'Round the World with an Italian Supermodel

What's the saying? It's not a matter of if you're going down, but when?



Road went from two lanes into one--the one with the trolley tracks. When the road opened up into two lanes again I moved to the right, balancing between that precarious edge of turning too hard and losing the front vs. turning too little and not having enough angle to cross without getting caught on the lip. Well, I caught the lip.

I spent 10 years riding in SF every day, many of which were wet from fog (as it usually is at 6am on the way to work). I thought I was a pro at riding on and over metal in the wet, but Prague one-upped me.

There was no sliding, no 'holy ...., I'm going down if I can't save this'. I was slapped by rotating pavement faster than a dropped liver hits the floor. Right foot was trapped under the bike for a second, cheese-grating the toe of my Sidi boot instead of crushing my ankle, shoulder took a bit of a hit, as did my Macbook Pro and iPad which were in my backpack.

While sliding I looked back to see if I was about to become mincemeat by whatever vehicle was behind me, but (duh), I'd already checked my mirror before changing lanes....didn't really think that through in the immediate moments post-crash, but whatever. Dropped my backpack on the curb as a big ass truck emerged from the tunnel just after the 2-to-1 merge. I thought for just a moment, 'damn, good thing I didn't get a stealth black Panigale'. He stopped, jumped out and helped get my bike up. As quickly as that happened, he was back in his cab and on his way. Thanks, dude!

I was not looking forward to the damage report. I rolled the bike up onto the sidewalk, took a deep breath and....to my total ....... surprise, the bike was nearly unscathed.

A few light scratches on the tail section, a bit of rash on the rearset footpeg, and the rest was confined to what you see below:


(I knew that Wilwood slider should have been twice as thick!)


(Ignore the daisy LP I photographed the pieces on. Stayed that night in Germany at some artist/musician commune.)

Fortunately I was already on my way to Ducati Prague when it happened. (Unfortunately if I hadn't been going there this wouldn't have happened.) I didn't have an appointment. And they didn't even know who I was or what I was doing. When I showed up in the pouring rain on an 1199, with full gear and packs, they were just a bit surprised and slightly amused that some maniac from CA was riding through a Czech storm to come and pay 'em a visit. After alerting them to the accident, they directed me to ride around to the service center where they could bolt on on a new bar end and brake lever IMMEDIATELY.



Can't thank them enough. Czech Ducati/Ducati Prague gets it. Thanks, guys! Seriously.

Holy .... dude !!!

Glad it wasn't worse

NOLA

Sh*t man! Glad you are okay and the bike suffered minor stuff...

Changed my mind about those covers... I was not planning on putting any of that stuff on my bike.

Ride on dude!! Ride on!!

Be safe. Enjoying watching your progress. Live the dream for us all.

Short clip from earlier that morning that shows how treacherous Prague can be on two wheels.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGlTRMJ6nK8

Glad you (and the bike) are OK.....carry on....

AntiHero said:

Short clip from earlier that morning that shows how treacherous Prague can be on two wheels.

Click to expand...

Deadly combination... old pavers (polished by the pass of time and cars) and metal...

Dennis,

maybe it would be better to change tires from Supercorsa SP to a more lower temperature and rain compatible tire spec, Supercorsa isn't really made for temperatures below 15 degree celsius and wet roads.

In Europe you will find soon temps far below 15 degree, and roads are usually wet or humid in autum and winter, even when there is no snow or ice.

I would recommend Metzeler Sportec M7 RR, Metzeler belongs to Pirelli, they make really good motorcycle tires!

Tires for motorcycle Metzeler - Choose your best tire for track, road, touring, custom, offroad, enduro, scooter - Racetec Slick

Good luck and stay upright!

Jogy

jogy said:

Dennis,

maybe it would be better to change tires from Supercorsa SP to a more lower temperature and rain compatible tire spec, Supercorsa isn't really made for temperatures below 15 degree celsius and wet roads.

In Europe you will find soon temps far below 15 degree, and roads are usually wet or humid in autum and winter, even when there is no snow or ice.

I would recommend Metzeler Sportec M7 RR, Metzeler belongs to Pirelli, they make really good motorcycle tires!

Tires for motorcycle Metzeler - Choose your best tire for track, road, touring, custom, offroad, enduro, scooter - Racetec Slick

Good luck and stay upright!

Jogy

Click to expand...

I spent a lot of time on the SPs--and even in awful conditions (icicles on the dash, ice crystals in helmet, pouring rain) they performed surprisingly well. But I'll agree with you, there must be a better alternative. Being that I'll be in the UK over the winter I think it behooves me to find something that increases my life expectancy. Could also use a rain suit that doesn't have dental floss holding the seams together....and maybe a long sleeve shirt wouldn't be a bad idea.

? is--what winter tire works best w/the Panigale's ABS and TC sensors?

Glad you are OK man!
Yep, those road are deadly with rain, and "sunny weather" tires.
Tire wise, I have no idea, as rain has not been my concern for many years
This summer I installed the Pilot Power 3 on my 748S, but if you are planning to really spend your winter in UK, you might need something more threaded

Very happy to see that your OK from the spill.

