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December / January 2012 DESMOPHILES

#53

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DESMOPHILES

The Newsletter of DOCNZ

Ducati Owners Club of

NEW ZEALAND

December / January 2012 Issue 53

COMMITTEE

REGIONAL CONTACTS Auckland Chris (Haldane M/C’s) 09-579-6020 Wayne Lyons 027-4728-343 Waikato Heath (Hamilton M/C) 07-849-1919 Manawatu Trevor Smart 027 727 1883 Hawkes Bay Nigel Taylor & Claire Miller 021 273 9450 Wellington Todd (Motomart) 0800DUCATI Chris Marer 027-447-4299 Motueka Richmond Grant 03-528-0086 Nelson Greg Monahan 021-851-916 Marlborough Graham McDonald 03-578-2490 Christchurch Craig (Casbolts M/C) 03-366-4401 Phil (Desmocycle) 03-344-1916 Dunedin/Deep South Gary Winter 03-476-7515 021-206-9866

the above members and also the

Ducati Dealer Network

All Magazine contributions and Membership Enquiries to:

DOCNZ

P.O.Box 91-612 Auckland 1142 NEW ZEALAND

Email: secretary@docnz.co.nz

www.docnz.co.nz

President

Chris Marer 027-447-4299

Secretary

Nigel Taylor 027-828-9355

Treasurer

Nick Brandon 022-204-9316

Editor/Publisher

Jamie Littin editor@docnz.co.nz

Webmaster

Nigel Haworth webmaster@docnz.co.nz

Communications Coordinator

Greg Monahan docnz@docnz.co.nz

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Well, 2012 is here and a month has passed already. This means the Su-perbike season starts very, very soon (and MotoGP isn’t too far away either). I’m off to Phillip Island for the Super-bikes again this year. It’s a great event, there’s always great racing and a great atmosphere. Can’t wait. The teams have been settled, and fun-nily enough there are a few more Ducatis on the grid this year compared to last. I guess having the champion-ship-winning bike on your side is pretty tempting when the teams come to de-cide what equipment to run in the new season. It’s a pretty fair spread of manu-facturers across the field actually, and it should be more competitive than ever. In MotoGP the usual suspects are at the front again after the first test of the new 1000cc bikes. Fortunately for Ducati fans it looks like the Desmosedici GP12 is more competitive at the start of this season than the old 800cc version was last season. Hopefully we’ll get to see Rossi and Hayden fighting for wins this year. It was getting a little dull watching Stoner and his Honda win every-thing last year… I’m not sure how well the Claiming Rule Teams will do though. They’re clearly struggling in testing, hampered by having underpowered, under-developed machines and inexperienced riders on board. It’ll be a shame to see a full field at the start of the first GP at Qatar quick dissolve into two races on the track at the same time, with the factory bikes potentially lapping the CRT bikes two or three times. Is that really the kind of spectacle we want to see, just for the sake of more bikes on the grid? The other thing happening soon is the NDR and AGM at Hanmer Springs. I’ll be standing down as magazine editor after this issue, so the next issue will need someone new. If you’d like to give it a go put your hand up at the AGM, or let the committee know beforehand if you won’t be able to get there. You’ll get the chance to influence how the club is seen on the web, in the dealerships, and in the hands of members. If this is something you want to do, give it a go! Jamie

