Weekday Escape

The Station House Cafe - one of my local favorite. 

TIme to eat! Wild mushroom burger! 

Don't have much happening these days - so let do a ride! Took my classic route from Lucas Valley Road to hit Point Reyes Station for lunch, and took HW1 (Shoreline freeway) back to Mill Valley area. Nice day, and it was a good ride.

Another Skaggs run...

Short brake at Stewarts PointOriginally uploaded by Speedy Chung

I was for sure trying to do as many runs as possible before the wet weather hits Bay Area! It weather was nice and sunny at mid 60s. And this was the first time I ride with other local active Ducati owners - and believe, both of them are excellent riders. On HW1 back from Stewarts Point, I finally felt I was able to unleash most of the power from my Street Fighter S - especially at corners and exits - the engines just kept on pumping! It was strong and stable. I love this bike!

BTW, the 1098S was super hot... I may, just may, seriously think about it...

The color of Fall - solo ride to Skeggs

The color of Fall - solo ride to Skeggs
Originally uploaded by Speedy Chung

Friday off - time for solo ride! Try to catch the last bit of dry road before the winter rain. Too bad it wasn't sunny enough; but roads were mostly dry and it was a beautify riding in Fall color...

I took this ride as a test ride for my new D-system suit too. Man, I have not ride in this comfort for long long time! Everything fitted just right. The 2 piece suit was light and warm. And I love my new Dainese Fulcrum boots the most - there wasn't any brake-in time. I can literally ran with this pair of new boots! It was light, warm, and well made. Highly recommended for winter riding!

Nice weekday solo ride

Sunol Water Temple

Sunol

Calaveras Road

Palomares Road

Originally uploaded by Speedy Chung

Finally able to ride after out of action for 3 weeks due to the wet weather. I think I am good enough to ride in the rain but I know I won't have fun - so my riding time usually decrease dramatically during winter months. It suppose to rain this weekend too - so I took a day off and try to catch the last glimpse of sunny warm weather...

Enjoy!

New replacement tank with internal coating!

New tank!
Originally uploaded by Speedy Chung

My old tank was replaced under warranty due to the classic plastic tank swelling. In my case, it swelled on the right side, and the gap on top of the key guard wasn't even on both side. It was a easy claim through Hattar Motorsports, and the tank arrived 3 weeks after first report to DNA. I sent it out for internal coating to make sure no gasoline contact to the new take internal surface. The coating has 5 years warranty on it, and it costs $240 and 4 weeks of time. $240 is a small price compare with $2500 plastic tank; but seriously, why this happens in the first place? It is a $20K motorcycle for God's sake... and the tank swells just after 1500 mile? Come-on Ducati... you can do better than this!

Horrible accident at Lake Berryessa...

CAL Fire and more CHP showed up...

That's what happened when I first arrived... Rider was in the middle of the road.

Bike in bad shape!

Accident at Lake Berryessa
Originally uploaded by Speedy Chung

Shit, it wasn't pretty - motorcyclist laid in the middle of the 2 ways twisty road; rocks in football size all over the road surface along with metal and plastic prieces fell off from the bike; the bike was like a piece of junk laid flat at dirt on the other side of the road about 30' from the point of impact. Seems like the rider got target fixation and hit the cliff, and bounced back to the middle of the road...

I was the second guy arrive at the accident scene - parked my bike on the side and helped out right-a-way. CHP officer was already there - I think he was just patrolling the area somehow just encountered the accident. Lucky for rider - the accident happened in the area that has no cell phone signal at all... I helped out directing traffic for about 20mins before other emergency respond units arrived. Man, really hope the rider made it through.... =(

Finally a nice decent solo ride!

Photo time!

The field of gold

The bridge is all mine!

Another view...

Nice view

On the way...

Nice day out for solo ride!
Originally uploaded by Speedy Chung

The city was coved with fog and felt cold - but I just couldn't take it anymore and I needed a ride badly. Took my chance and headed to Lake Berryessa - and I was so glad I did it. Weather was perfect at 71F and the roads were free of car, truck, or cop. I wasn't really pushing hard and just tried to enjoy my solo time. It was a great little get away...

