Blowing away the cobwebs

Good heavens, a Bank Holiday in August and its not raining.  Something is definitely wrong with the weather.

So, after all that time in front of the computer at work this week, a quick polish of the Multistrada and some twisty fast miles seemed to be the order of the day :-). Unfortunately there is plenty still to do, and tomorrow I will have to get back to it, but for today, oh the joy of a 1200cc 160bhp Italian designed V twin.  

Of course, before we went out for a ride together there was the joy of giving her a joy good clean and polish to make sure that she was at her best.  Mustn't let the side down now, image is everything(!) :-0

She's a brilliant motorbike, if not everyone's cup of tea in design terms.  but the perfect tool for long distance mile munching on interesting roads. 

I've heard Ducati's described as being "champagne bikes" and there's a degree of truth in that.  If only reliability and longevity weren't important - but I think that it is probably fair to say that mile for mile you will probably have to pay a little bit extra to keep an Italian bike like this on the road, and that as she ages she will inevitably become increasingly less reliable than her contemporaries designed and built elsewhere.  Probably not the end of the world if you are only going to use her at weekends for shorter trips, but that is not really what she's designed for.  

At some stage I will have to decide what to replace her with.  Inevitably her successor will be a touch less highly strung and a little less exciting :-/