Contrary to rumours Desmo does ride his other bikes and the Monday after the Geelong Cats had beat the St Kilda Saints after 25 hard fought rounds late in September was one of those days.
It was a glorious day with 23 degrees proffered by BOM. The day was begun early with MrsD translating the finer details of German Ebay for me. With that out of the way Desmo took to the fitment of his latest Ebay acquisition a Cox radiator guard for the beloved and respected 08 delivered MV with its 10000Ks on the clock 4000 more than his K7 SV thou. And now summer is here the 999S fire breathing 90 degree V-twin with its 17000 Ks is back on the road so SV’s beware, I digress.
The rad guard looks great in titanium but everything is so well interlocked on the MV you can hardly notice it. If it only saves one stone it has been worth the 35 USD it cost. With the arrivals of MrsD’s friend and the spiritual meridian chick that was there to align the girls with the cosmos Desmo was out of there. Off to align himself with some decreasing radius apexes and flowing sweepers that make up a three hour southern run to Strath via the Adelaide hills and other fav roads such as the cosmic Mackie road, with a terrestrial blasting meridian bending Bull Creek onslaught on the 166 horsepower with the on rails handling of 50 mm Marzocchi forks up front and fully adjustable Sachs rear shock that made the 200KG beast a pleasure to navigate through the sinuous chicanes.
It had been a whole five weeks since my last real ride on a motorcycle as I had taken to some fire tracks on the Dual Sport earlier in the wet week but that could hardly count? So the decision of an Italian inline four marque may have been somewhat premature but the need for excitement overwhelmed the responsible cognation of an outing on a more sedate machine. There we have it, the choice of champions was wheeled out of the tin shed and starter depressed. It fired first kick and with leathers zipped and tucked it was out towards the hills face. The first encounter was a group of high heeled office girls who gave the aproving waves and thumbs up as I crossed the footpath in front of them as they headed to the local bakery for lunch.
With the office girls diminishing in the rear view mirror the road ahead was a fast track to the hills and our beloved and much lusted after playground of twisties that were to make up the next few hours of a rubber ripping run. Any way you look at it the MV 1000 is a handful of bike heavier than other mille’s. One would expect it requires quite a bit of effort to haul the beast from apex to apex and the tight stuff does make you work twice as hard compared to the SV 1000N. It is the stability and balance of the bike that makes it useable when the 166 horses start to come on with a rush that even the hardened Busa rider would find a little frightening. It all happens so quickly with that sort of power in reserve and frankly I love it. Exhilarating exits from tight or sweeping curves are this machines gift and with a 1407.2mm wheel base shorter than a Curvy’s 1440mm makes tipping in aggressively easier than one would expect.
After a tyre warming Greenhill road hills face I was ready to try a little redline riding through the ample road that is the Uraidla to Balhannah stretch. With the Arrow exhaust wailing its distinctive note and cool hills air flowing into the Italian power plant Desmo’s SV was well and truly out of the ride equation on this day anyway. There was however one problem while refuelling the bike some critter must have found its way into my helmet and was now working its way to the ear hole. Desmo hoping it would just crawl out on to his neck where its fate would be a swift squishing with a leather clad finger but this was not to be. Instead it reached crisis point of entering the outer ear canal forcing a pit stop at Nepenthe’s front gate and after the offending ant had met with its maker the first photo opportunity for the day was taken.
It was a quick jaunt to Hahndorf and onto Echunga the MV was running sweet a low 68 degrees C on the coolant temperature and open throttle on those interlaced sweepers that lead onto the long straight. Where a stealth overtaking of a P plated 90s Skyline left the turbo kid feeling like he had been short changed as his attempt to thwart the MVs poll position saw the Nissan pull up an easy 3 seconds short before the next grouping of wide bends. Slowing for the drowsy town of Echunga with the right hand twitching for the connected short straights and tighter corners of the Mackie road the turbo kid was nowhere to be seen. It was great to open the throttle on the first left right and feeling the 100 plus NM of torque bite as I held the mille in second out to redline on the straight. Dropping off the throttle down the rise into the next left cutting it in close to open up the right apex and using the last tweak of the rotation to open up the throttle bodies fully feeling the bike lift as the organ pipes sung their rasping bark accelerating into the ensuing chicane with a feathering of the rear brake and adroit throttle application found Desmo kicking up a cog for the big left hander before easing off on the right and subtle left onto the Flaxley straight. Gee that was fun as I putted through Flaxley frothing at the beak for the next series of chicanes and sweepers that are just hooting on the pipe no matter what bike you ride.
