Chris Fetherston

A designer, thinker, tinkerer, and avid motorcyclist.


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Thursday
10 / 8 / 09
Thoughts on the Ducati 748. Warning, moto-nerd speak ahead, proceed with caution. Thanks to the fine gentlemen at Tony’s Track Days, I got some excellent saddle time with my new duck at New Jersey Motorsport Park’s quite fast Thunderbolt Raceway. Given a short week to prepare, it was a rush to get the suspension setup, oil changed and a crash course in safety wiring. Here’s a few other new-to-me factors of the day: First time riding with GP shift First time riding on race slicks First time riding with Tony’s After Tony’s rider’s meeting, most of my worries about #3 were put to rest. It was clear that the other track clubs I’ve ridden with are more race oriented. Great, because the last thing I needed was an inside block pass by Johnny Racer while I’m learning the new beast. So I got suited up. Heading to staging it was definitely clear the 748 is no R6. Its taxiing manners are rather primitive with a bus-like turning radius, chattering dry clutch and tall first gear that just starts walking at 20mph. With a wave from the staging officer, I banged the shifter down, dropped the clutch and mashed my personal bits into the gas tank as the bike coughed and stalled. Fuck, #1 bit me already. I sheepishly toed the sifter back to neutral, restarted, and I’m off. Once the tires warmed up things really started to fall into place. The absurd riding position, made worse by my Woodcraft clip-ons and Ducati Corse rearsets, began to make sense. The motorcycle accentuates and encourages proper body position. Hanging off the saddle in a corner rests your forearm beautifully in a well-placed recess of the gas tank, neutral riding position places your head exactly where it should be behind the windscreen. This is truly a bike that when ridden hard, it asks to be ridden harder. It may sound like something an uninspired moto-journalist would say but It’s true. The chassis, even with my hacked suspension settings, is unflappable. Throw it down into a corner and the 748 settles itself and utters a quick chatter from the clutch on throttle transition as if to say, “yeah, and?”. Well that’s it for track days this year. It’s going to be a long winter. At least I have some timing belt changes and desmo-valve checks to keep me busy.

Thoughts on the Ducati 748. Warning, moto-nerd speak ahead, proceed with caution.

Thanks to the fine gentlemen at Tony’s Track Days, I got some excellent saddle time with my new duck at New Jersey Motorsport Park’s quite fast Thunderbolt Raceway. Given a short week to prepare, it was a rush to get the suspension setup, oil changed and a crash course in safety wiring. Here’s a few other new-to-me factors of the day:

  1. First time riding with GP shift
  2. First time riding on race slicks
  3. First time riding with Tony’s

After Tony’s rider’s meeting, most of my worries about #3 were put to rest. It was clear that the other track clubs I’ve ridden with are more race oriented. Great, because the last thing I needed was an inside block pass by Johnny Racer while I’m learning the new beast. So I got suited up.

Heading to staging it was definitely clear the 748 is no R6. Its taxiing manners are rather primitive with a bus-like turning radius, chattering dry clutch and tall first gear that just starts walking at 20mph. With a wave from the staging officer, I banged the shifter down, dropped the clutch and mashed my personal bits into the gas tank as the bike coughed and stalled. Fuck, #1 bit me already. I sheepishly toed the sifter back to neutral, restarted, and I’m off.

Once the tires warmed up things really started to fall into place. The absurd riding position, made worse by my Woodcraft clip-ons and Ducati Corse rearsets, began to make sense. The motorcycle accentuates and encourages proper body position. Hanging off the saddle in a corner rests your forearm beautifully in a well-placed recess of the gas tank, neutral riding position places your head exactly where it should be behind the windscreen.

This is truly a bike that when ridden hard, it asks to be ridden harder. It may sound like something an uninspired moto-journalist would say but It’s true. The chassis, even with my hacked suspension settings, is unflappable. Throw it down into a corner and the 748 settles itself and utters a quick chatter from the clutch on throttle transition as if to say, “yeah, and?”.

Well that’s it for track days this year. It’s going to be a long winter. At least I have some timing belt changes and desmo-valve checks to keep me busy.