Bike apart at the operation table

Bike apart at the operation table
Originally uploaded by Speedy Chung

While most local riders enjoy the sunny warm Saturday morning out there; my beloved SF-S was on the operation table to fix a small coolant leak. It had been leaking for 2 months - basically drop by drop, and almost dry out once came to contact with the hot engine casing. It left just a trial of dry coolant mark - very annoying. The master over Ace Motosport had to remove every between two cylinders to grant access to the trouble spot (head light unit, gas tank, air box, and throttle bodies). For replacing total worth of $50 of parts (hose & claims), it took 4 hrs to complete the job. Luckily every was covered by warranty - $95 an hour labour rate would add up quickly!


While I was waiting, I took one of their old loaner out for a spin - the super ugly MTS 620. But surprisingly enough, it was actually fun - it was a low easy to ride bike, and that's exactly what I miss! Seating position was close to perfect - I can ride that all day long - almost felt like a scooter! But then of cause, it was slow, hell lot of vibration, and finding neutral was close to impossible... so after 30 mins of riding time and I think I had enough :P

New Evotech radiator guard

EvoTech radiator guard close-up

Done! It fits the bike nicely!

Goodies arrive.... 

There aren't too many radiator guard options out there for the Streetfighter; and after a lot of reading of user reviews; I decided to pick up a pair of upper and lower guards from EvoTech. What's really make it stand out is that it is made by single piece of thick aluminum with black powder coated finish. All the openings are stamped cut - it is not made by some cheap painted gutter screen. Fitting is excellent for the lower piece, and there is room of improvement for the upper piece. All all three screws attached the upper guard, the lower left corner didn't stay close enough to the radiator due to the fans attachment screws behind. End up I have to zip-tie the lower corner. Not really a big deal - it is still light year ahead of other cheaply made radiator guard out there using zip-tie to hold the guard itself. Yes, I am a very happy customer!

A quick mountain twisty run... to oysters!

Some time we all need motivations to go ride especially when the riding condition is less than ideal. BBQ oysters for sure work well with me. Took a longer route on HW1 heading toward the Marshall Store over Tomalas Bay for lunch - it has been more than a month since I went there and I do miss it. Fog covered partition of HW1 at Mill Valley as usual - it was wet, slippy, downhill with traffic, and some constructions were in progress in different stretch of roads too. It was a mess; but the trip still well worth - solo ride with good food always fix me well!

HW1 at Bolians Lagoon

Did I mention I love oysters? LOL

Chilling...

PIAA Slim Sport Horn vedio

OK... the more I watch the video, the more I think there isn't too much of the different in loudness.  They are in different tone for sure; and I think I will still have the benefit of getting more attention on the road. Was $50 well spend? Maybe not. But is it a fun small project? Hell yeah!

Stock horn:


The new PIAA Slim horn:

PIAA Slim Sport Horn

The new PIAA slim horn in the original package

The emission canister 'hole'

The original emission bracket

Bracket and horn attachment

All done! Close up...

More close up...

I can't even tell there is a new horn installed!

 PIAA new slim sport horn
Originally uploaded by Speedy Chung

It is about time to upgrade one of the life saving tool on the bike - the horn. Just like any other typical stock horn, the single horn on SF is weak, and it sounds like a toy. The new PIAA slim sport horn unit is bigger and much louder. The best thing about it is that it does sound like a car horn - which will for sure get driver's attention.

I removed the PIAA sticker before the installation. I 'hide' the new horn at where the useless emission canister left behind; and the new horn is so slim that the hole almost looks too big for it. I reused all the screws, rubber spacers, and the canister bracket to hold the mew horn, and it worked great fitted well after some adjustment. I took my time and it is about 2 hours to finish up the job including remove the PIAA sticker and spring paint the unit with bracket. What took me the longest time is the emission bracket and the horn bracket. I have to find a right spot to bend the emission bracket to ensure it has enough separation between the engine and the horn (no one like melting horn). Once that's is done, I have to cut and relocate the hole on the horn bracket to make sure it fits into the slot and to the emission bracket without hitting any other hard parts. Make sure reuse the rubber spacer to reduce the amount of engine vibration to the horn. The rest of the modification is piece of cake...

