Hello, world! After ten years without owning a motorcycle, (having cut my teeth on Jap Literbikes), a career, six kids, and a minivan layer, I finally picked up my very first Ducati, a seemingly well cared for 996, same as the poster I had on my wall back in college. The same bike which was always well beyond my means to buy, insure , or maintain in my younger years. The attraction never seemed to fade.
I recall the first time I caught a pair of 999's in person, and realized that I was nowhere near a place in life to walk into a dealership and pick up a new old stock 998, but always told myself I'd have one.
Times have certainly changed. I can't actually picture a time where I didn't occasionally browse the internet, dealer websites, classifieds, etc with simply "Ducati" as the search query. I've even found myself at my local Ducati dealer (over the Vermont line, not exactly local, but my closest option) at least a dozen times in the last few years throwing a leg over brand new machines that were, at this stage in my life, easily obtainable.
Logic, maybe even common sense always got in the way. I'm middle aged, I always have a sporty car/classic car/hot rod in the garage (what it is seems to change seasonally, yearly at most)
I'd confront myself with a series of mental tangents to disuede myself from just buying the damn motorcycle.
-I'm a sport bike rider, or at least I was, but I'm old, a father, I have a minivan, if I get a bike shouldn't I be looking at full dressers? No, I'd never ride it, I'd never get the time to get away, Its not like I'd ever make it to the track, etc.
You know, excuses.
All of those arguments are fairly sound.
It wasn't until one of my oldest sons' told me he was in the market for a motorcycle, (this was last weekend) did we begin a serious scour of the internet to find something to ease his itch, when I saw the Craigslist post, that damned 996 that eluded me for 16 years. It isn't a special model, it's not a numbered bike, hell, it's not even a monoposto.
I contacted the man immediately, met the next day, (I just left work for an extended lunch), handed him the asking price, loaded it on the trailer before I could change my mind.
Other than the lap around my parking lot, I haven't taken it out for a proper run yet. In fact, it spent most of the week in front of my desk at my office. Probably the most surprising element of the whole spontaneous decision, is that my wife is incredibly happy I picked it up; (never even thought to discuss it) Told me I should have just done It years ago.
I bought the damned motorcycle. And I'm honored to finally, after a lifetime of window shopping, be part of this community.
I look forward to reading, learning, and getting the most I can from the collective knowledge of the members here.
Best
MC
Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk
I recall the first time I caught a pair of 999's in person, and realized that I was nowhere near a place in life to walk into a dealership and pick up a new old stock 998, but always told myself I'd have one.
Times have certainly changed. I can't actually picture a time where I didn't occasionally browse the internet, dealer websites, classifieds, etc with simply "Ducati" as the search query. I've even found myself at my local Ducati dealer (over the Vermont line, not exactly local, but my closest option) at least a dozen times in the last few years throwing a leg over brand new machines that were, at this stage in my life, easily obtainable.
Logic, maybe even common sense always got in the way. I'm middle aged, I always have a sporty car/classic car/hot rod in the garage (what it is seems to change seasonally, yearly at most)
I'd confront myself with a series of mental tangents to disuede myself from just buying the damn motorcycle.
-I'm a sport bike rider, or at least I was, but I'm old, a father, I have a minivan, if I get a bike shouldn't I be looking at full dressers? No, I'd never ride it, I'd never get the time to get away, Its not like I'd ever make it to the track, etc.
You know, excuses.
All of those arguments are fairly sound.
It wasn't until one of my oldest sons' told me he was in the market for a motorcycle, (this was last weekend) did we begin a serious scour of the internet to find something to ease his itch, when I saw the Craigslist post, that damned 996 that eluded me for 16 years. It isn't a special model, it's not a numbered bike, hell, it's not even a monoposto.
I contacted the man immediately, met the next day, (I just left work for an extended lunch), handed him the asking price, loaded it on the trailer before I could change my mind.
Other than the lap around my parking lot, I haven't taken it out for a proper run yet. In fact, it spent most of the week in front of my desk at my office. Probably the most surprising element of the whole spontaneous decision, is that my wife is incredibly happy I picked it up; (never even thought to discuss it) Told me I should have just done It years ago.
I bought the damned motorcycle. And I'm honored to finally, after a lifetime of window shopping, be part of this community.
I look forward to reading, learning, and getting the most I can from the collective knowledge of the members here.
Best
MC
Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk
