ATTN ATLANTA RIDERS - Ducati Test Rides 4-15-06 Saturday

[TarzanBoy]

I did the ducati ride.  I didn't even read the policy  I just made sure that I didn't drop the bike.  I rode a red ducati 999.   Talk about POWER.   

Think of how much faster an R6 is than a GS500..... now when I got off the 999 and back onto my R6.... I felt like I was riding a GS500 again
The 999 is strong... but it sure doesn't rev very high.  The tach goes to 13, but the bike shakes like crazy at 7+.   The two photos below are of the bike that I rode.

We went on a 20-mile loop.  I went with the 2nd flight (flights left once an hour) and was 3rd in line behind the ride leader until the mid-leader took over and messed up the route.   I ended up having to be the safety bike on a U-turn on a 2-lane road  (Imagine 18 Ducatis all making a U-turn on a side street )  All in all, it was a very tame ride.  I only shifted into 3rd gear once.

The 999 I had was quite obviously also a track bike.  There are almost no chicken strips on the rear tire and it was equipped with a steering damper.  The only bad thing I would say about it was that the back edge of the seat was a bit hard since the cushion didnt' go all the way to the edge.  Also, the tank was skinny... REALLY skinny.  It was so narrow that I couldn't squeeze it with my knees and keep my feet on the pegs at the same time.  wild, eh?

pix now:

[secondgen7]

I'm glad you got to ride one!  I was there around 9:30 and poked around a bit, but missed the first ride (at 10) and didn't have time to hang around and try and catch one of the others.  Bummer.  But Benjamin had a blast sitting on all the mini-dirtbikes inside, so I guess it wasn't a total loss.