I've been quite remiss in getting this post up. In September, a bunch of Ducati owners dedicated to riding, made a plan to travel up to Montreal, Canada for the weekend. I had been up to Montreal over July 4th weekend, and had such a good time, that a number of my other riding crew wanted to go.
The first East Coast Duc at Columbus Circle at 5:30am
Montreal is only about five or six hours from NYC, so I find it kind of silly when anyone with wheels in the City who likes to travel hasn't been up to Quebec yet.
11 Ducati motorcycles meet at the Executive Diner Restaurant/26 Sawmill River Rd.
I wouldn't say I love long trips with a lot of riders, so I had slightly mixed feelings when thirteen riders on eleven different Ducatis showed up to ride to Canada.
Pair of Panigales
On top of the simple fact that more riders (and differences in style, degrees of proficiency, etc) typically means less safety, I feel like there should be some mathematical theorem outlining an inverse relationship between additional riders and overall ability to get from Point A to Point B. Motorcycle riders are stereotyped as badass outlaws, when in reality- we're emotional, cranky travelers that probably need to pee sometime soon...
However, the East Coast Ducati Riders Social Club was conceived as a club devoted exclusively to riding. I've ridden with a number of people in the Tri-State area, where a number of people get excited about riding, then never show up, and I was amazed that nearly everyone who had RSVP'ed to attending our Montreal trip arrived ready to go.
We had a great lunch at a Barbecue place off of 87, and slabbed it most of the way, stopping off at Schroon Lake for a photo op.
I managed to lose the key to my luggage (see the sidecases on my ST3 below) at the pump at the gas station, which some idiot picked up and walked off with.
I scoured the entire gas station for probably fourty-five minutes, until a middle-aged man walked up to me, telling me he had pocketed my key and left. I wasn't really even angry though, as the prospect of spending the next five days without toiletries or a change of clothes had gotten me a little stressed.
Most of the crew wanted to stay somewhere nice, so they booked luxury rooms at a place called the Hotel Zero1 Montreal. I'm not nearly so picky (moreso about the pricetag), and so my buddy Shawn and I shacked up at a Travelodge a block away, for less than half the price.
We checked into the hotel around dusk, which was located right between Old Montreal and Chinatown.
After we dropped off our stuff, we checked our bikes into a garage down the street, had dinner at the hotel, and went out to explore the city.
Thirty Ducatis and Stuart Parr at Art of the Italian Two Wheel
Video below:
Last week, I organized a bike night with Stuart Parr to view his Art of the Italian Two Wheel exhibit at 285 Madison Avenue in Midtown NYC.
Ducatis congregating around Central Park.
Stuart came out and joined us at Columbus Circle on a 1974 MV Agusta 750S Grand Prix motorcycle, and we tore around Manhattan with around thirty Ducati riders.
A number of riders from the DOCNYC and other Ducati clubs showed up, and we tore through the city behind Stuart's very loud MV Agusta.
We went uptown first, then through Central Park, and down 5th Avenue, revving our engines at every opportunity.
Finally, we rolled up to 40th and Madison around 7pm.
Stuart tried on a few of our bikes for size, like Arthur's gorgeous MV Agusta F4 above.
Many riders had taken off early from work, but happily sweated through our suits hanging out in the presence of such Italian history and beauty.
We hung out at Art of the Italian Two Wheel, comparing bike stories,
and hearing a little more about the history of beveled Desmos, among other two-wheeled Italian factota.
Stuart has collected so many incredible bikes, like this 1976 900SS and 1966 Van Tech Motobi delightfully mounted on the wall.
The centerpiece of the event is 5 immaculately preserved 70's era MV Agusta 750S GP bikes, a testament to Grand Prix racing when MV Agusta was virtually unchallenged in motorcycle racing.
Many people consider this fully-faired Ducati 750F1A a masterpiece, though it was completed during a transition period for Ducati, when it was acquired by Cagiva. Built as a TT replica, later F1 models actually bore the Cagiva branding.
This LaVerda 750 SFC (Super Freni Competizione) was actually built as an endurance racer, though it weighs over 500 lbs. My favorite was the eggshell blue-frame 750SS Imola replica below:
A bunch of riders from the DOCNYC, DESMO and some other clubs like the MissFires showed up to the event, and we ended up riding down to the Ear Inn around 8:30. The ride down there was squidly at best, and though we turned a ton of heads riding through the city, and revved our engines aplenty (with many people lane splitting and MotoGP starts at virtually every stoplight), everyone arrived safely downtown. I'm embarrassed at how fun it was...