It sounds loud and great (will provide video later - it is 2:00am now and I really don't think it is a good time to shot horn video LOL) and looks great! Can't wait to test ride it...

List of modifications... so far...

List of modification... so far
Originally uploaded by Speedy Chung

It has been more than a month since I last updated the list of modification. It is time to update my list!

So far what I have done:
- Akrapovic carbon fiber slip-on exhaust
- Shift-tech exhaust hunger
- Rizoma Circuit 743 mirrors
- Rizoma bar ends
- Rizoma mirrors adopters
- Rizoma Star pressure plate
- SpeedyMoto 7 spoke clutch cover
- Ducati performance oil plug
- Ducati performance tour seat
- Speedmoto frame sliders
- Oberon 29mm slave clutch cylinder
- Oberon pegs
- 14t front sprocket
- R&G tail tidy
- Carbon fiber heat shield
- Carbon fiber keyless gas cap
- Carbon fiber key guard
- Carbon fiber wheel mudguard
- CRG levers
- Kriega US-10 Dry-pack

Here is the items that doesn't work out:
- 'Corse' rearsets

And here is my wish list:
- TuneBoy / MicroTech ECU / Custom ECU map
(The $12 14t front sprocket temporary 'move' the flat spot to a lower RPM so the bike is smoother at low speed than before. It is not a total fix, but compare with $500 plus flashed ECU, I think my temp fix is the best deal in town!)
- Rizoma reservoirs with clear tube
(After the Sport 1000 rear brake issue, I am not sure I should do this mod anymore...)
- Rizoma signals
(I do like the stock units - usually I don't mess with signals since I simply can't find any after market signals would work better than stock units!)
- HID headlight
(Would love the have more light power; but DNA will void the warranty if I mess with the light... probably not worth the mod)
- Scorpio Alarm SR-i900
(Will do it soon - once I finger out where to put the alarm unit)
- Carbon fiber parts
(Still 'missing' tank trims, over-sized air intake, and tank pad... which will cost more than $1k total. Seriously I don't think it worths...)

The modification is still moving forward but it will be in a slower pace since I took care most of the things on my list. Beside, the big ticket items really need time for me 'digest'... For the time being, I will for sure enjoy the bike and do longer trips =)

Solo ride to Tomales bay

Lunch at Tomales
Originally uploaded by Speedy Chung

It was a nice solo speedy ride. Usually I stop at the Masrshall Store for oysters but today I felt like having something ales for lunch. Recommended by my riding buddies, I gave the Tomales Deli & Cafe a shot - it was surprising nice. Good food, good price, and a lot of street parking - I highly recommended!

Check out my route...

New set of CRG short levers

New CRG short levers
Originally uploaded by Speedy Chung

Finally pulled the trigger on the new set of CRG levers. I was thinking to go with ASV like my Sport 1000; but CRG is one of the most popular after market levers out there... so why not give it a try? The installation was quick and easy, and it fits well. However, it is not as well made as the ASV levers - especially on the CNC work on at the middle piece. There are 6 lever adjustments (unlike ASV, more than 50), and I have to max out on the clutch side.. which worry me a bit. Can't wait to ride with the new levers set this weekend to get the 'feel' - hopefully it will be a positive one.

Solo ride to Mt. Tamalpais and coastline

Made it to the ridge of Mt. Tamalpais
Originally uploaded by achung_123

Finally I was able to drag my butt up early and get the ready for a solo ride. I planned as a photography trip, meaning better ride solo since I would have frequent stops. Riding without company also means I can take my time on each stop to cover the shots that I want without any distraction... (I guess the truth of the matter is I NEED a solo ride to fix my antisocial personality disorder LOL)

Enjoy the picts!