Ducati Demo Event in Herndon this weekend

[ERC Scott]

The Ducati Experience Tour (ie demo rides and swag) is being hosted at Audi/VW Headquarters in Herndon this weekend. Audi is the owner of Ducati for several years, thus the VW connection. Rick and I will be involved as lead/sweep riders. I believe there will be demo rides on Friday in addition to Sat & Sunday.

July 30 @ 9:00 am - July 31 @ 5:00 pm
Volkswagen Group of America, 2200 Ferdinand Porsche Dr.
Herndon, VA 20171 United States

http://experienceducati.com/event/ducat ... uarters-2/

[jskene]

This is about 10 minutes from home. I'll have to try out a few models.

[ERC Scott]

Enjoyed seeing some club members at the event who came to taste espresso and biscotti. It was a very friendly group. Especially interesting was the 20 minutes that the Ducati America CEO spent talking bikes (not limited to Ducatis) to Rick and me. He actually sought us out after his speech to the VW-Audi employees. A great guy and I enjoyed hearing his story (only after he was asked) of how in 20 or so years he advanced from the parts desk rep at a dealership to the head of Ducati's North America operations. His story reminded me that with dedication, persistence and continual education how a normal Joe (or Jane), with some breaks along the way, has attained what many of us consider a dream job.

[jskene]

This was a great opportunity to try out some of Ducati's latest models.

Many thanks for posting this on the forum. I had a lot of fun on a Scrambler. What a difference when I got back on my K1200RS to ride home!

[RocketMan]

I got out there Sunday and just missed the first ride but got a demo on the Scrambler for the 10 AM run.

While its a very nice looking machine and a great color, is super light (didn't feel any heavier than my SR which is 340 Lbs), was very manoeuvrable and has tons of power) I can honestly say I'm cured of any desire to own one.

I found the seat to be really cramped with no room to move around, you're pretty much limited to one position and "the boys" were not happy in the least because of the way the seat is sculpted. Between that and the rather high set and rearward position of the foot pegs I almost had to turn around before even getting out of the parking lot due to serious cramping in my inner left thigh. Now granted I have been having issues with the pinched nerve in my spine, I can ride my own bikes without issues (mostly) and even the Victory Electric MC I rode recently which also had a more sport-bike seat/footpeg setup didn't cause issues.

Can't say much for the controls either, the bike has some serious throttle snatch coming off idle which made smooth take-offs problematic, esp, when going into a tight turn at low speeds; I thought my DL had bad throttle snatch coming off, or returning to idle, but this one was far worse. Might have been due to the additional power compared to my DL, but it seems to me this sort of issue could be resolved with a better designed throttle that smooths out the transition. I know that fuel injection is part of problem because it is so instantaneous compared to a carb, but still... Something like the Throttle Tamper that smooths out the initial transition should be standard it seems to me. I know I'm not alone on this issue, so its not just me being bitchy.

Clutching was also an issue, but I assume that was mostly due to the setup, there was absolutely No free play so the engagement was really late, not until the lever was almost at the end of the travel. The signal switch had No feed back, no discernible movement at all so it was hard to tell if they were properly activated without checking the display. i can't say much for the instrumentation either, while the speedo readout was big and easy to see, as were the various indicator lights, the RPM indicator was just a very thin band of led style light bars (Maybe 1/8 of inch wide, If that) around the outer edge of the single circular instrument. While perhaps not a big deal, if they are going to have one it should at least be easy to read or why bother? As set up it was more of a distraction than anything. Indicators that take more than a very momentary glance are useless and a serious distraction, it only takes a split-second for something untoward to happen in front of you when riding, esp at speed when the RPM indicator is something you might actually want to see.

Overall, not terribly impressed with seating, comfort, controls or instrumentation which for me count more than looks, power or weight. Still a great looker and perhaps for someone younger or shorter in the in-seam some of the comfort issues might not count, but a bike this light and powerful should be easier to control i.e. have smoother controls and provide better feed back and be more comfortable.
Won't find one in my garage any time soon, That's fer sure! Ha Ha!
RM