EDITOR’SSAY

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6 PRESIDENT’SPRATTLE

BACK AGAIN Firstly I must apologise for my absence from the Desmophiles over the last cou-ple of issues, you probably hadn’t even noticed either (never mind)... It has been a hectic past 5 months in the Marer household. Back in 2006 we de-signed and built our house in Waikanae. Back then there was only the two of us. Eighteen months after we moved in our little girl, Hine, was born. Although the house was big enough, the section and layout of the place just weren’t right for kids. So in July 2011 we stumbled across a one year old and much bigger house on a few acres of flat land in Te Horo (a couple of km north of Waikanae.) We ne-gotiated price, bought it and moved in September 2011. We then had to sell the Waikanae house. Bridging finance costs a fair bit, so the pressure was on to get it on the market and sold ASAP. We lucked in with a family who just had to have it and wanted to move in in ten days’ time. They offered way over our asking price just to make sure we didn’t turn them down. Now we have a little bit of work to get the new place finished, seal the drive, and build some decks and a little bit of land-scaping (not to mention a Moto-X track.) So now my spare time is even more pre-cious. Luckily it is now summer and Day-light Savings means I can now get the odd early ride in before spending all af-ternoon and evening doing chores. Oh well, such is life!! Of course I still get to ride the Multistrada most days for work, so I’m not exactly missing out (I’ve actu-ally done close to 20,000km on it in the last 12 months.)

To be honest I’m enjoying doing all the extra stuff at home—building sheds and fences etc. Firstly it gives me the chance to teach my girl some Daddy stuff. She is loving using the hammer and cutting bits of wood, get-ting to learn what all the different tools are and how to use them, and the rides in dad’s ute to Bunnings etc. I was thinking the other day having spent a fair chunk of my life travelling around this country and overseas on motorbikes and doing it where and when I wanted it is a bit of payback I guess. Being respon-sible… Argh!! Back to the world of Ducati, I saw today that the first of the 1199 Panigales has just rolled off the production line. Having read all the press, these machines are going to take sport bikes to a whole new level, near as damnit 200hp from a v-twin—holy crap!! Can’t wait to try out one of these bad boys. Club wise things are ticking along. NDR 2012 is in the final stages of readiness and is shaping up to be a fantastic event. We are also working hard on Turismo 2013, which will be taking a break from tradition next year by being run in the North Island. We are hoping to have the route finalised and be presented at the AGM in Hamner. See you all out there. Ciao Chris

7 DIAVELCROMO

The flawless shine of the chromium-plated tank, which con-trasts starkly yet stylishly with the gloss black, gives the Diavel

real cult status. This vintage interpretation of Diavel style is completed by horizontal seat stitching and classic Ducati logos.

For more info go to www.ducati.com

8 SECRETARY’SREPORT

Housekeeping first: 2012 member-ships are now due; new forms have been emailed out, are up on the web-site, or can be found in this copy of the magazine. You will all have had a hurry up from Greg by now to get your entries in for NDR2012. Group ferry booking info for those travelling down from the North Island has been emailed out, if any of you haven’t seen this drop me a line. There is also the AGM to consider and time to put some thought in who you would like to have as office holders or even think about volunteering yourselves. The current committee has a number of years un-der the belt and it perhaps time to think about introducing some new blood. After a year of organising NDR2010 and a couple of years as Secretary of the club I would like to tender my res-ignation from that position. It is a job I have enjoyed immensely during my time in office but I now have to work away from home and there are not enough hours left in the week to do the other things I want to do, including rid-ing as often as I would like. On the social front the Taylor/Miller household had the pleasure of enter-taining a Ducat Owners of the Nether-lands Club member who is in NZ on holiday. Ronald made contact with us through the website, his main aim be-ing to purchase one of our old school club tee shirts. In return we accepted a couple of DOCN tee shirts which will probably end up in the pool of prizes for NDR2012. DOCN has ~5000 mem-

bers who are just as passionate about Ducatis as we are. The club being con-siderably larger than our own also has deeper pockets; in fact deep enough to purchase a Desmosedici purely for the purposes of enabling club members to ride for €150 (about $300) a day. I un-derstand one of our members has a spare one laying around, could we per-suade him to afford us a similar deal??? On the riding front I managed to get out for the first multi day trip since Tur-ismo with the annual pilgrimage to Wanganui to watch the street races. Not having been out for a while I forgot the chain on the S2R needed some urgent attention, the back brake didn’t work and one of the indicators was still missing a lens after a small woopsie during Turismo so I didn’t get away on time. Never mind it’s mostly about the riding and catching up with friends from Auckland and Tauranga. The next couple of days were spent wan-dering around the back roads of the Wairarapa and the central North Island before we all agreed the weather was going to pack it in so we parted ways and headed for home. Bye for now. Nigel