The first right after the 45K twisty sign was already set the bike tipped in and throttle increased, the subsequent set of corners are like a crescendo of increased right hand application to the fuel injection system. By the means of Massimo’s choice of four Weber Marelli the fuel was streaming into the F4 power plant and Desmo was riding high on the rhythm of the four into two into one out to two then four tuned CRC Arrow exhausts when OH NO!! There it was again just like the Bull Creek of 7 odd weeks back though this time smaller in size but just as menacing a road covered from verge to verge with ball bearing sized gravel. You can’t stand the bike up on a right hander so it was head for the cage tracks. The initial front end drift was measured, with zero brakes, throttle shut off and the technology of Caviga Research Center reducing engine braking via a tricky device that permits the #2 cylinder to distribute torque when the throttle bodies are closed the rear Dunlop Qualifier mirrored the front until it regained traction allowing the back end to slide a few more centimetres before it also bit that was the instant Desmo’s sphincter stopped its involuntary twitching and the twist of the wrist took over. Wahoo, survived another one and just in time to lean hard into the left. The rest of the ride to Mackie was uneventful though I must admit some of the earlier enthusiasm was tempered by the preceding moment.
I rounded the intersection to Meadows and was once again up through the gears no real urgency as it is just a straight. Kicked down to second at the next intersection then opened the throttle bodies fully winding out to red line in second and third skip fourth into fifth maintain the pace until the death markers. Then back to third with ¾ throttle it was up the hill sweeping right then left into a bit of open space, over the crest and on the throttle down the hill, a banking left into fourth gear @ 10000 RPM a slight right hook kick up to sixth and glide through the 80K to 60 K signs kicking down to first at the Y junction to Meadows. No traffic great! Turn back on oneself and wrench open the demand for fuel first then second just kicking up into third as I pass a Blue Curvy heading in the opposite direction not too far behind a Gixa 750 with the Paris Creek turn passed the power applied and Bull Creek was flowing effortlessly without an obstruction in sight. It is a magnificent run when hindrance free fourth gear just under peak NM @ 7500 RPM meant that quick bursts of throttle has the front end lifting and rear squatting in unison as the G force forced Desmos 110Kgs back against the seat stop. Rolling on and off the throttle all the way to Strath, it was a blast. Ashbourne was dealt with in the same manner though I did hold it at higher RPM most of that road as I love the sound of an MV on the pipe, actually one could say any bike for that matter.
Strath was a welcome relief for the malleus not to mention the other smallest bones in the human body that had been over exposed during the past hour of an MV southern sojourn. It was on to Marylou’s for a well deserved coffee and some good old tyre kicking of the new Aprilia mille. Pulling into the Garage there it was right up front with a sold sticker on it. Entering the door there was more milles for sale obviously these lads are trading up for the V4. It is an impressive machine but old Desmo will continue with his SV’s. Even the Curvy is more than ample with its stock rear shock along with the soon to be installed Ricor intiminator and fork brace should have the yellow peril tracking like a factory 800 Desmo wakes up now and continues with the chronicle of the day.
With coffee consumed and not much else to keep one at The Garage it was off to the Mackie road once again. Ahhh those extraordinary 100 KPH series of Esses and straights lay ahead and with gusto it was a brisk run though a verdant countryside. Those new sections are sweet nice and smooth you can really nail the apex feeling the tyre spin up just a little to add some zing. Mackie 50KPH signage appeared and went; crossed the Flaxley gravel pit passed a BMW 1200 on the long left hand sweeper before tucking into the last few twisted bits before Echunga. Feeling pretty pleased with oneself Desmo preceded to River road and put in a brisk pace from there down to Greenhill via a back road from Verdun. Once on Greenhill Road the wide corners and nippy straights had the big four eating up the bitumen using the full width of my lane to extract that little bit extra by opening up the bends tipping in late for increased lean had ones mind thinking of Deviation road. This little gem is a narrow tree lined tight twisty road that connects the rider through to one of Adelaide’s favourite motorbike roads.
I took the right onto Deviation and poured on the gas for the straight keeping it in second as the first hook is not too bad but the consequent set of corners and hairpins are a good test of reflexes and throttle control. In fact I think the best bikes for this road are the 250 strokers of RS or RGV persuasion as it begs for extreme lean as you kick up and down the gears to extract power band speed making it a ride full of rider interaction. As opposed to a half throttle big bore effort with slower turning time and the sheer exertion it takes to throw 200 plus kilos of iron around dilutes the prospective thrill. Saying that it is still a blast and does lead one to the Lobie road where Desmo headed west at Forest Range for a hooting run down the range up the hill to Basket Range down the other side and across to Ashton for the final few Kilometres home via Norton Summit road then cutting back to Woods Hill on to Greenhill down the hills face to urbanization. Thinking that the Geelong Cats had had their day and what is the difference between an arsonist and the St Kilda Saints? Well an arsonist wouldn’t waste 25 matches.
