Ducati Travelogue of Tigh Loughhead's Motorcycle Adventures in NYC | NYDUCATI

 I had been out really early this morning, riding all around White Plains and 22 up into Connecticut, first with a couple of friends, and then with a bunch of East Coast Ducs as well.  But, I broke off early, as Moto Borgotaro had organized a couple of private collectors to do a classic 1970's Italian superbike bike show in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn in concert with Union Garage and Alpinestars.

Tommy and I had an early morning today, meeting a few friends off Exit 48 of the LIE at 7am.  The weather was a bit foggy coming out of the city, but I made it from the Lower East Side out towards Mellville in just over half-an-hour.

I had mixed feelings when Ducati announced Project 1312, which turned out to be the "SuperSport," Ducati's return to sport touring.
 I love the ergonomics of my ST3, which was unfortunately killed off by the introduction of the Multistrada in 2007.  Though their capabilities overlapped, the Multistrada isn't the same, offering aa more upright riding position, and which never really felt like a sportbike.

I met Jody at last year's DESMO BBQ, the 16th annual New York Ducati enthusiast's summer party. I had seen pictures of her bike before, but never had met the artist,  Jody Whitsell who one day took a Sharpie Marker to one of the most beautiful Ducati motorcycles ever built, a Ducati Monster S2R.
The funny thing is that I had the exact same idea to do to my Ducati 996, and even bought a set of cheap Chinese plastics, which I either wanted to vinyl-wrap, or paint or draw upon myself.

I had the chance to take the 2017 Ducati Multistrada 950 out today, a baby version of Ducati's all purpose touring motorcycle.

 New York City "Progressive" International Motorcycle Show

One of my best friends from college, who I hadn't seen since he got married about two years ago, is coming down from Boston for the weekend. Now he's not a rider, though he wanted to come, so I bought him a ticket.  His bus didn't get in till late, so we didn't get a chance to go to Javits for too long, and I didn't get to meetup with too many people, or take as many pictures as in years past.

I was a little worried that the riding season had come to close early this year. I had missed a bunch of events towards the end of September and October last year, although California was amazing.

Unbelieveably, in all of San Francisco, I'm staying about two blocks from Ducati San Francisco.  I've stayed for a couple of days in Portrero with a friend of my girlfriend, and then I'm crashing with a friend of a friend in the Mission, literally right down the street from Munroe Motors, the official Ducati shop in SF.

Off with the suit and onto the road...

Marketing guru and motorcycle fanatic

I've been running around like crazy this weekend.

Riding around on my Ducati Streetfighter this weekend was a blast, filled with that sickly sweet mixture of power and fear that makes your skin tingle and your throat tighten up, wondering about your mortality in the back of your mind (cue Song of the Sausage Creature...)

A photo posted by BADOC (@bay_area_desmo_owners_club) on Jul 1, 2016 at 6:44am PDT

I've been riding and traveling for most of the spring, so I haven't had a chance to catch up on my ride reports, but had to recap a bike night in Brooklyn a few week's back.

To say my Streetfighter S is kind of scary is a little bit of an understatement.   The jump in horsepower is more than slightly unsettling (-compare about 115hp of my 996 to over 160hp+ on the Streetfighter, which is also a considerably lighter and more nimble bike)

Coming back from Joshua's house, Mark from Brooklyn Moto had invited me to come to a motorcycle BBQ in Brooklyn, and watch MotoGP, the fifth round taking place in Le Mans in France.

I'm in the process of writing up a more detailed ride report, but last Sunday the East Coast Ducs went up to Hudson Valley Motorcycles and did a few hundred miles in upstate New York.

A short history of the Ducati Superbike over the last 30 years.

The master chef of Mu Ramen fame, who happens to a so be a massive Ducati motorcycle enthusiast and East Coast Duc member, invited the club to spend the afternoon dining with him and 52 lbs of mouthwatering, dry-aged prime rib steaks and watching MotoGP.

So I've had a rough time getting my bike on the road this spring.  After going out with the East Coast Ducs first ride of 2016 and discovering that I needed a new clutch in my 996, last weekend my chain was really loose.
However, I'm finally using my GoPro Hero4 Silver, and I've finally got some great footage of riding around the city,
even though I ended up getting pulled over on the West Side Highway.
Worried about my chain and recent drama at my garage, and wanting to get some video footage of New York City, I rode over to Klutch NYC, where Rafael runs a great shop in the East Village for motorcycle apparel and gear.
so we hung out for a while with my friend Erik, who is helping out detailing bikes at Brooklyn Moto.
I rode back to my house and ordered a new DID 525 chain, and a new Michelin front tire from Revzilla, before my girlfriend came over and we walked back over the Brooklyn Bridge,
to walk around Brooklyn Heights,
and watch the sun set over Manhattan from Brooklyn Bridge Park.
© 2016 Tigh Loughhead

Uggh... last weekend my clutch gave out hopping on the West Side Highway on the East Coast Ducs' first ride of the year.

Unfortunately, this is the third clutch I've had to replace in as many years (two dry clutches on my ST3 and one one wet clutch on my Monster), as well as helping friends replace clutches of their own, so I decided to create a little YouTube tutorial about:

How to Replace a Dry Clutch on a Ducati 916 / 996 /998

 I'm hoping to narrate a more comprehensive and useful guide, but here are some highlights on how to replace a Ducati dry clutch.

 © 2016 Tigh Loughhead

Alex and I arrived exactly at the Moto Guzzi Museum, in the small town of Mandello del Lario, at exactly 3pm, which was perfect, as the museum only opens for an hour per day.

The rest of the trip will feel odd without a motorcycle.  There is such agency that comes with a vehicle, and an added immediacy or presence on a motorcycle.  A motorcyclist engages with his or her environment in a way that no other mode of travel offers.  I never feel like a tourist on  a bike; rather I feel part of the landscape, as I feel the curvature of little pieces of earth as I wend my way down the road.

Alex and I awoke this morning amazed at the roads we had already traveled.  Yesterday we explored nearly the entire western half of Lake Como, as well as most of the periphery of Lake Lugano.  Travel has been thoroughly smooth all the way from JFK to Milan to EICMA to picking up our bikes and hitting the road. Newly invigorated from our recent successes, we decided on an ambitious route for the day, to try to explore a THIRD lake, also situated in between Italy and Switzerland, to the west of Lugano, called Lago Maggiore.

Milan, Como, Gravadona, Menaggio, Lugano