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16”RUBBER

For all those who own older 851s, 750 Sports and DB1s among others—Michelin stopped making 16" rubber ~ 2005; now this company has stepped in to fill the gap: I confirm you that we have produced new moulds and got homologation of GT070 130/60ZR16 and GT071 160/60ZR16, specifically made for Old Ducati models. This was the dream of many riders and especially from NAPO from Italy…maybe you know him. First arrival will be end of March. This material will be sold in Italy at the moment, but our distributor in Germany/Austria/Switzerland (same for all 3 countries) will have them as well I hope in the meantime. We are receiving in this days several requests and we give priority to the people that order them first. Price in Italy will be 300 euro per set tax in-cluded, 130 euro front and 170 euro rear and they make reservation on our web site www.goldentyreracing.com that is just for Italian market, not for ex-port. Transport excluded. Production is made in Korea and top quality range. We already tested and they are very good. Please contact Mr Jens here at-tached and you can post this information We were waiting before making any official announcement, due of high expec-tations around this old issue. We are happy and proud to be part of the dream of many riders. This is Goldentyre policy. I see riders from all over the world….Australia, USA……I think Germany distributor, Delticom, have the net-work to make all of them happy. With best regards Marco Cavallini Buymec srl Via San Piero, 78 56031 - BIENTINA (PISA) ITALY Phone: 0587-756036 / 758133 / 756875 Fax: 0587-756835 www.goldentyre.itinfo@goldentyre.it Need 16” rubber for your Old Ducati? Might pay to get in touch with this guy or ask your favourite bike shop to help out...

10 CLUB MEMBERPROFILE

I remember my first Ducati moment as a 12 year old having a ride on my friend’s sister’s boyfriend’s Bronze/gold 1972 750. From there I have al-ways enjoyed the brand! My NZR fitter apprenticeship allowed my V8 aspirations to construct two 1923 T Buckets 440 Chev powered 10.3sec to 140mph at the ¼ mile. When speaking with Andrew Stroud about the John Britten motorbike, he only managed a 10.4 -136mph so pretty quick back in 1979 for a 21 year old apprentice. Click over the next few years with a stint in the RNZ Navy, travel to Austra-lia and America for 3 years, and pur-

chasing my first home for $58,000. My petrol veins hadn’t finished though, and in June 1984 I purchased my first Ducati – an 860 GTS 1977 Aussie im-port in black complete with an Imola fibre tank and bikini fairing. I stripped it down to powdercoat the frame red, and the tank and fairings silver with a red centre stripe. I had the usual elec-trical troubles that plagued most early models, but I do remember a trouble free run from Wanganui to Whangerai return. I was rather proud of my old bevel head as it was a real head turner. It wasn’t until November 2006 that I was able to purchase my current ride,

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a 1993 900SS with Vee Two 2mm oversize kit(944cc) cams and Keihen carbs. I have had the pleasure of travelling over 30,000kms around the NZ coun-tryside. A highlight for me was last year’s Turismo riding over 4,500km from Hamilton and around the South Island. I have enjoyed many weekends away with trips to Gisborne, Coroman-del, the Forgotten Highway and around Mt Egmont, Eketahuna, through the Parapara to Wanganui many times. Over the years I have enjoyed working on my bikes and with my engineering background have learned to service them myself from a copy of the Hanes

manual. Had one unfortunate incident – when I arrived home from work one day, discovered a pool of oil behind the rear barrel. After investigating where the problem had come from, discovered a broken head bolt. I re-moved the motor from the frame and removed both heads. Fortunately the break was at the neck down so was easily removed from the crankshaft. I purchased 4 180mm long cap screws and was able to machine them up my-self. One day, when browsing the internet while on the hunt for mods I came across an idea that looked good and easy to achieve for a small cost. I be-gan by removing my exhaust system

