There were a number of other customized and classic motorcycles at the motorcycle show.

R1s, H2Rs and RC390s for 2015

 New York City "Progressive" International Motorcycle Show

I braved some miserable weather up to Rockwell Cycles this weekend with a friend from the DOCNYC, for their annual holiday party.  Good food, music and a great atmosphere provided a festive backdrop to Rockwell's beautiful motorcycle inventory, like this Ducati Panigale R.

That evening, the DESMO Ducati Owner's Club held our annual Christmas as well.  The party was a bit more subdued than last year, but we really appreciated all of the sponsors, including: Absolute Cycle Experience, Rockwell Cycles, Motorcycle Mall, Klim, Shoei, California Superbike School, Brillianize, EVS, Olympia, European Cycle Services, New Pig, Techspec, BST Wheels, Vortex Racing, Odyssey Battery, Sargent Cycle, RKA, Revzilla.

To find out more about the event, check out http://www.desmoducati.org/hp2014.html
© 2014 Tigh Loughhead

Unsanctioned Block Party at Union Garage

Hipster Mayhem: 6th Annual Brooklyn Invitational Custom Motorcycle Show 2014

I was planning on visiting a few friends down at the track at Thunderbolt this weekend, but first  I wanted to check out the Brooklyn Invitational Custom Motorcycle Show, which I stumbled on last year.  Williamsburg is the hipster epicenter of the free world, and I was expecting a bunch of sick bikes, most that can't be ridden too far or too fast, some of which are incredibly built; others that are just incredibly loud.

 Ok, so this is arguably not motorcycle, let alone a Ducati, but it's bike-related and still pretty cool.  By the time I'm posting this, there have been fewer than 70 "Slingshots," marketed by Polaris as a "3 Wheel Motorcycle" sold in the world.

My buddy Jay and I went for a ride today.  He had to get the oil changed on his newly acquired BMW S1000RR, and we set off  towards Pennsylvania, planning to snake around the Delaware River up Route 32 towards the Delaware Water Gap.

Droves of Ducs and Garrisons of Guzzis at the 2014 IMOC Rally

 Biking to Bunker Hill while Waiting for a Wedding

DOCNYC Maine in September

DOCNYC in Portsmouth, NH

1956 MV Agusta 175 CSTL

Martin Moto hosts the The Modern Classics Ride-In in Boyertown, PA

Zero S ZF11.4 

This is a really cool motorcycle.  Coming back from the gym, I noticed this bizarre red bike plugged into the Hertz electric charging station outside my co-op on the Lower East Side.  I realized that this must be one of the Zero bikes, the first totally electric, commercially available motorcycle to exceed 100 miles on a single charge.

With a pricetag of nearly $20,000 for this model, (base MSRP is closer to $13K), this bike isn't cheap, so even the most ecologically-conscious playboy New Yorker would think twice about leaving it on the street. However, with a top speed close to 100mph, 54hp and 0-60 in under 6 seconds, this is much more motorcycle than electric scooter. With the power pack, the motorcycle can travel for 170+ miles on one charge, though trips need to planned carefully, as you need a specially designed charging station on the other end.

 Much of my love for motorcycling originates from the ability to simply take off and never look back, and this Zero S is close to useless as far as touring.  But as technology progresses, and open-source Tesla-like designs become the norm, who is to say this isn't the future of the motorcycle?  Part of me recoils at envisioning the loss of soul from a rumbling Ducati to a space-age Jetson's bike, yet imagine never having to change your oil, check your valves, or even worry about your engine?

© 2014 Tigh Loughhead

DESMO 14th Annual Ducati BBQ

Impromptu Run to the Storm King Highway

 I haven't had much of a chance to ride with the DOCNYC (my Ducati motorcycle crew) this year, because of motorcycle mayhem and long trips.  But last night, I noticed a couple friends on a forum itching to ride today, and about ten of us showed up at Rockwell this morning.

Ithaca is Gorgeous

 Bruce took us out on his newly assembled BMW K75 to look at some of Ithaca's best waterfalls.

Bruce's Fleet of 1980's BMW K Series Scooters

I rode up to Ithaca, NY this weekend with my girlfriend to visit some old friends from my childhood that I hadn't seen in a while.  Dawn and Bruce actually live in Cortland, and they kindly offered to let us stay for the weekend and show us around some of the cool sites in Ithaca.

First Sunday in Ephrata, PA.

Recently returning to NYC from Nova Scotia, I motored down to PA this weekend for my grandmother's 90th birthday Saturday afternoon!  Sunday morning, I joined my buddy Alex to go to "First Sunday," a large impromptu motorcycle rally in Ephrata, Pennsylvania, where hundreds of local motorcyclists convene in the early hours of the first Sunday of each month

The Somber Space between The Road and Home

Jay and I slept in late this morning.  The last few days have been filled with tension about our chains, tires and the inevitable deflation of realizing we're nearly home after to two weeks on the road (closer to three weeks for me, as I spent the previous week in Sea Isle City, NJ before we left).

Au Revoir, Canada! Back in the USSA...

