Thanks Skippy, get out there and do it, as for whats next.

Another charity ride (but don't worry i won't be pestering the DSC members for money again) but in October its

Ducati to the Desert or Multistrada to Morocco, a few of us are riding down to the Sahara desert to the highest sand dune in Morocco, Erg Chebbi which is about a 1000 ft tall. The other two both (or their wives) had premature babies cared for in the special needs unit at Tameside hospital so thats the good cause for this trip.

I've ridden off road many times in the desert but we all fancied riding down there for a change.

Wahay!
 

Jees, you like this kinda stuff don't you!

Umm, listen... don't tell anyone else at the DSC but... I'm collecting a new BMW 1200 GS next week. Thought I'd 'fighter it to look like the Multi.

Close run thing between the two when choosing but I have to be honest, cost of ownership won out. I can beat the crap out of it in any weather, any terrain and stuff 20k miles on it and still get 80% of what I paid in four years time. And it never, ever needs oil ? Looks like a truck wreck though!

Good luck with the trip to the Sahara, oh and if you get lost, don't ask the tall fair haired Englishman for directions??

Martin.

I think your spot on with your assesment of the 1200GS, did consider it myself especially for the next trip, but i'm just not logical about these buying descisions. Good luck with it.

Promise i won't tell anyone in the club, it'll be our special secret! SSShh!

Multistrada musings
 

After doing the trip 1724 miles in 3 days i'm really surprised how good a mile coverer the bike is.

As you can probably tell i think the standard seat is criminal (although i know the likes of KeefyB has covered a lot of miles and finds it OK).

The Mirrors are not brilliant, you can see there is a white car behind you, but not if it has blue lights.

Fuel gauge/light comes on too early.

These are the 3 negative things in my view. I also fitted the higher comfort screen which is miles better (no pun intended) than the standard screen for me at 6' 3"

The bike also went on the dyno at GT Motorcycles in Plymouth and produced 82bhp and 60 ft/lbs torque. What these figures don't tell you is how responsive the engine is low down which makes for relaxed riding but also very rapid overtakes. It does begin to get a bit breathless over 120.

The riding position is goood and comfy and the wide bars make it very flickable. Feels a bit like a giant supermoto and is a real hoot to ride. Handling is vastly improved by winding up the rear spring preload as everyone i've looked at has come with minimum preload (again thanks to KeefyB for varoius hints).

A few boring facts and figures. In the 1724 miles it used 190 litres of juice, which cost £160. The average fuel consumption was 42mpg with a best of 50 mpg and a worst of 38 mpg depending on mood and roads.

It didn't use a drop of oil or need the chain adjusting.

Nearly forgot to say the headlight is superb.

Overall apart from a few small niggles i'm well impressed with the bike having used it for this trip, commuting, scratching and thrashing.:D

Finally thank you to

Woods of Abergele
JHP Ducati Coventry
Ducati UK

for help and assistance provided.

[Edited on 5-10-2004 by BDG]

He's only gone and done it!

I've been beaten to the OVER 500 GANG:sniff:

Well done Shaun;)

Steve walks away, head bowed in shame.

Ps. you having a bit of an end of season sale then???????

Well Steve i took advantage of you being on holiday, and all this charity stuff is really fictitious, just an excuse to out post you whilst your back was turned:lol:


Errr..what end of season sale, i've missed something here:puzzled:

Your KTM and 996 for sale
There are some fantastic bikes for sale at the moment on the site.

Ah, the pennys dropped.

Not desperate to sell the SPS but have seen a very nice 996R. If it stays it stays.

possible new dirt bike prompts floging the KTM as we're coming into the dirtbike season-(winter). to be honest this is more probable than the SPS going.

Was going to advertise the KTM elsewhere but thought i'd give the board a try.

Having just read your report I have been encouraged to leave the Deauville in the garage and take the Numpty strada to work this afternoon.
I will get a cheque in the post to you
Well done mate

Winner of the mileage competition
 

Nobody correctly guessed the exact mileage i covered which was 850 miles, but there were 3 people 1 mile out, Monty, Flanker, and Brian Keen.

These 3 names were put into a hat and Brian Keen (a client, not DSC, from Basingstoke) is the winner of the £200 for a meal and drinks on me.

So far i've raised just over £3300 of which £275 has come from members of the DSC so i'd just like to say A MASSIVE THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO HAS SUPPORTED ME.

As a note of interest the lowest mileage estimates were 268, and 512, don't people know how big a country we live in, and the highest was a rather optimistic 2,847,321 miles:lol: