So for the last year, my 07 Triumph Tiger has been burning oil (there was a bad batch of early 07’s). I finally got a great local dealer (SoCal Motorsports in Brea) to deal with Triumph on the issue, and last week they OK’ed an engine rebuild under waranty.

The bad news is that we do an annual riding trip to Porterville and the Sierra over Memorial Day, and it’s all about people we enjoy and roads my wife and I very much look forward to riding.

The good news was that I had a bulletproof excuse to get a new bike…and I’d had my eye on a Ducati Hypermotard since they first hit the stores.

A week of surfing Craigslist, and I found a mint ’08 base model with a Leo Vince exhaust (keeping the catalyst) and 940 miles, and got a great deal on it.

Because the bike was a year and a half old and had barely been ridden, I had SoCal redo a 600 mile service, and add a rear rack. I picked the bike up Wednesday, installed a Givi plate Thurs, and Friday morning we headed out of town. The rack broke Day One – but I’ll get it reinforced and remounted; the ability to carry a little stuff will be very useful. But damn, what fun.

To give you a sense of the routes we followed, check the links to Google Maps…

Day 1 – the ride up – 318 mi

Day 2 – 201 mi

Day 3 – (we liked that route) – 245 mi

Day 4 – the ride home – 275 mi

I’m 56, in reasonable shape, and survived the trip with three problems: sore hands (hard small grips – need something a little fuller), a sore butt (sadly Renazco doesn’t make a Hypermotard seat…checking my options here), and a slightly sore neck. Plus the facial pain from the continual grinning and hooting with laughter in my helmet.

I tend to name my motorcycles – which is a slightly embarassing affectation, to be sure, but keeps me amused. My Tiger is named ‘Monteore‘ and I named the Hyper ‘Maud Gonne’ after Yeats’ muse – a famous and firey redhead.

I’d worried that the bike was ‘too close’ to my Tiger – esp since the Tiger has a full Hyperpro/Race Tech suspension and has given a decent accounting of itself on the Streets of Willow racetrack.

Wrong. It’s like my old MZ Baghira with serious grunt, and a suspension that feels like it is connected to the ground with titanium plates and little sucker cups. The base rear shock gets overwhelmed occasionally – leaned way over on bumpy roads while hard on the gas, for example – but I got the bike for a good enough deal that I can add all the suspension upgrades I want. I don’t feel the need for more power – today – but will def change the gearing to bump the revs a little; I spent a lot of time in tight twisties either bouncing off the rev limiter or lugging a bit.

And I have to – publicly – eat a generous helping of crow about Ducati bikes and their owners. I’ve always written off the brand attachment as snobbery, plan and simple. I’ve given friends massive grief over it (Hi, Chris!!). But you know what? Damn, these are just great bikes to ride (or technically, this is a great bike to ride).

A seat, some fiddling with control positions, a sprocket, and I can spend the rest of my money on track time, vacations riding, and having someone try and massage the grin off my face when I’m done.

So if you see a somewhat dirty Hypermotard with a milk crate on the back, scuffed tires, and an old guy in a Hi-Viz Aerostich…wave, please.
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