We woke up this morning to a blinding white fog enshrouding St. John..  A big riding day laid before us, and even after several dryer cycles, our clothes were still dank and musty from the day before.  Damp and sluggish, we pulled out of the motel and drove with our blinkers on down the Trans-Canada Highway, where we knifed through the cloud and drizzle, which restricted our visibility to less than 100ft (...hence no pictures).

A New Tire for Wet Weather

The Road to Cabot Trail on Cape Breton Island and off-road to Meat Cove

Halifax History (at the Citadel) to a St.FX dorm in Antigonish

The ride today was by far the best ride so far.  The weather was beautiful, and the roads were windy and gorgeous.  Halifax is a fairly cosmopolitan city, and two New Yorkers felt right at home.

Bit of a late start this morning.  We checked out of Yarmouth at around 10:30, with warnings of thunderstorms from the hotel staff.  I had planned a leisurely, scenic coastal route (3) to New Brunswick, but as we rolled out of town the angry looking skies unleashed a torrential downpour for about half an hour, and we instead got on highway 103.

New Brunswick to Nova Scotia

What a day! For the first time on our trip, we had less than a hundred miles riding planned, but ended up accomplishing more today by the seat of our pants than on a motorcycle.  Jay's Tuono's tire was looking pretty bare, which apparently gets only about 2500 miles per tire (about a third of what I'm hoping for, but understandable since his race-mapped Tuono is pushing something like 186hp to the rear wheel) so we rushed over to Eldridge's, a big Harley dealer/shop on the way to the ferry from St. John, New Brunswick to Digby, Nova Scotia. We had 12pm reservations and would be cutting it quite close, though they promised they could squeeze us in...

Maine is less than an afternoon away (from NYC)

Hopped on my ST3 with my buddy Jay and we're taking off for Nova Scotia.  Packed and ready to roll.

 I stopped off at EuroSports in Coopersburg last week, on my way from NYC to PA, to find a Ducati Superleggera 1199 on the showroom floor.  Not only is this bike exceedingly powerful, boasting the chops of the 1199 Panigale R, it's incredibly light, offering the highest power to weight ratio of any motorcycle ever in history.  At $65,000, it blows the 2007 Desmosedici away at 186 horsepower at only 366 lbs (dry weight). 

I picked up my ST3 a few days ago from Rockwell Cycles and out in the lot they had two matching sunburst Ducati SportClassics back to back. This is probably my favorite bike that Ducati has made in the last decade, and this coupla Ducs lined up in a row did not disappoint...

 It's hard to believe such beauty and great roads are less than an hour outside of NYC.

I woke up early this morning to an incredible day in Pennsylvania; eager to get out on the road. My ST3 has been out of commission for almost the entire time I've owned it, and apart from one big trip,  I haven't had much of a chance to ride.

A few Tuesday's back, I was trying to catch up to the DOCNYC at Columbus Circle, for an evening ride on my Ducati ST3.  Unfortunately going down CPW in the mid 70's, a cab was stopped in a traffic lane, and I stupidly decided to pass it on the right, just as a girl decided to get out.  She didn't look behind her, and though I managed to slow down to about 10mph, I hit the door and went down.  

 I'm not a huge cruiser fan, nor much of a Harley aficionado, but these police-'hogs' (pardon the pun) looked pretty boss walking down 6th Avenue in Midtown today.  I know the city spent close to $3 million last year on Harley Davidson Road Kings and Electra Glides, and I guess they wanted a strong presence for NYU's graduation ceremony at Radio City Music Hall this morning.

I don't usually talk about cars here, but tonight I'm going to make an exception and digress. Asheville is a cool town.  Our hotel was located a bit west of downtown, so we had to call another cab, which we disputed, as it was a $55 up front bill, not including tip. Between the three of us though, we managed to justify that split between us, this would be the typical cost of a cab ride in NYC. Turns out it was one of the best investments we made the whole trip.

I had planned on turning around and going back home today.  However, we were out a little late last night (in bed sometime after 3am, though I swore it was closer to 11:30) and got up early (7am).  I had planned on taking two days down and three days back up, but I was having a blast and the boys were trying to see how far they could get me to go...

Parked outside the Bright Morning Inn in Davis, West Virginia

Six months ago, a friend of mine DynastySS told me he was moving back to the West Coast after 7 years in NYC.  His company Streeteasy was acquired by Zillow, and he was going to take the long way round to get back home.  He asked if I was interested in riding 300 miles / day non stop to San Francisco, to which I replied, "...on my Monster?"  He said something along the lines of, "That bike is a cruiser compared to mine...I'm going to get my Triumph 675R track bike legal and take it across the country." Crazy...

For the past three weekends running, I've made the commute down to PA to work on my 2004 Ducati ST3, trying to fix or even find a presumably electrical problem with the bike. I finally got in touch with the previous owner of the bike (his dad sold it to me), and discovered the issue of the EOBD (check engine) light, error sensor messages and a jittery throttle, all which apparently stem from an unresolved issue he neglected to fix (or even inform me about).