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. Troy B, #21, Comes Home ................. |
. MH900e |
May 14, 2006: The tank is here. The new tank is in and it's been installed on a test MH (Steve
S's). He took it on a shakedown test today and went 145 miles on a tank.
The 2.2 gallon stock tank went to 5 gallons with the new design; 4.5 of it
is usable, with the remaining small amount trapped in the very front when
the fuel level gets really low. As far as we know, the only other
aftermarket MH tank option is being done by someone hammering out aluminum
tanks for $3,000 each. Chris plans to sell these tanks for $899.
April 14, 2006: The tank project is finally coming to fruition.  Chris found a company in LA who
could manufacturer larger tanks and they're just about done with the
project. The fabricators cut up the tank on his MH so he needed to take
mine for a final fitting. The new tank will be roughly double in volume.
Troy B will get one free for helping out; never mind the fact that he's
been in non-op status for years and gets excellent fuel economy from his
tiny tank since he's stuck on a rear stand. Without the bodywork on, the
MH looks like a butch cheetah.
 April 5, 2006: Troy B is home again. I'm staying in San Diego so Troy B is back in my living room. I took a picture of him and gave him the neon glow effect. The reflections in the window makes it look like a nighttime cityscape. November 13, 2005: Time for a vacation.  I put my house on the market so the realtor wanted the bike out of the
living room. We
moved it to Chris's shop, where it's been since the beginning of October.
The real estate market has lost its frothiness so I doubt my house is
going to sell given its "ample" price tag. When the house comes off the
market I'll just leave the bike at Chris's shop until he wants the space
back. In the time I've had the house up for sale, I've struggled with the
thought of leaving one of the best year-round riding locations in America.
My plan was to be closer to my family in the Bay Area and freeload off my
mom while also spending more time in Michigan with the beau, but I guess it's just not meant to be right now. January 2, 2005: Troy B becomes a model, again. Got an email from the guy who's the curator of the San Diego Auto Museum and he said he wanted to use Troy B again for a few days (Chris also offered his MH, which is race prepped). No problem. We went to drop off the bike at the auto museum on the appointed day and no one was around. Hmmm. I went to the ticket booth and asked if the curator was there. He wasn't, but the guy got him on the phone for me. I told him I was at the park to drop off the bike and he informed me that the show was at the convention center, not at the museum (upon subsequent review, his email did show the correct place, but I had made the completely erroneous assumption that it would just be at the museum again). So we continued over to the convention c ) enter and much to our surprise,
we found out that the bikes were actually going to be on display in conjunction with the Motor Trend Auto Show.
The museum was displaying some of its vehicles in the show as a way of promoting its permanent display over at
Balboa Park; our bikes were being used to promote the annual "Motorcycles in the Park" show from April 1 to 25.
The curator loves the MH900e – how can you not loan a bike to a guy who says to anyone standing near him,
"Isn't that the hottest bike you've ever seen?!"Today was the last day of the show so we picked up the bikes this evening. The breakdown logistics of an event with such large display items is intriguing. There were people and forklifts and trailers and haulers everywhere. How cars don't just "disappear" during these chaotic hours is a mystery to me. Feburary 14, 2004: Troy B becomes a model. Troy B is on display at the San Diego Automotive Museum through February. Read all about it. January 25, 2004: Troy B is home. The San Diego Antique Motorcycle Show takes place at Balboa Park during the month of February. They were looking for a ) n MH900e to put next to an 84 Hailwood replica so I offered
mine. This meant I needed it back from the welder's shop so Chris went and
fetched it a few days ago. I might not be riding it any time soon, but I'm
really glad to have it home. I forgot how taken I was by its charm. I spent all of Saturday detailing it, wiping off every last speck
off dirt and grease with a gentle hand cleaner. When it comes home after
the museum stint we plan
to park it in the living room, partly because there's no space in the
garage, and partly because the owner feels like oggling it for a while.
