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International Motorcycle Show NYC 2014 | Classics and Customs


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

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International Motorcycle Show 2014 | New 2015 Motorcycle Edition

R1s, H2Rs and RC390s for 2015

Among the most anticipated releases for 2015 were a flock of new race bikes including the Yamaha R1 (above), KTM's new RC390, and the 300hp Kawasaki H2R.

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International Motorcycle Show NYC 2014 | Ducati Edition

 New York City "Progressive" International Motorcycle Show

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DESMO and Rockwell Cycles Holiday Party

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

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Union Garage's Second Annual Unsanctioned Block Party in Brooklyn with the DOCNYC

Unsanctioned Block Party at Union Garage


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First Sunday in Ephrata feels like Fall

I woke up this morning with weather in the 30's, and realized I had no warm gear with me for the weekend in Pennsylvania. My brother in law wanted to hit the road early though, so I was on the road at half past seven, though my fingers were numb when I got to his house. 

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Distinguished Gentleman's Ride | 2014 Unofficial DOCNYC Edition

Tigh Loughhead looking dapper on his Ducati.

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Brooklyn Invitational Custom Motorcycle Show 2014

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.

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Polaris Slingshot at Philly Cycle

 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.

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Suddenly Philly for a Wednesday

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.

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IMOC 2014 | 31st Annual Italian Motorcycle Owners Club Rally

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

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Biking up Bunker Hill to an Obelisk in Boston

 Biking to Bunker Hill while Waiting for a Wedding

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Maine-ly Acadia Adventures with the DOCNYC

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Maine-ly Ducati Weekend

DOCNYC Maine in September

DOCNYC in Portsmouth, NH

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2014 Modern Classics Ride In at Martin Moto

1956 MV Agusta 175 CSTL

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

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Zero S ZF11.4 Charging on the LES

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

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Desmo DOCs 14th Annual BBQ and Ducati Extravaganza

DESMO 14th Annual Ducati BBQ
Sunday was DESMO Ducati Owners Club's annual barbecue, a massive Duc extravaganza held every year at Thomas Bull Memorial Park, northwest of Middletown, New York

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Storm King Mountain

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.

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Brand New 2015 Ducati Monster 821 Photos and Specs





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Ithaca is Gorges

Ithaca is Gorgeous

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

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Cruising with K Bikes | Bruce's Flock of 1980s BMWs

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.

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Ducatis Down on the Farm

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New EBRs at First Sunday in Ephrata

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 EBR 1190RS, full of carbon fiber 

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The Long, Last, Lumbering, Leg Back to NYC: Mile 2472

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).

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Checking Chains and Retracing our Steps : Mile 2167

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).

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Retread for the Watery Way Back to Fundy Bay: Mile 1849

A New Tire for Wet Weather

I called Red Line Honda in Antigonish first thing this morning.  They had tires in stock, but the service manager Dale claimed that they were backed up with bikes for about a week.  I've been in a desperate situation before though, and laid on a thick sob story about not wanting to risk my life if they couldn't take me. Dale asked me to call back in a few hours, and thankfully they fit me in.

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Across the Cabot Trail By The Skin of My Tire: Mile 1534

Testing Treacherous Tread on Cape Breton IslandJay and I camped on the beach in Meat Cove last night.  Although we're quite far north, the temperature only went down to about 55 degrees, but the wind blustered around consistently, and neither of us got that much sleep.  As a result, we woke up before dawn and got to watch the sun rise over the bay.

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Tigh's House of God to Meat Cove: Mile 1339

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

Meat cove after 7-8 miles of treacherous back roads.

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Ducati on Campus- St.FX, Antagonish: Mile 1142

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.

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Soggy Slog to Halifax: Mile 958

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.

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Boats, Bridges and Bikes on Beaches: Mile 726

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...

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Maine to New Brunswick: Mile 651

We woke up and hit the road early, taking Coastal Route 1 north through Rockport, Belfast and Ellsworth.  I had plotted an alternate route around Arcadia National Forest both on the trip out and the way back, so when we were congested in traffic through most of the morning, we decided to get as much tarmac under our wheels as possible and save Bar Harbor for the route back. Jay and I had orignally planned on ending up in Maine, but as the day wore on we decided to make Canada.