My friend Chris had a bubble in his clutch line, and had asked me to bring my brake bleeding kit along with me on the ride.
So after a beer, we pushed his 998 onto the sidewalk in front of the bar, and proceeded to bleed his clutch with the help of about 15 riders, so he could safely make it home.
I stopped off at the Stuart Parr Collection this afternoon after lunch with the Elegran team to view the beautiful Italian collection: Art of the Italian Two Wheel on Madison Avenue and 40th Street in Midtown, to show my coworkers some stunning bevel-driven desmodromic Ducatis and classic MV Agustas.
Ducatis out of NYC go to the fair in Ridgefield, Connecticut.
I'm a little late posting this, but the weekend before last I went out with a few friends up to Connecticut. New York City was having the annual "Five Borough Bike Tour," so I decided it was a good idea to get out of the city early.
I met my friends Gerry and a couple of Johns on the West Side at the Sunoco station on 47th and 11th Ave.
After getting gassed up and ready to go we were ready to meet up with another Ducatisti in the Bronx, and passing the Henry Hudson bridge, we passed two different Panigale 899s.
One of them was a fellow DOCNYC buddy, who joined us for a ride up route 22 into Connecticut.
All together, we were riding (from right to left above), a red 899 Panigale, a white 899 Panigale, a classic late 90's 900SS, an 848 EVO, my 996, a tricked out Monster 1200s, and a BMW S1000RR (not pictured).
The day was beautiful, our bikes were fast and we aimed for a little town called Ridgefield, where we stumbled on a BBQ / County Fair, with live music, a Ferris Wheel and a bunch of food.
I wanted to ride the mechanical bull, but even a tough biker like myself couldn't bully my way to the front of the line past 10 nine year-old girls waiting their turn.
We had some barbeque and rested a bit, then rode a bit more...finally back to the city.
Ultimately, we ended up hanging out on the rooftop, smoking cigars and watching the beautiful expanse of the city illuminated by the late spring sun.
Antique Ducatis, MV Agustas and LaVerdas abound in Midtown
UPDATE: Exhibition is called "Art of the Italian Two Wheel" from the Stuart Parr Collection. The catalogue will be written by none other than Ian Falloon.
I was walking to work this morning from Bryant Park east along 40th Street, when I caught sight of the unmistakable profile of an orange Ducati 750GT out of the corner of my eye inside a seemingly otherwise empty retail space along Madison Avenue.
Even as a pretty diehard classic Ducati fan and a member of a couple Ducati clubs, antique Italian motorcycles are one of the last things I've come to expect seeing in NYC, outside of the token display bike at high-end dealers, or a few at niche meetups.
But crossing the street, I noticed twenty odd museum-quality Italian beauties being wheeled around inside the empty storefront, like this race-faired Laverda and a couple of incredible MV-Agustas in back, while a crew washed the windows (giving me hope that this wasn't just some sort of photo shoot).
This incredible 1985(ish) Ducati 750F1A is incredibly rare, modeled after the incredibly successful Ducati TT1 and TT2 race bikes, with the Mike Hailwood-esque paint job. Pictured behind is an 860GT and a Darmah (a bike which my brother-in-law proudly owns).
There were actually two pristine 900ss Ducatis from the late 70's or early 80's one in black and another in silver. I think the two elevated Ducs in the picture above are slightly earlier manufactures of Ducati 750 Sports.
This was a cherry red Ducati, a 750GT. I investigated what was going on on the way home, and found out a bit more about the event. All of these amazing bikes belong to a single collection, owned by an Italian motorcycle enthusiast named Stuart Parr.
Another gorgeous 70's Ducati 750 Sport. In an effort to showcase this retail space on Madison Avenue and 40th Street (and understandably share his amazing collection), Mr. Parr decided to lend his collection to create this installation.
A veritable performance-piece, even walking through twenty degree blustery cold weather in the midst of corporate midtown at 8'oclock on a weekday, stopped pedestrians (including myself) in their tracks to admire the presentation of classic Italian engineering.
If what I was told was true, they'll be arranging select tours and possibly open houses in a week or two, and I sincerely hope I get a chance to admire this collection further up close, including this bike, which I think is an MV Agusta America (?).
Headlining this installation are five MV Agusta GP (some 750 Sports) bikes arranged in formation at the corner of 40th and Madison. I think I also saw a MV Agusta Tourismo Rapido around the corner, similar to this bike, but I'm going to have to go back and look up close...
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