Modern Vespa

Test rode the old model Ducati and loved it. Deposit placed on a 2023 Nightshift.

Congratulations, you'll have a blast. When you picking her up?

Her ? Are you assuming it's gender ?

From the advertising guff:
Meet the elegant and sophisticated one of the Next-Gen family.

RuPaul can be regarded as being elegant and sophisticated. Just sayin.

Still a few months off. They are expecting to get the initial batch in May, and after that it was going to be a factory order for September!

Don't I know it, bought a pair of engine crash bars for the Meteor- came all scratched and chipped, and the parcel it came in, looked like it had been kicked all over the shop.. Never again, lets hope when RE takes over, it'll be much improved!
Graham

Yeah like an Amazon?

Dr Zoidberg,

Good looking machine. Lite weight with 803cc engine. I had the
original 1971 Ducati 350 Scrambler back in my youth. It came at that time in both 350 and 450 engine size. I loved the narrow profile from the front.

Best of riding to you.

Bob Copeland


The Nightshift zoom zoom

My Ducati scrambler back in Italy while in the military. When I arrived
in Italy, I had never heard of Ducati. I wanted a Honda, but, Japanese
bikes had not yet hit Europe.

Thanks. The original looks great too.

The Nightshift in your pic is the current model. The new one has a lot of changes (hopefully for the better).

My current 'big bike'

I've seen the future but it's 12 months away so I have to wait.

That looks pretty nostalgic. I really like that if I knew how to shift.

It's easy enough with a moderate amount of practice. The alternative is to get a Honda with a DCT transmission for anyone fancying an easy to ride big bike.

Which is the most boring transmission of all time.

CVT in a Nissan Micra would disagree.

Pepy27,

You have to love those Hondas. That one is magnificent. My
first two wheeler was a 1971 Honda CB125 in California when
I was attending communication school in the USN.

"You meet the nicest people on a Honda" was the theme of the
time along with the Beach Boys singing "Honda Honda go faster,
faster, it's all right".

At the time, the Honda dealer in San Diego was super. He knew I
was only gong to be in town for a couple months. Honda sales
were flying. He took the little Honda back when I shipped out for
$100 less than I paid for it. I drove that little bike up and down the
coast between San Diego and LA. Great sun, great beaches, great
Fish and Chips in La Jolla and great riding.

Love your Honda.

Bob Copeland


First gear, it's all right, Second gear lean right....

Agree...
My first ride was a clapped out Honda 90, all over LA area in SoCal, after my bud, the owner, went back to finish his studies at the California Correctional Institution.(prison) He used a perforated Hunt's tomato paste can for a muffler.
18 yr old wife and I then rode a new Honda 90 all over western Mass, then a Honda 175 and a CB350 in TX for my medic training at Ft Sam Houston.
Great bikes - flawless ownership experiences.
My son's CB500X was the same.
If Honda still sold a step-thru scooter here - I'd own it, so - went with the Liberty. (Honda-like quality so far)
O.S.

My first scooter many years ago was a Honda 50 (Cub). Today Honda still sells the 125 Super Cub in the US. And that is not to mention the ADV150 or the PCX (plus the 50cc Metropolitan and Ruckus).


1963 Honda 50

2022 Honda Super Cub


Last edited by Dooglas on Thu, 16 Feb 2023 17:51:54 +0000; edited 1 time

I tried to buy one of those locally last week but even though I agreed to buy it at the selling price the seller went cold.

It's still for sale. Shrugs.

OldSchooot,

Loved that 1971 Honda CB125. I transferred from San Diego
directly to my duty station in Naples Italy. As I have mentioned
in earlier posts, not one Japanese Motorcycle being sold in
Europe in 1971.

At the base, those sailors who rode motorcycles used a local
dealer who was married to a US girl and spoke english in
Pozzuoli. He serviced and sold a variety of Italian motorcycles.

I had never heard of Ducati, much less any Italian two wheeled vehicle
except Vespa. I passed on Vespa because I needed something with
more legs to ride out of town and around Italy. Another sailor had
the Ducati 450 Scrambler (Yellow). I bought the Ducati 350 Scrambler. (Orange)

I rode the wheels off that Ducati from Sicily to Milan for the next four
years. Rome was our favorite destination to chase any and all english
speaking tourist girls. What a pick us line, "I am also from the USA
and live here in Italy - wanted go for a ride on my bike?" Man alive,
that was great having a pretty girl hugging your body from behind riding two up.

On a scale of 1 to 10, if you were a 5 guy, you became a 9 on that bike.

Later, I was able to pry Italian Girls away from their chaperoning mothers.

Bob Copeland
Long ago far away


My Ducati

Snuck Maria away from her Mother. Real story, Maria's older sister Carmen
married a USN Denist and was back in the States. Family got use to
sailor boyfriends and relaxed the chaperonning stuff.

The wife pretending she can ride.
Sat outside the WWI St Symphoren cemetery which was created after the first battle near Mons in France.

The side boxes were taped up due to a broken catch

My sub compact car has a transmission like that. It takes 11 seconds to go from 0 to 60 miles per hour. But hey it was all I could afford at the time. Plus it does 45 miles per gallon.

And in other news after £3950 in repairs and in preparation for a very long ride, the BMW cut out entirely 3 times today.

Time to drag the KLR back out of the dealership.

People have obviously heard how you destroy bikes and won't trust you with theirs?

Last edited by znomit on Fri, 24 Feb 2023 02:23:57 +0000; edited 1 time

I think that the word Destroy is a subjective term.

Talking of destroying - The BMW died on me 3 times a few days ago and so a replacement Hall Effect Sensor and an Ingnition Switch was fitted plus a good inspection of all the fuel lines was asked for and now it runs like a Trogan.

It's the best way to remain bankrupt.

Ah, how does a Trogan run?

Like a Spartan silly.

You think it's great but it's got a bunch of terrible stuff inside it?

It's only good for one run with the rubber?

Heck, I thought we were talking about this kind of Trogon, though I suppose they aren't great runners.


Elegant trogon

[img]


Still flying the flag. 🙂

Saw one in the metal today. Looks great.

Are you buying ?

Yep, deposit paid a while back. I wasn't entirely sure whether to go with the Nightshift or the red Full Throttle but I'm happy with my blue choice.

Dr Z,

Thanks for pushing me back down memory lane. I had
never heard of Ducati when I bought mine in 1972.
Yours looks great. You will be the "cool cat" in town.

Bob Copeland

Isn't it strange just how much a paint job changes a bike.

The red and black makes it look really corny but the blue makes it quite sophisticated.

I'm still pretty focused on the BSA for next year although I am chewing over owning a re born British brand that's owned by the Indians but with an Austrian engine in it.

I was out on the BMW on Saturday and then on the Moto Guzzi on Sunday.

Both times I had to clean and polish the bikes because the roads were still filthy down this way.

100 miles on the scooter in the sun today.

I got as far as taxing my Vespa today but probably won't ride it until Weston Super Mare Scooter Rally on the 29th.

I need to paint those passenger pegs black first and put some sticky clear adhesive on the toolbox door to protect the paint from luggage bag rubbing.

Off to the Lakes and Dales this weekend on the Tiger 800 and hope against hope its a dry Easter Weekend up there.