First Ride
 

We'll the rain held off for today so I took the opportunity to to have my first ride on my new SPS. Not a special road, no special scenery, no awesome corners, no other bikes to ride with ... but boy what a ride. I'm 40 yrs of age with two young kids and I thought my life was over! Not now! I got home with such a grin on my face ... my Mrs said that she hadn't seen me like it for years, and it was like she got the man she married back. I've been on cloud nine all evening after spending an hour of therapy cleaning the bike after I got home.

I don't know if everyone feels like this after their first proper ride on a Ducati, but it was exactly what I had imagined and exactly why I had lusted after one of these babies ever since I got my first bike nearly 25 years ago. You don't have to be doing anything extraordinary to have a fantastic time on a Ducati - the sound and the feel of the bike are so awesome and it just oozes character after all those UJMs I have owned. The last time I had as much fun on a bike was on my 250 LC when I was 18 years old and still on L-plates. The Ducati has the same way of making you feel so "special". Remember when you were 10 years old and you got that new pair of football boots that were so great that you had to wear them to bed? Well the SPS makes me feel exactly the same. If I could sleep with it I would!

All I can say is, if anyone out there is thinking of buying their first Ducati then do whatever you have to do to make it happen ... you owe it to yourself before you die! And if anyone out there has been riding Ducatis so long that it no longer gives them that thrill (does that ever happen?) then give me a shout and I'll ramble incoherently at you about it till you remember why you bought the thing in the first place.

Gobsmaked! :D

You've brought a huge smile to my face - honestly.

I remember feeling like that twice. Once when I first rode the 996. And then again when I rode the 998R.

I'm glad you posted that, and I'm glad you had such a good time. You've reminded why these things are so special.

:D

Mine too! I rode my 996 for the first time on a freezing day this March, it made me smile too, but not half as much as it did during the summer! Wait until you get the SPS out on a warm day on a great road (or even better, a great track :D ) The best is yet to come!

Great post BTW

I got an ST2 3 1/2 years ago when I was 42 - midlife crisis thing, had 18 years off of bikes and the last one I owned before that was a BSA 250 C15. I was so excited. A few months later I traded up to an ST4s. BIG grins again and for the next 10k miles. Then a year later I got the 749s and been riding that for over 2 years now. STILL grinning. It doesn't end. :roll:

In fact ... I had put it away for the winter but I think I might have to exhume it for the trip to the pub on Tuesday! :eureka:

[Edited on 4-12-2005 by HW]

Spot on, David. I've been out on my Monster today. She is now tucked up in the garage, covered in mud - just from ordinary country lane riding. I went hither and thither today, absolutely loving it :D:D:D

I can't put my finger on exactly what it is that Ducati does for me. All I know is, I could quite happily have done another 300 miles, time and daylight permitting, and I would have had the same grin on my face as I did when I got home at 5 pm with a rucksack packed with the Sunday Times and the Sunday dinner. Nice to see your post up here.

How mucky is you bike, ce soir??? :devil:

Yep, me too.

Picked my 748 up from Leeds, aged 39. Rode back the 60 miles to Wigan, with a big smile on my face.

Yep I felt the same way when I first rode my 916 and felt the same way When I rode the 996 for the first time.

It brings a smile to my face everytime I ride it :cool:



As for a Track day well my grin was stuck for days afterwards:D

Enjoy mate but for your sake Book a track Day:cool::D

I often think of selling my sps....then I ride it!! Couldnt agree more! Great post. :cool:

nice, glad you enjoyed it.
keep it clean though :D

great post, glad you enjoyed it.

I have been to tom and dick this weekend to get out so I spent four hours cleaning the ST4 instead ! and now I can see a quick rinse after a ride out doesnt cut the mustard so from now on its the pressure washer and a proper clean after every ride until they stop using salt.

David

Your post brought a big smile to my face too!

Just wait till you do the following-

Ride to your favourite set of bends on a warm day very early a.m. and stop... wait until any cars have gone past you........ give them a few minutes to clear..........then go for it!....... there will be a couple of corners when you will get the gears / speed just right and feel the back end ''dig in '' and shove you to the back of the seat as you accelerate....... when you get to the other end turn round and do it again......and again....and again.

