My soon to be brother-in-law made the mistake a few months ago of saying, "when you come to Maui, you'll have to bring your helmet and some gear and you can ride my Ducati 748". Oh my......
So when we flew to Hawaii for my sister-in-law's wedding, I carried a small duffel bag with my riding gear...I was amused to think how few people go to Hawaii with a motorcycle helmet in their luggage...and wore motorcycle boots on the flight.
After a week that included the wedding, and being tourists, we finally visited my "new" brother-in-law, and eventually the discussion turned to "riding the bike". Now it was my turn to uncomfortably consider, "what have I gotten myself into"?
So Mike started to take the covers off the bike...
Who knew Ducatis came in blue?
No, like any fine dinner, there is an appetizer course, in this case a neat little CPI two stroke scooter.
and any bike looks better with a lovely lady...
But this was the main event:
It was very worthy of an "Ohhh Myyyy". Mike went over some of the basics with me, it has to warm up to 140F or it won't hold an idle. Only one or two fingers on the brake. Back brake is pretty much nearly useless. It was good I brought riding pants, Mike told me the heat off the header would burn the hair off your right leg. There was a quite tricky little choke set up...at least I didn't have to think of what I wanted it to do in Italian...
The throttle was 'sensitive'...but it didn't take too long to get a feel for it. The dry clutch did sound "horrible", but I knew to expect that. I could barely tip toe on one foot if I slid my butt over on the seat...okay, riding the taller Sherpa recently, turned out to help. Mike said something that with my helmet on, and the relative roar of the engine I didn't quite make out. I eased it out of the driveway. Dede later told me he said, "make sure to get out on the freeway and take it to 100".
Yeah, I know, no riding jacket. I had taken one. With Hawaii being a helmet optional state I was more fully geared than many riders we saw. But I did see a fully geared riders as well. I rode carefully through the neighborhood, getting a feel for the clutch and brakes. Once I had a very basic feel for the bike I quickly realize "this is not where this bike lives. Let's get to the highway". That was a couple blocks away.
This was the most powerful bike I had ever ridden, but the power was not unmanageable. In fact it felt incredibly stable and planted on the highway. I looked at the speedometer and saw and indicated 80 mph....and it felt like I was traveling perhaps at 50 mph...okay, so this is how all the stories of, "I was riding my bike and got pulled over for speeding without even realizing I was over the speed limit", come to pass. The suspension just soaked up pavement imperfections and the lane divider bumps. It felt very stable at higher speeds. I rolled on the throttle and saw over an indicated 100 mph for a few moments. The bike wasn't working hard, it wasn't breaking a sweat, at this pace it was humming "It's a great art to saunter". It could have gone so much faster.
But my time on the bike was drawing short, my family indulged my motorcycle madness, and I knew I needed to get this bike back home.
The bike was amazing. The ride was amazing. What many riders may also find amazing was as fun and as confident the bike was, I realized I didn't need such a bike. But I sure wish I could have had half a day on that bike! Maybe next time?
AND while it wasn't "my bike", I am going to say this counts at riding in Hawaii !
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