By Colin Hanlon

12 CLUBMEMBERPROFILE—cont.

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and fabricated a Jig cross frame 2” X 1” box section and tack welded the exhaust in place. First cutting out the crossover manifold where the 2 pipes intersect, then welding into place 2 new 40mm bends along with balance pipes to compensate the change. It was bit of an experiment but thank goodness it came off well as the plan on the web had suggested! Power wise, the motor certainly breathes eas-ier and accelerates through the gears. Great gain for a small cost is always good! I have been keen for several years to upgrade the frame and wheels to gold so after last year’s Turismo, deregis-tered the bike for 6 months and de-cided to take the plunge. The local automotive paint supplier mixed up 2 shades that I had taken from a Mon-ster photo. I set to work with rattle spray cans last winter in a preheated room at work and sprayed the wheels

and frame myself! I had several small hiccups along the rebuild and thank-fully took lots of photos along the re-build to try and ensure getting it all back together correctly again! Was very satisfying to hit the button and to hear the 2V sweet sound again!! Like most around the country, summer rides have been hampered by the weather, but I am looking forward to NDR coming up. With 70,000km’s on the clock and many more pleasurable rides ahead I’m looking forward to en-joying my old girl. While some carry on upgrading to the latest and greatest, I guess I will continue to treat her like my old pair of shoes (that are I keep telling my family to bury me in). The more you wear them, the more com-fortable they get! Anyway, it’s in my will for my 20 year old son to enjoy which I’m sure he will one day as much as I currently am, and will con-tinue to do so until I no longer can!

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Most weekends I will get out for a ride and do a block in the Wairarapa. Lynda hasn’t been much lately as she (by her own admission) is a fair weather rider only, and spring/summer here around Wellington has not exactly produced fan-tastic weather. If you are in the Wairarapa area and looking at doing some ex-tra km’s on some good roads I would recommend riding some or all of the roads. Leaving home in Lower Hutt you head towards the Rimutaka Hill Road (State Highway 2). Unfortunately due to the number of accidents on the hill Transit have put double yellow lines basically from one side to the other. The number of car drivers that pull over and let you pass is reducing mainly I expect due to the way motorcyclists using the hill are passing them e.g. passing on double yellow lines, carving them up to the point of the car having to take avoiding ac-tion to miss having a head on. I have experienced this personally so it is no wonder that car drivers are no longer prepared to move over to let a bike pass. There is also ongoing roadworks at the moment, as they are reshaping some of the road and taking out some of the corners. This means that there’s a speed restriction in place at the top of the hill. Once over the hill as you enter Featherston turn right and head down the West-ern side of the lake. This is a narrow piece of road with very little traffic mixed with some short straights and plenty of curves. At the bottom of the lake turn left on the East West Access Road. This section of the road has sweeping bends and a straight that was used for the Wairarapa motorcycle sprints. Just to let you know that one year Lynda was the title holder of “Ladies Champion” on her 1000cc Monster. At the T intersection turn right and after about 3km you get to another intersec-tion. At this point you have a dilemma, if you turn right you get to the Lake Ferry and the Hotel where it has been recommended to have the fish and chips. I personally do not go this way as it is too early for lunch and the Hotel is not open so I turn left and head for Martinborough where a number on eater-ies with good food can be found. When you get to the town square take the 6th exit from the Lake Ferry road, and head out on Hinakura Road past the golf course. After a number of kms turn left onto Martinborough-Masterton Road and this takes you out to Glad-stone.