Desmo.
It was a glorious day with 23 degrees proffered by BOM. The day was begun early with MrsD translating the finer details of German Ebay for me. With that out of the way Desmo took to the fitment of his latest Ebay acquisition a Cox radiator guard for the beloved and respected 08 delivered MV with its 10000Ks on the clock 4000 more than his K7 SV thou. And now summer is here the 999S fire breathing 90 degree V-twin with its 17000 Ks is back on the road so SV’s beware, I digress.
The rad guard looks great in titanium but everything is so well interlocked on the MV you can hardly notice it. If it only saves one stone it has been worth the 35 USD it cost. With the arrivals of MrsD’s friend and the spiritual meridian chick that was there to align the girls with the cosmos Desmo was out of there. Off to align himself with some decreasing radius apexes and flowing sweepers that make up a three hour southern run to Strath via the Adelaide hills and other fav roads such as the cosmic Mackie road, with a terrestrial blasting meridian bending Bull Creek onslaught on the 166 horsepower with the on rails handling of 50 mm Marzocchi forks up front and fully adjustable Sachs rear shock that made the 200KG beast a pleasure to navigate through the sinuous chicanes.
It had been a whole five weeks since my last real ride on a motorcycle as I had taken to some fire tracks on the Dual Sport earlier in the wet week but that could hardly count? So the decision of an Italian inline four marque may have been somewhat premature but the need for excitement overwhelmed the responsible cognation of an outing on a more sedate machine. There we have it, the choice of champions was wheeled out of the tin shed and starter depressed. It fired first kick and with leathers zipped and tucked it was out towards the hills face. The first encounter was a group of high heeled office girls who gave the aproving waves and thumbs up as I crossed the footpath in front of them as they headed to the local bakery for lunch.
With the office girls diminishing in the rear view mirror the road ahead was a fast track to the hills and our beloved and much lusted after playground of twisties that were to make up the next few hours of a rubber ripping run. Any way you look at it the MV 1000 is a handful of bike heavier than other mille’s. One would expect it requires quite a bit of effort to haul the beast from apex to apex and the tight stuff does make you work twice as hard compared to the SV 1000N. It is the stability and balance of the bike that makes it useable when the 166 horses start to come on with a rush that even the hardened Busa rider would find a little frightening. It all happens so quickly with that sort of power in reserve and frankly I love it. Exhilarating exits from tight or sweeping curves are this machines gift and with a 1407.2mm wheel base shorter than a Curvy’s 1440mm makes tipping in aggressively easier than one would expect.
After a tyre warming Greenhill road hills face I was ready to try a little redline riding through the ample road that is the Uraidla to Balhannah stretch. With the Arrow exhaust wailing its distinctive note and cool hills air flowing into the Italian power plant Desmo’s SV was well and truly out of the ride equation on this day anyway. There was however one problem while refuelling the bike some critter must have found its way into my helmet and was now working its way to the ear hole. Desmo hoping it would just crawl out on to his neck where its fate would be a swift squishing with a leather clad finger but this was not to be. Instead it reached crisis point of entering the outer ear canal forcing a pit stop at Nepenthe’s front gate and after the offending ant had met with its maker the first photo opportunity for the day was taken.
It was a quick jaunt to Hahndorf and onto Echunga the MV was running sweet a low 68 degrees C on the coolant temperature and open throttle on those interlaced sweepers that lead onto the long straight. Where a stealth overtaking of a P plated 90s Skyline left the turbo kid feeling like he had been short changed as his attempt to thwart the MVs poll position saw the Nissan pull up an easy 3 seconds short before the next grouping of wide bends. Slowing for the drowsy town of Echunga with the right hand twitching for the connected short straights and tighter corners of the Mackie road the turbo kid was nowhere to be seen. It was great to open the throttle on the first left right and feeling the 100 plus NM of torque bite as I held the mille in second out to redline on the straight. Dropping off the throttle down the rise into the next left cutting it in close to open up the right apex and using the last tweak of the rotation to open up the throttle bodies fully feeling the bike lift as the organ pipes sung their rasping bark accelerating into the ensuing chicane with a feathering of the rear brake and adroit throttle application found Desmo kicking up a cog for the big left hander before easing off on the right and subtle left onto the Flaxley straight. Gee that was fun as I putted through Flaxley frothing at the beak for the next series of chicanes and sweepers that are just hooting on the pipe no matter what bike you ride.
