers marks the support towards the importance of donating blood.
This event is taking place this Saturday and everyone is encouraged to participate. Tristar motorcycles sent out text messages to its customers and I got the email above. I will hopefully be riding during this time and so will a few other people. Its for a really good cause and I think its important for people to give blood, there has been situation when people do need blood that I know off and they have asked for people to donate. Hopefully there will be a big turn out for this event.
The past couple of days have been nothing but amazing weather, even when it rains a little I still want to ride. The best part of waking up so damn early on a Friday morning is having the streets of Kuwait completely to yourself. Met up with Vampire and Monichum around 7ish at Starbucks Bide’a. We had our route planned out like usual, we were thinking about going to Julai’a but we didn’t have the time.
Even when waiting at Bida’a we kept seeing bike after bike passing by, engine roaring as they are going from sport bikes to cruisers and of all makes. Its a great feeling these bikers out at this time taking advantage of the amazing weather. I do prefer the cold over the heat anytime of the day. We took off down the GulfRoad enjoying each and every curve it had to offer, and the past part is taking it without worrying about the next idiot who will lean on you.
After finishing up our nice ride we headed back to Starbucks Bida’a and met up with a few guys we knew. It was a bunch of Ducatis and one KTM parked there, it was honestly a beautiful site and that was left was for us to be in some village in Italy.
Ducati has come out with the perfect machine, it is something a lot of people have been waiting for. After the success of the 1098 I think this is the perfect follow up punch. The Ducati Streetfight/S gets the 155 bhp engine from the 1098.
Longer wheelbase then the 1098, more relaxed riding position from the straight bar. It does have it unique look from the bodywork and headlight which I really like. It will for sure have a unique riding capability which I would like to try. Its price range is from $14-15,000 and it will be available in the Spring of 2009.
Link: HFL
The weather was so nice recently that I decided to head out on the bike as soon as I was back. It was a clear day, and I could feel the cool wind. My Nano was charged and my playlists sorted out, so I got on the bike and headed for the seaside. There were a few vehicles on the road and people heading to work from the seaside but its still an enjoyable ride. I think the only thing driving me nuts is that I can’t eating anything during the ride, I do get hungry but I only stop for a bottle of water and drink the whole thing. Oddly enough I could smell meat from the morning, bakeries, I could even pick up the smell of doughnuts at different points. Its really funny when you get the wiff and suddenly my mind is thinking about food and the nice weather.Â
Its finally cooling off to the point where you can ride without feeling your being cooked alive every time you stop at a traffic light. We woke up around 5:30 am getting ready to ride, and met up at 6:45 am at the Starbucks in Bida’a, its the only place open at that time. I filled up gas at the Miseela gas station and saw some Harley’s meeting up. It wasn’t as cool as I thought it would be, and it was a little humid but still much better
We decided to stay in the city instead of going to Julai’a since we had a few things to do early in the afternoon. Riding down the Gulf Road that early in the day is perfect, it was nearly empty and we were enjoying ourselves. You could see other bikers on the road enjoying the nice weather. Monichum and I were enjoying the empty streets. We were flying when we could and also enjoying the weather. The music from my iPod Nano was perfect for my riding, I could hear the music and outside sound to a degree. Can’t wait to completely break-in the KTM, it is one hell of machine and you really don’t know the limitations of this machine. And the last stop was some chilli chees fries at Johnny Rockets!
The weather was really nice during the week and I decided to go out mid-week since I still had a few days. The weather was really nice the day before so the next day I woke up around 7:30 am, showered, geared up and headed out. And during my stop at the gas station and people’s consensus it has been decided that he has been named Tango to fit the attitude. This also relates to one of the most entertaining movies from the late 80s, Tango and Cash!
Filled up at Miseela gas station, stopped at Starbucks Bida’a for a quick drink and then headed down the road. I decided to keep to the seaside since people will be driving to work on most of the other roads. This machine’s build quality can be felt when you are riding, you can really feel the road. I don’t think I have even tapped into it’s capabilities but it gives me this strange confidence to keep on pushing and I keep getting closer to the gravel as I am going through the corners. I went by the airport road and I love that curved piece of highway and try to push it as hard as I can, I don’t realize how fast I’m going, my eyes on the target and trying to keep to lines that I see in my head. I really do need to go to a race track soon. I just hope it gets a little cooler soon, riding season is back and I am really going to enjoy it.
168 Km and counting.. only 831 Km left until the first service.Â
I wasn’t in my best health recently so I wasn’t able to ride the KTM as much as I wanted and being the last days of Ramadan I had other engagements which preoccupied me from riding. These days I think I will have a little bit more time to break the bike in and enjoy the machine. A lot of people keep asking me for a comparison between the RC8 and 1098s, and at this point it would be premature to say anything, I haven’t even scratched the surface of it. One thing I am very happy about is that you can clearly see the signals when you are behind or in front of me, they are bright LEDs. The stock mirrors are extremely good you can see people behind you and next to you, there is a blind spot of course but not unlike any other sports bike. This is a different machine for sure, it feels more civilized, you feel more confident when riding and stock seating position is very comfortable. I have nothing but good things to say about the KTM but there is a lot to discover and more to describe at a later point.Â
The one thing about purchasing a motorcycle from the first creation of it is that you have to wait for the aftermarket parts. I’m not looking for performance modifications as much as cosmetic in the beginning, luckily KTM has a huge selection for every motorcycle they release, but I’m also looking for a few other items. I look for performance upgrades which give me the ability to ride the RC8 better, not necessarily something that makes it stronger. And the current modifications I have made are mostly cosmetic.Â
Mods:Â
- Tinted Windshield
- Tank Protector
- Racing Fuel Cap
- Rim Sticker Set
- Aluminium Cap Clutch Reservior
- Aluminium Cap Brake Fluid Reservior
I just received the Tinted Windshield and Racing Fuel Cap so I decided to install it. As things were progressing I started off with the Windshield, started unbolting the screws, for some reason it wouldn’t budge, and this is when things always get interesting. I thought maybe I need to remove the top front fairings (body panels), so I started unscrewing those as well. And I noticed they are really held together perfectly, looking at it I knew I was doing something wrong, I shouldn’t be taking the front fairing off to install a wind shield, its usually a straight forward process. So I started look for something I missed, and turns out I missed a set of screws which were holding it in place and I took it off and easily slid out. Then installed the tinted windshield and it looked really different. Now it came time to install the Racing Fuel Cap instead of the standard fuel cap, the instructions were clear and said to make sure I don’t drop any screws into the tank and that is what I was most worried about. Took it step by step and followed the clear instructions, made sure the air pressure valve was placed correctly with the racing fuel cap and it fit perfectly.
All these subtle changes made this bike look a little nicer, it is a beautifully designed machine. I don’t even know what to modify, its just something that you have to personalize.