REGULARWEEKEND RIDE

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A word of warning here…the Police have been patrolling this section of the road due to complaints from the locals about motorcyclists using the road as a race track. I was stopped a couple of weekends back. The officer checked licence ,warrant and rego, and then gave me a “Good Boy” pack consisting of a safety DVD and brochures, a pen and a chocolate (bet I know who scored the chocolate! Ed). At Gladstone depending on time and if you feel like another 30 odd kms keep going straight then turn left onto Tupurupuru Te Wharau Road, also known as Water Tower Road but I would not use “Water Tower Road” if you have an ac-cident as the Ambulance will have no idea where you are. This section of the road is closed and used for the annual Wairarapa “Cliff Hanger” hill climb. I often come back through Lee Pakaraka road, which many years ago was where the Wairarapa Motorcycle Club held their bent sprints. I usually have a refreshment stop on the way home at “Wild Oats” Café in Car-teron – they have a great range of food, and even supply a “Visor Cleaning Station” with handee towels and spray bottle so you can clean the bugs off your visor as you sip your flat white. Another benefit to stopping here is to buy a couple of blueberry Danish pastries for me and Lynda for afternoon tea. This loop is around 280kms return from home. If time is an issue, there’s lots of shortcuts that can be taken to make it a shorter ride.

By Hamish Blair

16 ROLAND SANDSDESIGNS

Some of you may have heard the name Roland Sands, He is a young award-winning designer from southern California. Roland is a former AMA 250 road race champion, and son of Perry Sands founder of Per-formance Machine, one of the biggest suppliers of aftermarket v twin parts in the US. Roland started out designing parts for his dads company Performance Machine, and after his racing career being cut short by injuries he started designing motorcycles from the ground up. Coming from a racing back round he applies this to his designs combining art with perform-ance. After tremendous success he founded Roland Sands Designs RSD in 2005. RSD now designs parts and motorcycles and has worked with several major motorcycle manufactures including Ducati designing con-cept and prototype parts and complete motorcycles. He is known to have had input into the new Diavel and you can certainly see his influ-ences.

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Recently he has managed to blend MotoGP with dirt track and turned a Ducati Desmosedici in to the RSD Desmo Tracker. He has the ability to retain the best of the original design and completely change the function of the ma-chine. The end result is simply awesome and his bikes look pretty fun to ride. He has also added his touch to the Ducati Hypermotard and su-perbike. His website is rolandsands.com and definitely worth check-ing out.

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DUCATI SPECIALIST Dave McDonald

NZ agent for ‘Vee-Two’ performance parts Bel-Ray and Penrite Motorcycle Oils Over 20 years Ducati experience and

expertise! Bevel Drive and

Belt Drive Two Valves a specialty 28-30 Joseph St

Palmerston North 027-682-7083

19 TREASURER’SREPORT

Below is a summary of income and expenses for the period 1 November - 31 December 2011.

The months of November and December have been very good in respect of income for the Club, with NDR registrations rolling in plus early membership subs payments. As the closing date for NDR entries of 31 January approaches a lot more registrations are expected which will ensure that we have plenty of funds available to host the event. By the time you read this NDR and the AGM will be less than two months away so your secretary and I have prepared the following commentary on our finances for coming years. At the AGM this year we will need to consider a change to the way the membership fees are set. With many people opting to receive the magazine electronically the annual cost to print and distribute the magazine have fallen dramatically. Assuming 85 copies 6 times per year the annual cost to print and deliver the magazine will be approximately $4,500. The 85 copies include 30 sent to the dealers. Your treasurer has done a bit of number crunching and come up with the following proposition for the 2013 year: • Ordinary membership $55 single/$65 family (as voted for at the 2011 AGM) • Electronic magazine membership – $30 single/$40 family Based on the current % split of members opting to receive a hard copy of the magazine staying as per 2011 the amount we receive for subs will fall to a sustainable level of ap-proximately $6,500 p.a. and which will allow us to continue to arrange annual events such as Turismo and NDR. There will be a chance to discuss this and consider other options at the AGM. The above has been put together to give you all some basic information and so we hopefully will have an informed debate. In the meantime - keep the rubber side down. Nick

   Cheque account  Savings account 

Balances of accounts as at 31 Aug 2011  $       2,860.85  $      5,444.75 

Less expenses for the period 1 Sep – 31 Oct 2011  $         (662.18)   $               nil 

Add income for the period 1 Sep – 31 Oct 2011   $      1,950.00   $         26.89 