The first right after the 45K twisty sign was already set the bike tipped in and throttle increased, the subsequent set of corners are like a crescendo of increased right hand application to the fuel injection system. By the means of Massimo’s choice of four Weber Marelli the fuel was streaming into the F4 power plant and Desmo was riding high on the rhythm of the four into two into one out to two then four tuned CRC Arrow exhausts when OH NO!! There it was again just like the Bull Creek of 7 odd weeks back though this time smaller in size but just as menacing a road covered from verge to verge with ball bearing sized gravel. You can’t stand the bike up on a right hander so it was head for the cage tracks. The initial front end drift was measured, with zero brakes, throttle shut off and the technology of Caviga Research Center reducing engine braking via a tricky device that permits the #2 cylinder to distribute torque when the throttle bodies are closed the rear Dunlop Qualifier mirrored the front until it regained traction allowing the back end to slide a few more centimetres before it also bit that was the instant Desmo’s sphincter stopped its involuntary twitching and the twist of the wrist took over. Wahoo, survived another one and just in time to lean hard into the left. The rest of the ride to Mackie was uneventful though I must admit some of the earlier enthusiasm was tempered by the preceding moment.
I rounded the intersection to Meadows and was once again up through the gears no real urgency as it is just a straight. Kicked down to second at the next intersection then opened the throttle bodies fully winding out to red line in second and third skip fourth into fifth maintain the pace until the death markers. Then back to third with ¾ throttle it was up the hill sweeping right then left into a bit of open space, over the crest and on the throttle down the hill, a banking left into fourth gear @ 10000 RPM a slight right hook kick up to sixth and glide through the 80K to 60 K signs kicking down to first at the Y junction to Meadows. No traffic great! Turn back on oneself and wrench open the demand for fuel first then second just kicking up into third as I pass a Blue Curvy heading in the opposite direction not too far behind a Gixa 750 with the Paris Creek turn passed the power applied and Bull Creek was flowing effortlessly without an obstruction in sight. It is a magnificent run when hindrance free fourth gear just under peak NM @ 7500 RPM meant that quick bursts of throttle has the front end lifting and rear squatting in unison as the G force forced Desmos 110Kgs back against the seat stop. Rolling on and off the throttle all the way to Strath, it was a blast. Ashbourne was dealt with in the same manner though I did hold it at higher RPM most of that road as I love the sound of an MV on the pipe, actually one could say any bike for that matter.
Strath was a welcome relief for the malleus not to mention the other smallest bones in the human body that had been over exposed during the past hour of an MV southern sojourn. It was on to Marylou’s for a well deserved coffee and some good old tyre kicking of the new Aprilia mille. Pulling into the Garage there it was right up front with a sold sticker on it. Entering the door there was more milles for sale obviously these lads are trading up for the V4. It is an impressive machine but old Desmo will continue with his SV’s. Even the Curvy is more than ample with its stock rear shock along with the soon to be installed Ricor intiminator and fork brace should have the yellow peril tracking like a factory 800 Desmo wakes up now and continues with the chronicle of the day.
With coffee consumed and not much else to keep one at The Garage it was off to the Mackie road once again. Ahhh those extraordinary 100 KPH series of Esses and straights lay ahead and with gusto it was a brisk run though a verdant countryside. Those new sections are sweet nice and smooth you can really nail the apex feeling the tyre spin up just a little to add some zing. Mackie 50KPH signage appeared and went; crossed the Flaxley gravel pit passed a BMW 1200 on the long left hand sweeper before tucking into the last few twisted bits before Echunga. Feeling pretty pleased with oneself Desmo preceded to River road and put in a brisk pace from there down to Greenhill via a back road from Verdun. Once on Greenhill Road the wide corners and nippy straights had the big four eating up the bitumen using the full width of my lane to extract that little bit extra by opening up the bends tipping in late for increased lean had ones mind thinking of Deviation road. This little gem is a narrow tree lined tight twisty road that connects the rider through to one of Adelaide’s favourite motorbike roads.
I took the right onto Deviation and poured on the gas for the straight keeping it in second as the first hook is not too bad but the consequent set of corners and hairpins are a good test of reflexes and throttle control. In fact I think the best bikes for this road are the 250 strokers of RS or RGV persuasion as it begs for extreme lean as you kick up and down the gears to extract power band speed making it a ride full of rider interaction. As opposed to a half throttle big bore effort with slower turning time and the sheer exertion it takes to throw 200 plus kilos of iron around dilutes the prospective thrill. Saying that it is still a blast and does lead one to the Lobie road where Desmo headed west at Forest Range for a hooting run down the range up the hill to Basket Range down the other side and across to Ashton for the final few Kilometres home via Norton Summit road then cutting back to Woods Hill on to Greenhill down the hills face to urbanization. Thinking that the Geelong Cats had had their day and what is the difference between an arsonist and the St Kilda Saints? Well an arsonist wouldn’t waste 25 matches.
Desmo.
