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DESMO Ducati Owners Club 17th Annual BBQ and Bike Show

This will be my fifth consecutive barbecue and bike show since joining DESMO, New Jersey's  officially recognized Ducati Owner's Club.


I've included a BBQ and bike recap of each of the previous four years below:

2013 Desmo Ducati Owners Club Annual BBQ 

2014 The 14th Annual Desmo BBQ 

2015 The 15th Annual DESMO BBQ

2016 DESMO DOC's 16th Annual BBQ


I bought a Toyota Tacoma back in March, but hadn't gotten it road legal till a few weeks ago,  and I've been itching to take a motorcycle trip. 
So when a friend Melissa suggested joining a #RideHVMC track day on Monday, I threw the motorcycle in the back of the pickup truck, and drove over to the BBQ in Hamptonburgh, en route to New York Safety Track.
Loading my Ducati Streetfighter 1098S into the back of a pickup wasn't hard, but backing it out is a little more difficult, as I learned stopping by Brooklyn Moto last week to try on Pirelli Diablo Rosso III tires.  I've always run Michelins on my bikes (which typically last longer and are great for touring), but was excited for Pirelli's much stickier, race-ready rubber.
Despite feeling like I was cheating a bit, driving with A/C for two hours in the dead of summer proved to be a much more leisurely experience than doing the same trip on a motorcycle.

DESMO Ducati Bike Show

 A number of East Coast Ducs showed up for the bike show, with few extraordinary machines in the mix.
 Glenn's track bike is exquisite; a 959 Panigale custom painted to match Chaz Davies WSBK Aruba.it superbike.
 I would venture to say the Welshman himself would be proud of this livery.
 My personal favorites were a pair of cafe racers: a fully faired SportClassic (the full fairing is exactly what I would add should I ever get a chance to own one of these retro bikes),
and Henry's Mike Hailwood replica MH900e.
 The "Best in Show" honor went to Andres's highly customized Ducati 998.
 This beautiful machine has a powder-coated blue frame and wheels, a nearly new engine, track fairings (with LED headlights making it barely street-legal), and tons of carbon fiber,

and is currently on sale for about $6500...
 The paint job on this Monster (the Darmah black and gold) was sublime.
 The only true classic (a beveled Desmo) was an immaculate 1975 (?) Ducati 750 Sport.
 This Monster was framed by a bunch of Ducati Panigales.
 There were fewer bikes than in years past, and many of my fellow riders from NYC.
 At the same time, there were a number of terrific Ducati motorcycles that didn't enter the bike show  next to my truck
 in the parking lot.
 This looked a lot like Bruce's lovely 916, though I don't remember the white bodywork.
 After lunch and voting on the bike show,
 everyone gathered in the pavilion for the raffle and bike show, presented by Ben, Bobby, Bruce and Sandro.
 Desmo DOC has some great sponsors, like Moto-D racing,  Hudson Valley Motorcycles, DP Brakes, New York Safety Track, S100
 and many more that generously donate products and services to the club.
 After the raffle, everybody loaded up,
 and I took a few more pictures of DESMO members gearing up, like this pair of custom-stickered Ducati Monsters,
  before heading another few hours north to the track.
 The BBQ was an awesome day, and the DESMO community is a great group of people,
and stay tuned for my next post from the racetrack! 

© 2017 Tigh Loughhead

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