Closing Balances 31 Aug 2011   $      4,148.67   $     5,471.64 

20 SUPERBIKEWORLD CHAMPIONSHIP 2012

February 26 Phillip Island, Australia April 1 Imola, Italy April 22 Assen, Netherlands May 6 Monza, Italy

May 28 Salt Lake City, USA June 10 Misano, Italy July 1 Alcaniz, Spain

July 22 Brno, Czech Republic August 5 Silverstone, UK

August 26 Moscow, Russia September 9 Nurburgring, Germany September 23 Portimao, Portugal

October 7 Magny Cours, France

May 13 Donington, UK

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DUCATIS AROUND NEW ZEALAND

- MEMBERS

PHOTO GALLERY

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25 MOTOGPWORLD CHAMPIONSHIP 2012

April 15 Doha, Qatar

April 29 Jerez, Spain

May 6 Estoril, Portugal

May 20 Le Mans, France

June 3 Montmelo, Catalunya

June 17 Silverstone, Great Britain

June 30 Assen, Netherlands

July 8 Sachsenring, Germany

July 15 Mugello, Italy

July 29 Laguna Seca, USA

August 19 Indianapolis, Indianapolis

August 26 Brno, Czech Republic

September 16 Misano, San Marino

September 30 Alcaniz, Aragon

October 14 Motegi, Japan

October 21 Sepang, Malaysia

October 28 Phillip Island, Australia

November 11 Valencia, Valencia

26 DIAVELTEST RIDE

I got to see Stu Jordan’s Diavel up close when he, Alfio and I rode our bikes to Picton a couple of weeks ago. Alfio astride his red Multistrada, the ‘S’ one with more adjustments than Captain Kirk’s Enterprise, and me on my black V twin (with just an on/off switch). Anyway I say ‘up close’ but actually Stu’s pipe is so loud that no one in their right mind would want to get close to it when it’s run-ning. It was deafening riding alongside and you get the impression that the short, sideways facing Termignonis are sandblasting the left hand side of your bike, so I pulled back, leaving him to ride into the path of an oncoming car. Or at least it looked that way as he overtook the ‘tin top’ ahead, on the approach to a curving bridge south of Kaikoura. At what seemed the last possible minute Stu ‘twisted the throttle to the stop’ and disappeared, safely, blurring quickly into the distance. This skilful manoeuvre was accompanied by a loud wailing noise that reminded me of the one time an RAF ‘jump jet’ practicing low flying

27 By Dave Clare

in the English Lake District, flew just a few metres above my head. That could have been a terrifying and potentially trouser soiling experience had I not been partly anaesthetised by several pints of cask conditioned real ale. Anyway even sober I remember the sound and this was similar as it bounced back to me off the Armco bridge barrier in Stu’s wake. I thought then and there that I would very much like to ride that bike. Now Stu’s Diavel I know I’d only get to, ahem, ‘test ride’, by prying the key from his cold, dead fingers so imagine my delight when, just last week, Craig Roberts at Casbolts offered to let me ride his. Or at least the ‘Ducati road show’ slightly scratched ‘carbon’ one. I arrived, smiling, at my allocated time and continued to grin even as I signed the $1200 dollar insurance excess agreement. This is after all a thirty some-thing K bike and my accident history is not exactly squeaky clean. After 5 min-utes of fiddling as we tried to work out why it wouldn’t start (it was in gear) I bruised my shin on the pointy metal foot peg, slid the side stand away and boomed (not as loud as Stu’s with the standard pipes) my way towards the Akaroa highway. I won’t attempt a ‘Cathcart’ type review since I hope many of you snatched the opportunity to have the same experience (or maybe you chose instead the fruity looking street fighter which was also available) and I

(Continued on page 29)

28 1199PANIGALE DOCNZCLUB NIGHTS

DISCLAIMER Unless expressly stated, the opinions and comments in this newsletter are those of the contributors only, and are not club policy. Nor does the club guarantee any advertisers products or servicing suggestions

made. Although all material is checked for accuracy, no liability is assumed by the editor or DOCNZ.