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Maine an Afternoon Away: Mile 321

Maine is less than an afternoon away (from NYC)

I woke up early yesterday, ready to begin a grand adventure around Nova Scotia. Unfortunately, my partner in crime Jay had a last minute work call, and we didn’t end up hitting the road till 3pm.  We’re booked on the 12pm Wednesday ferry from St. John New Brunswick to Digby, Nova Scotia, so with half the day gone already, I decided we would just push as far as we could, and make up any outstanding mileage the following day.  Leaving from Harlem, we criss-crossed across the Bronx, up through Connecticut, scissoring through EZPasses and traffic in central Mass and New Hampshire, making incredible time.

We hit I95 just south of Maine a little after 7pm, and when an eight-lane highway suddenly arrived beneath our wheels, pristine and empty, and when we began to see moose crossing and motorcycle caution signs (as well as notice of an apparent severe penalty for contraband out of state firewood), we knew we had entered motorcycle country…

We hit South Portland Maine sometime around 8pm, shocked that this great northern state was less than an afternoon’s drive from New York City by motorcycle.  Maine occupies some mystical, nearly foreign corner of this country in my psyche, like Montana or Alaska, a fallacy which I was happy to have dispelled by its actual proximity. 

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Nova Scotia, Eh? 12 Days, 2600 Miles


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

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2014 Ducati 1199 Superleggera at Eurosports in Coopersburg


 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). 

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Twin Duc SportClassicism

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...

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Quick Run Up to Bear Mountain

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

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Offroad over Hawk Mountain to Tamaqua and Back

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.

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Central Park West Crash takes out the ST3

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.  

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NYPD Harley Davidson Road King and Electra Glide Motorcycles by Central Park


 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.

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Return of the ST3 (w/ New ECU) from Ferracci

After several weeks of heartache and fruitless diagnoses,  and another month with my newly purchased ST3 stuck at Fast by Ferracci in Willow Grove, I finally heard back what was causing the issue with my EOBD light.  "Fabio," the service manager from Ferracci, called me the Thursday before my big trip to confirm my worst fear, that the ECU was bad.  I found one on Houston Superbike's eBay page, and called them to confirm that I did in fact need the performance "racing" ECU, because of my carbon cans. 

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Day 6:A Ducati Traveler Returns Home to NYC Wanting More

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Day 5: 700 Miles in 10 Hours on My Ducati Monster 600

I woke up this morning around 7ish and checked the weather.  After four days of sunny skies and the temperature hovering in the 60's range, I knew I was spoiled, and of course there were scattered thunderstorms predicted, which would turn bad in the afternoon.  

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Ducati Motorcycle Hiatus in a Pimp Stretch Limo Cadillac Fleetwood

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.

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Day 4: Take the Blue Ridge Parkway to Asheville

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...

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Day 3: Best Ride of my Life - Virginia is for Lovers

Ducati 899 Panigale, Tigho's Monster, Aprilia Tuono V4R motorcycles in front Seneca Rocks West Virginia
Happy Easter! What an incredible day.  We drove less than 300 miles today, but it was some of the best riding I've ever done.  I don't think we saw more than 50 cars the whole day, the sun was shining, and the roads were incredible (albeit a bit gravelly).

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Day 2: Harrisburg to Davis, West Virginia 899adventures.com

Ducati 899 Panigale, Tigho's Monster, Aprilia Tuono V4R in Davis West Virgina outside the Bright Morning Inn 899adventures.com
Parked outside the Bright Morning Inn in Davis, West Virginia

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Day 1: Gearing up for a Taste of a Cross Country Superbike Trek: 899adventures.com

Tigho waiting at a gas station outside of Harrisburg Pa for the boys from 899adventures.com | NYDucati

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...

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Faulty ST3 goes to Fast by Ferracci

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).

ST3 goes to Fast by Ferracci

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Wasted Weekend Wondering about my Wounded ST3

Tigho's Naked Ducati ST3 in the barn, assessing electrical problems “EFI Er. 1.1” and “Er. 3.1.”

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ST3 Jersey Journey to NYC

I need electrics...Saturday was beautiful day; sunny with temperatures in the high 50's in PA, perfect for a late winter ride.  Sunday was cloudy, cold and barely in the 40's, creating a pretty brutal atmosphere for bringing my bike back to NYC. 

I love my new saddle and tank bags, and a windscreen is an entirely a new experience for me, (since my Ducati Monster affords none of those accoutrements) but neither handwarmers nor wind protection afforded me too much comfort on the long, cold ride back to the city.

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Rides gone by...