Hello! Newbie from MA

My dad passes away in 2016 at age 57 after a battle with pancreatic cancer. He was first diagnosed in 2013, had surgery at the end of year (successfull) and had two healthy years. So he bought a 15’ 1299 Panigale S. I was so happy for him! He had had sport bikes his whole life and we had gone on many great rides. At this point I had wolf my bike, was starting a family etc.. Yet he was all about the Duc. He was a very smart guy, engineer that decided he’d rather wrench on cars and was a BMW Master tech, then went to MB to achieve the same. My point is he could leave the bike alone, he fabricated an exhaust and tuned it him self with a Rapid Bike kit. I wasnt around much to help as my work was really busy and a new family is time consuming. Then, cancer was back and he passed three month later. I started selling his stuff at his shop, new truck and gave the money to my mother.. She didn’t really care for the money, but I felt better. Went to sell the bike and she said no ....... way. He’ll rollover in his grave.

So, since 2016 I've rode it 100 miles a summer. If I had a garage at my house I would have brought it home, but I didn’t want to rave it outside. We’ll fast forward to now and baby number three is on the way. Realizing my time to do anything is shrinking even further, I brought it home and will deal with covering it.
Trying to get more familiar with the bike overall and what my crazy dad did to it. The bike is fast! I’ve owned or ridden about every big boy sport bike up until 2013. This thing isn’t only fast but gives you confidence in cornering like no other bike I’ve ridden.

As I type this I realize maybe I didn’t ride the bike much because of the loss of my dad. He’s been on mind pad more than ever since he passed.

RIP Jimmy the Greek!

Thanks for the touching and personal story Takdashark. I hope you have a lot of good times on that bike. I'm sure your dad would be thrilled and overjoyed with you on it.
Its potential is far beyond a toy but inspiration, endless personal lessons and a way to stay a man during all the evolution of family stuff. Keep us posted.
If you really want to know what that bike is all about, take it to a decent racetrack. It's not about winning or being the fastest, it's about a safe place to let it free and feel you.

Thank you for sharing part of your story. It is similar to how I came into my Duc. I had an aunt and uncle that didn't have kids, so left everything to me and my brother. Out of the pain of loss came some of the happiest moments of my life.

Thank you for the kind words from both of you. Never really talked about it out loud. Sometimes is easier to do so in a public forum with strangers.

I have a buddy who has an 1199 and basically refuses to ride it on the local street. Him and a group of guy will trailer them up north and do weekend trips in the mountains, and track days.

Time is always my issue. But would love to do a track day. Not to be competitive, just to be able to ride with out worth of vehicles, getting pulled over etc.

Cheers!
Taki,