Our Advertisers and Sponsors Support Us Support them and Support your Club

Whenever you see the services of one of our advertisers (and isn't that all the time?) let them know that you saw the ad in DESMOPHILES. That way they will know that their advertising dollar is being spent

wisely. It will help your club, the service provider and above all it will help you (there may be a club mem-ber discount available).

Auckland Headquarters Restaurant and Bar, 132 Beaumont St, Westhaven

1st Wednesday of each month from 7.30pm

Hamilton Hamilton Motorcycle Centre, Te Rapa Road, Hamilton

3rd Tuesday of each month from 7.30pm

Wellington The Featherston Bar and Grill, Corner Featherston & Johnston Streets, Wellington

3rd Tuesday of each month from 6.00pm (although Lynda is usually there from about 5.15pm)

Nelson Mapua Village Inn, Nelson

3rd Tuesday of each month from 7.30pm

Christchurch Dux de Lux on Montreal Street. Start time 7.30pm—1st Tuesday of each month from

7.00pm

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don’t want to bore you. But I just needed to say –‘it was great’. The Diavel hauled arse (sorry to Tina and other sensitive souls) like my old 748 out of a corner and delivered the blinding rush of Yamaha’s quirky VMax once I got it upright. This is a seriously powerful bike but not in a wobbly or uncontrollable ‘Vboost’ way. It looks like a hot rod but handles much like a sports bike. The massive air box/fuel tank that forces your legs apart makes it look bulky up front but it’s not that heavy and the handling is not slowed by the enormous air-craft landing-gear tyre on the back. It moves around easily like it’s on ball bear-ings. Despite the strong nor’wester conditions that day, which tried to yank me from my bolt upright perch, on the Motukarara straight, the Diavel felt stable and assured. It’s true that the rear brake lever was angled down so I couldn’t use it easily, the indicator slide required a precise left thumb to cancel and you needed to have the mind of a teenage gamer-geek to work your way through the display menus and sub menus and sub-sub menus but these trivial irrita-tions couldn’t dampen my enthusiasm for the bike. I didn’t want to give it back. The whole package is brilliant with even fold-out passenger foot pegs, bungee hooks under the seat and a pull-out passenger grab rail. But surely the boys in Bologna don’t expect us to find someone who’d be crazy enough to risk ‘riding bitch’ on the devil? Many thanks to Craig and the team for the opportunity to try it. I’ll see you out there.

(Continued from page 27)

DIAVELTEST RIDE—cont.

30 LYNDA’SFAREWELL DO

Just before Christmas Lynda Blair left her job at LINZ in Wellington, after working there as EA to the Chief Executive for over 15 years. Lynda's boss put on a farewell "do" for her, and as the formalities were about to start Lynda started panicking as her boss was nowhere to be seen. "Don't worry" said the MC "We'll start without him, he can't be far away." Lynda couldn't understand what was going on...and just as she was starting to insist on waiting for her boss to turn up, a Ducati roared into life in the corridor outside the cafeteria...and in came her boss on a 900SS (with very loud aftermarket pipes...), dressed in black bike gear from top to toe with a dark visor on the helmet - so none of the 90-odd staff present knew who was under the gear - except Lynda who'd guessed. Colin (Lynda's ex boss) had borrowed the bike gear and ar-ranged for one of the staff who had a 900SS to get it up to the 2nd floor in the service lift for him to bring into the cafeteria. Lynda was suitably speechless (well, for a couple of seconds anyway). And Lynda's farewell pressie? A voucher from Capital Books to buy the latest "Motocourse" when it's released early this year.