Good luck with the rest of the trip and I trust this is the only spill you will have on your trip.

AntiHero said:

I spent a lot of time on the SPs--and even in awful conditions (icicles on the dash, ice crystals in helmet, pouring rain) they performed surprisingly well. But I'll agree with you, there must be a better alternative. Being that I'll be in the UK over the winter I think it behooves me to find something that increases my life expectancy. Could also use a rain suit that doesn't have dental floss holding the seams together....and maybe a long sleeve shirt wouldn't be a bad idea.

? is--what winter tire works best w/the Panigale's ABS and TC sensors?

Click to expand...

North Face always worked well on missions for me. Medium priced.

Arc'teryx is where its at. They make the best ..... Find a store there that sells it, they make both breathable and heavier stuff with double waterproof taped seams.

NOLA

Leaving Austria was fairly non-eventful on my way into Germany--except for the speed traps on the Austrian side. And then these guys rolled up behind me, I moved over, they moved over and followed.



They were police, but due to their very special car I don't think they were your average rookies. And they definitely didn't look friendly. I needed to pull over anyways, so I darted into a rest stop and, of course, they followed.

Other than some suspicious glances, nothing happened. But I have to say I'm very pleased this wasn't 1989. I can imagine the awful, unstoppable, illicit injustice that could be inflicted on anyone at anytime for any reason, but I have a difficult time fathoming how many millions of people throughout not-just-recent history have been subjugated by the forces that are meant to protect them.

I landed at an interesting property in a rural agricultural/industrial area.


Had been claimed to be a castle of some sort, but it looked 100% commune compound to me.


In its present state it houses a collective of artists and musicians, very few of whom were actually there, which was a great relief. Being awoken by sentimental German folk ballads dedicated of the 'Hoff might had made for a good story, but wouldn't have made for a very pleasant morning.

As per usual, when I landed I hadn't had anything to eat and I was probably 10 miles from any store. But gotta give these hippies some credit--they were running a bakery right onsite.



Attached to the bakery was a small shop selling honey, jam, quilting books and .... like that. But bless their hemp-sandal wearing souls for having the foresight to carry wine!

One fresh roll, one open can of tuna and a three corkscrew twists later a Proper European dinner was served.

AntiHero said:

...
Gecko: your girlfriend is either awesome cause she's humoring you or she's awesome because she actually likes bikes and road trips. Marry her!
...

Click to expand...

Lol, she's both.
Marrying her is a very good ideal!

I'm very glad that you're well and nothing serious happened to you and your bike. There's a saying, it's "10% for the devil". It means you've paid now with a little bit of misfortune, but from now onwards the luck stays with you, 'cause you already paid

AntiHero said:

I spent a lot of time on the SPs--and even in awful conditions (icicles on the dash, ice crystals in helmet, pouring rain) they performed surprisingly well. But I'll agree with you, there must be a better alternative. Being that I'll be in the UK over the winter I think it behooves me to find something that increases my life expectancy. Could also use a rain suit that doesn't have dental floss holding the seams together....and maybe a long sleeve shirt wouldn't be a bad idea.

? is--what winter tire works best w/the Panigale's ABS and TC sensors?

Click to expand...

Will have to get some more time on them and report back, but I just mounted a set of PP3's for the off season. Picked them primarily due to their reviews for cool/wet running, and figured they might be a good "seasonally appropriate" tire. Only have a couple of days on em so far, mostly in damp to wet conditions during a rain-plagued jaunt up to Robbinsville for the Panigale meetup. Pretty surprised so far at the lack of TC intervention, even in sport mode with the TC on 2. More to come as I get some dry running on 'em...

So made it to Dresden, which has some spectacular sights.



Unfortunately, I didn't get to see much of it hence the stolen stock-pic above. I was on my way to see a guy from ADVRider who'd offered me a bed, shower, hot meal and a garage for my bike.

On the way:

Got a little distracted by some 'back roads' while en route:









A road trip without submitting to distraction is just a commute.

As I'd mentioned, I had a bed, dinner and a garage waiting for me in Northern Germany. The hosts of this episode run a networking business (netzperten) out of their home and sometimes cater to guys just wandering around the planet for no good reason.

Now, when I said Bernd had offered me a bed, I had no idea it came unassembled. They'd taken to renovating some space in their house and the day I arrived happened to coincide with the birth of a new Ikea bed. The house and surrounding area were so lovely I honestly would have slept like a baby on the floor (or in my tent outside), but when it comes down to it, I love putting .... together, so it was kind of a treat to get to deal with, what turned out to be, the most complicated Ikea product I ever set hands on.



Bernd, being German, could have assembled it with a blindfold on.

Now, I've posted pictures of wiener-schnitzel. But there's Wiener-schnitzel, and then there's fookin' WIENER-SCHNITZEL and I had landed in what was the equivalent of Wolfgang-Puck's house of it.











Being that I hadn't really eaten much in a very long time, I was in veal heaven. And I kind of felt like a pig for how much I ate, but damn it was good.

Dessert wasn't too bad, either.