With the excess inventory of two-wheeled conveyances in the stable,
there's no need to expose Troy B to the cruel world. For now, it is a
Mama's Boy. November 5, 2003: No new tank still. Still no progress on the tank. I asked Chris to either get the project going or get me my bike back. Chris says even if we got the bike back there's no room in the garage, but fact of the matter is, that bike has been away for about a year now. It ain't right. Troy B needs his mama. I don't care if his bladder is the size of a peanut. I can still at least ride him to the nearest gas station and turn heads with the local bling crowd on my two-wheeled shizzle-mobile. Maybe even score me a few phone numbers for later use. Who wouldn't want friends who drag race on Kearny Villa Road every Saturday at 1:00 a.m.? May 20, 2003: New tank? Troy B has been at a welder's shop for a while now, waiting to get fitted with a larger tank. I don't know when this will get done. I think the bike's been gone for two months now, maybe longer. Most of the time I don't notice he's gone, but sometimes I do and I miss him. At least if he's not around we can't a) put a bunch of miles on him and b) crash him. June 4, 2002: Latest news. Haven't made any posts in a year because we haven't really done anything with the bike other than take it out on the occasional weekend ride. Chris rides it now since we sold the 916, so we're no longer thinking about lowering it for me. We do plan to do something about the gas tank, though. My task will be to create a prototype of a larger tank so a welder can use it to fabricate the real tank out of aluminum. I'll let you know when we make progess on this. August 4, 2001: First trip to Palomar. Palomar Mountain: preferred racetrack for squids and fruitful hunting grounds for the sheriff. Troy got his first hard evaluation up that sweet road today. This bike is solid in the curves and turns very quickly. It's almost as if you don't have to hold a line, like it knows where it should go (not the case with the Monster, which requires vigilence in high-speed curves). There's a stumble/misfire at low speeds, possibly due to it being overly lean to pass EPA, but we'll be able to fix that. Here's the greatest horror about the bike: the gas tank. It has a range of about 80 miles, but you don't really get to go 80 miles. Case in point: We left one gas station and after 30 miles had to stop at another gas station. Why? Because we didn't know if our remaining 50-mile range would get us to the next gas station. If you're in the country, you need to keep filling it for fear you won't come across another gas station in time. Once we calculate the distances between stations we won't have to guess, but if we ever take a trip in an area we don't know, we'll have to keep stopping. Yeah, I know this isn't a touring bike, but even a 996 looks like a touring bike when compared to the MH. Heat factor: Unlike Chris's 916, which has the toaster oven mounted to the right side of the bike, the MH has the toaster oven mounted beneath the seat. The engine heat radiates out pretty evenly from somewhere under your ass. It's not really a problem except when you're sitting at stop lights on a hot day. I suspect in winter my ass will be warm and happy. Next step: Somehow lowering the bike so I can better touch the ground. Cutting foam from the seat won't work, as there is almost no foam in the seat to begin with. Chris will look into the option of a shorter spring. I don't need to be flat-footed; I would just like more than one toenail to reach the ground. August 1, 2001: The modifications begin. The clip-ons had to go. They forced me to be too angled forward, and being torso-challenged, this caused too much stress on my upper body; I was essentially doing a sustained push-up. And I don't want to hear any crap about me not knowing how to relax or use my legs or blah blah blah. I know the tricks of trying to stay comfortable and there was simply no way to do it. I asked Chris for Heli bars. At first he didn't think they'd fit, but after some investigating, he got them on. Check out the difference. The Heli bar is on your left while the original clip-on is on your right. The stock crotch-viewing mirrors are gone. As it is on all my Ducs, Troy has bar-end mirrors. I love and hate bar-end mirrors. They provide a great view, but they have this way of clipping mirrors on cars when you're splitting lanes. Nothing like that crisp THWACK! to make your eyes bug out and then wonder if the cager even knew what happened... July 24, 2001: "Troy" is home! He's currently sleeping in the garage. So far he's great except for two things: 1. He's still tall so I have to pay careful attention about my footing; and 2. The mirrors suck ass (can I say that in public?). You have to go into full tuck to use the mirrors. The designer must've been drunk off his ass when he designed that part of the bike. July 21, 2001: Immaculate conception and birth: The bike's in! The baby's not home with me yet, but the spiritual birthing is done. It's just in intensive care until it puts on enough weight to come home. Check out the action in the delivery room. January 1, 2001: Happy Anniversary Everybody! It's been a year since we camped on our machines and licked at our lips while desperately pinging Ducati's secure server. It was worth the wait! We now all have one-of-a-kind t-shirts purchased at the slim price of $1,500. Once the wait was unbearable; now it is a fact of life. Murphy's Second Corollary: Everything takes longer than you think. Zina's First Corollary: Whatever! Check out my text below next to the picture: "...I hope will be delivered to me some time this summer." HA HA ha ha HA ha HA HA ha ha ha...
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I'm pregnant...pregnant with anticipation over 400
pounds of metal I hope will be delivered to me some time this summer. I'm #21 on the
owner's registry, but that achievement didn't come easily. Let's see what it was
like behind the scenes for one purchaser... |
| MH900e (MyHellish900experience) Ordering
Timeline (Pacific Time), as Recorded by Chris and Embellished by Zina Although I only recorded moments in time, we were in front of our computers the whole afternoon and night trying to register. December 31, 1999
January 1, 2000
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Everybody who bought a MH900e received a t-shirt
indicating what number their bike is (it came in the box shown here). At about 1,800
orders requiring $1,500 U.S. as a downpayment, Ducati currently has about 2.7
million of our dollars to blow at the roulette tables in the Rivieras. Let's hope
they're at least using it to get us pants to go with our shirts. Click on the image
to see the fan-dam-tastic shirts. |
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