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32 JAMIE’SNEW BIKE

This is my “new” bike—whaddaya think? It’s a 1974 750 Super Sport….. OK…. It’s a 1:12 scale model of a 1974 750 Super Sport. So the sound isn’t quite the same as the original—rather quiet in fact—and it’s quite a cramped riding posi-tion, but it really does look the part. This is the latest Ducati model made by Minichamps (check them out on the web at www.minichamps.de), a German company that makes exquisite models of bikes, cars, you name it. The detail is superb—brake lines, springs, even blueing on the exhaust pipe. I have a handful of others (Stoner’s championship-winning Desmosedici from 2007, Capirossi’s Desmosedici from 2003, Bayliss’ World Superbike 998 from 2002) but this is definitely the pick of them now. Just have to find a spot some-where in the house where it can be admired yet is safe from the affections of the cat… Jamie

33 MOTOGP TESTINGAT SEPANG

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CLUBREGALIA

SALE NOW ON!!

Anyone interested please contact

secretary@docnz.co.nz

Due to the change of club logo we are selling off our collectable caps. T-shirts

are already sold out, so get your cap now!

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CHRISTCHURCH

Ph 03-366-4401, Ph & fax 03-366-4402

E-mail sales@casbolts.co.nz

36 NDR2012

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38 NDR2012—cont.

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NOTE: LATE FEE APPLIES AFTER 31 JANUARY 2012

41 DOCNZMEMBERSHIP FORM 2012

DUCATI OWNERS CLUB NEW ZEALAND I................................................................................................................................................................ [first name] [surname] of.............................................................................................................................................................. [postal address] [suburb / city] [postcode] ......................................................... .................................................................. [Home telephone] [Cell phone] I am happy to receive Ducati related emails Y/N ............................................................................................................................................ [email address - PLEASE PRINT CLEARLY] I hereby apply to the Ducati Owners Club New Zealand for membership. In the event of my admission as a member, I agree to abide by the Constitution and By-Laws of DOCNZ. Signature: .............................................................................. Date: ............................................. Payment Details: Membership fees ( please circle one) Full m/ship $50.00 or Family* m/ship $60.00 *Family membership - family members or partners living under same roof. Associate Membership (non Ducati Owner - no voting rights) Assoc. m/ship $50.00 You may include a cheque with the membership form, or you may pay by direct debit: if you wish to pay this way, the details are: DOCNZ National Bank-Palmerston North 06-0746-0276337-000 Note that you must still complete and post the membership form if you wish to pay this way. Please note that memberships expire on the 31st of January. Applications and renewals received between November and January are registered as a membership for the following year Particulars of motorcycle/s: ________________________________________________________________ [model and capacity] [year] [ Rego #] ________________________________________________________________ [model and capacity] [year] [Rego #] ________________________________________________________________ assoc. [make, model & capacity] [year] [Rego #] ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Preferred method for receiving DESMOPHILES Club magazine: e version □ hard copy □ Please post to: Ducati Owners Club New Zealand. PO Box 91 612, Victoria St West, Auckland 1142, New Zealand

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Cover photo: Colin Hanlon’s 900SS by Jamie Littin Centre spread: Colin Hanlon; Scott Palmer; Lynda Blair; Jamie Littin

IF YOU'RE IN THE BUSINESS OF DUCATI MOTORCYCLES YOU MAY WISH TO REACH YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE THROUGH THIS SPECIAL INTEREST CLUB MAGAZINE

SIZE 1 ISSUE 3 ISSUES 6 ISSUES

1/8 page $15.00 $30.00 50.00

1/4 page $20.00 $35.00 $60.00

1/2 page $35.00 $70.00 $110.00

Full page $65.00 $110.00 $200.00

Payment is due at the time of placement of advert. Club Classifieds Free classified advertising for club members is available on the DOCNZ website. Registered users can surf to www.docnz.co.nz, click the Forums link, and use the Buy/Sell/Swap forum. If you have any queries or need help please email webmaster@docnz.co.nz.

Magazine Contributions should be sent to: The Editor

DESMOPHILES P.O.Box 91-612 Auckland 1142

Email: editor@docnz.co.nz

Deadlines are the 1st February, April, June, August, October and December for issues due out

towards the end of the month. Display advertising is available for business – please contact the secretary.

Rates above.

DESMOPHILES ADVERTISING RATES

CONTRIBUTIONS

PICTURECREDITS

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