:D:D

David, this seems a perfect opportunity to roll out the most Hackneyed of quotes about Ducati.....

"They all do that sir ..."

:)

Fabulous!! - enjoy, but beware, after this the carbon fetish occurs!!! ;)

Tim

I can almost feel a stirring in my loins at the mention of it

David.
Lovely to read about how much you enjoyed your ride. I hope you continue your joy on Ducatis for the next 40 years.
Great post - made my day too.

David I'm with you mate!! purchased mine in Oct, had been toying with the idea for almost a year.. Then took the plung..

After 8 years of thrashing my ZXR6/ R6, i'd go out and rag the tits off it, spending many weekends riding, and chasing bikes up in the distance, yet i'd still come home and think "Well that was OK, but i'm still thinking about sacking riding now"... Then luckily my purchase took me all the way out to Milton Keynes, the first 10 mins was "Oh my god it sounds like heaven, how many times can i drop the clutch and twist that throttle, oh is that another car alarm going off? Then the rest of the ride back to Swindon was heaven, i just wish i bought one in Glasgow now!! I came back that day like you, i just couldn't get rid of the cheesy smile.. WHY DID I WAIT SO LONG????

Now looking forward to meeting up with the crowd when the weather returns...

It's an - e - DUCATI - on

Not just Riding but really riding :cool:

I like mine to :devil:

Just one word does it for me..... Special

So glad you enjoyed it, what a wonderfull post, Ducati should use it in an advertising campaign.

I know exactly how you feel, and still feel the same after 6 years of Ducati ownership, makes the odd problem worthwhile.

ENJOY:D

You youngsters!:lol:
butch

It's been a couple of weeks since I got out on mine, I must do it soon. Reading your post brought all the pleasure back....again!

Great post...
I'm just sad thinking I don't know that feeling yet...

I do love my 600 Monsters but I'm sure I never had a proper ride on a proper Duke... :( Or maybe with the 620 Sport???? :lol:

Great post David - I had one of those mornings today where I walked in through the front door at work smiling my 'preverbials' off. Used to get it on the Monster 600 I had (nothing wrong with those machines Tonio ;) ) it was a wrench saying goodbye to it). But I traded it in for a 749 and the grin just seemed to get bigger.

Hope you have many more days like that - I'm absolutely certain you will, and when you least expect them !!

Jiminy

That is a great post, wish the weather was better as I'd be logging off right now and getting her out fof an airing, only another 4 months to wait :(

But as had been said wait until that first crisp day of spring, and you've not been out for a while, you're wrists will ache, the odd twinge in your back, but the grin on your face is priceless :D

David I know just how you feel I did the same in 1995 & i'm still there just can't ride so far these days.

Still feel the same....

Weather was bloomin' marvellous yesterday, cold in the shade but not a cloud in the sky and quite warm in the sun. Roads a bit damp but nothing too dodgy.

Absolutely gagging to ring around and see if I could get a raiding party out on some of the local roads, but I've got such a backlog of work to do it just couldn't be done....

Nice post David.

PS: I bet some people still sleep in their football boots

Started riding duke's at 30 and still riding them at 51.
What the heck

:o Her name was Susan and she ble..........Oh sorry picked up on the title of this wrong

Great post - made me smile - I had the same feeling plus shouting and whooping like some psychotic cowboy under my helmet!

brill dave. i rember back in foggy . and scot russel days we went to donny to watch . it ****ed down ,fog was crap scot was awsome. the first time i heard a 916 on full chat boooooming. i had to own one, eighit years later, after jap revy things. am 49 i have my own 996. yes if i could get up the stairs would sleep with it, maybe:lol::lol: and its true about the carbon fetish.:sing::sing::lol:

What a post !
One of the best bits of reading I have read since Ive been on here, actually started giving me goose bumps thinking about it , how you feel, and why it is I love ducati's I think we all get complacent about the bike sometimes and its great to feel what a new comer feels, takes you back to the first time you saw, heard or rode a ducce,or after a LONG winter you go to the garage and start it up, just YOU the bike and the SOUND, mmmmm
Thanks for that
Rick

well done mate keep it up
but.....
the family is still number one
so nice and steady