Ians Ramblings

I think more than anywhere else in the world that I have been England must have the most perfect summer weather. On the one day when there is not a single spot of rain and there is a cool breeze and an ambient temperature of about 23C you just can’t really beat it.

Sure enough the Italians are lucky enough to have such days throughout September  and October but it just seems just a touch more subtle in England.

There doesn’t seem to be a much more appropriate place to go on days like that than a national trust property hehe sooo English I love it! All the people are so pleasant and educated it’s so nice to be further away from the city.

Not only that but there are always gorgeous country roads flowing through picturesque villages on the way to these places, perfect for the Ducati today.

The gorgeous fire breathing NSR 500 !

Just out of interest I ran a comparison of the 2010 CBR 600 RR ABS against my good ole trusty 1992 VFR400R NC30 and these were the rather surprising results. Rather nice to see the old girl still gets the seal of approval from bikez.com.

Bar explanation	2010 Honda CBR600RR ABS 1992 Honda VFR 400 R Average for sport bikes Average for all bikes
Overall rating: (Details below)	68.5 76.1 65.8 63.7
Engine performance:	75.7 88.9 72.4 67.8
Racing track capabilities:	75.7 92.5 68.2 56.2
Design and look:	79.0 89.2 74.1 69.7

Had a brilliant ride out today, from Derbyshire over to Leek via Matlock, Bakewell and Buxton. There are so many lovely sweeping bends, gorgeous cliff sided canyons, rivers and panoramic vistas on this route, such a privilege to be riding them on my brilliant Duke hehe.

Had a good time up at The Winking Man (opens at 12 for Sunday lunches), a pub on the A53 as you come to Leek. Had a lovely dinner with family and their friends so many bikes there.

Had a brilliant time down at Sammy Miller’s museum in the New Forest. Saw a huge array of Italian bikes there, and loads more in the museum.

MotoItalia Ducati

Certainly worth a visit if you are down in the area!, they seem to have a lot of different events going on down there.

I took my Ducati and was able to park it in the Italian bikes only section hehe so people could view it. I particularly liked the little bikes, the Maserati and the Itom.

I have ordered my first ever Ducati today, a 748 Biposto I am really excited and also really quite nervous about all the costs! I hope it will be a brilliant buy. The really great thing is, it’s one of the things I have always wanted, one of the boyhood dreams I can tick off.

My Ducati 748

I’ve always loved them and have tried to skirt around spending out the money on getting one, by compensating for it with my other bikes but now I really hope I have got my dream bike.

Really looking forward to enjoying a summer on the bike. I will unfortunately have to sell my lovely NC30, so if anyone reading has seen her in previous pictures on the site and wants to make me an offer please just leave a comment on this posting.

Just been reading a page written by a guy who went over and visited the factory back when the 748′s were being produced so I thought I would put a link to it here

Ducati 748 being built

It seems that back then they were not making all that many and that guy ordered his and was still waiting 3 or 4 months later and finally had to give up on getting it, harsh.

As well as a rather more geeky but interesting run down of Ducati engineering

Had a great day today on the Easter Egg run taking Easter eggs for disadvantaged kids. So many bikes of all kinds there, cruising along throughout Nottingham and out to Mansfield.

Bikes all gathering before departing on the Easter Egg run

Must have been thousands of bikes there, I suspect cars got a bit peeved hehe. The weather was perfect for it though and got me in the mood for riding for the rest of the day, went off for a cruise throughout the country lanes.