. Troy B, #21, Comes Home . |
. MH900e |
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6/4/02: 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. It's actually Chris's bike 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. 8/4/01: 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. Overall comfort: 180 miles and 10,000 gas stops later I'm off the bike with no discomfort at all. I'm pretty happy that I won't have to sell the bike I waited one-and-a-half years for. 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. 8/1/01: 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... 7/24/01: "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. 7/21/01: 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. 1/1/01: 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... |
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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, 2024
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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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Go to Zina's home page. |