More pics from the St Helens Ride

Outside the Krispy Kreme in Tacoma:Lined up for lunch in Toledo:
At the mountain:

Another shot up on the mountain:

All lined up:

Ride to Mount St. Helens

So I dragged my ass out of bed at 6:15 this morning and cruised down to the Krispy Kreme in Tacoma to meet up with a bunch of other Ducati riders. After fueling up on coffee and donuts we headed out to the mountain. I had never been up to Mt. St. Helens (well maybe once when I was a little kid, but I don't remember it) so this was a pretty exciting opportunity for me. We cruised down some smaller back highways and ate lunch in Toledo before heading up the mountain. The 45 mile ride from Toledo to the observation point was the single best ride I've ever been on, it was the most fun I've had that didn't involve naked bodies. Me and two other guys took off at the head of the pack and just roared up the mountain, bombing through corners at 80-90 mph and pushing 100+ in the straights.

Here are all the bikes lined up at the observation point:

And my monster on the left next to another black 695:

And me with my shit eatin grin next to my bike:

What was that? Did you say something?

Cause I can't hear it because my new pipes are SO FUCKING LOUD! I just got back from my first ride after installing my new pipes. I've screwed up my ears enough playing the drums, this is really going to make me deaf in no time. I'm going to have to start wearing ear plugs. I do however have one hell of a shit eating grin right now :)

Oh yeah, turns out that what I thought was the fuel filter is just the emissions canister, so it's not nearly as important as I had previously thought. Gonna just get rid of it.

Problems...

Well, after spending the afternoon installing my new exhaust pipes (which are fucking awesome by the way) I've run into a couple problems:
- The new pipes are RIGHT in front of the seat release. Should be interesting to figure out how I'm gonna get my key in there to get the seat off.
- The bigger problem is that the right side pipe goes right through where the fuel filter is originally located. I had to remove the bracket that holds it in place and move it behind the pipe. However, it's not secured as of yet, gonna have to figure something out.

Finally, New Exhaust Pipes!

Today I finally got my hands on the new Fresco Ti Conic High exhaust pipes that I've been waiting for all week. I had to drive all the way down to Tacoma to pick em up from FedEx, but I got em none the less. I took a number of pictures during the process:

Side shot of the bike before doing anything:
And the corresponding shot of the rear before any mods:
Side shot after removal of the old pipes:
The new pipes unpacked:
The old pipes on the ground after removal:
Side shot of the new pipes installed:

And a rear shot of the new pipes:

Front Turn Signals

Turns out it was a whole lot easier to install my new front turn signals than I had originally thought. I went out last night and just undid the two screws that hold in the headlight and popped it out. Doing that opened up the entire front end and gave me very good access to everything I needed. Unplugged and unscrewed the old ones, then drilled some new holes and popped in the new ones. Only took about an hour or so. Here are the pics:

Before:
After:

Tail Lights

The new exhaust didn't make it today, but I did get my hands on my new tail light kit and front turn signals. The tail light kit is pretty cool, it's an LED circuit board that has the turn signals built into it. This allows me to remove the external turn signal lights. I was completely amazed at how well it cleaned up the look of the rear end.

Here is a pic of the rear end before:


And now after:


Now all I have to do is figure out how the hell to get the front cowl off the bike so I can replace the front turn signals. That should be fun.

Exhaust Pipes

Fucking FedEx! They tried to deliver my exhaust pipes yesterday, but I wasn't home (duh, I'm at work all day) so they left the note on my door. I signed it and left it for him for today, but yet again, they didn't deliver it! Apparantly they require an actual signature in person. I called em up and they are going to try to deliver it tomorrow afternoon when I might actually be home. If I have to drive all the way to Tacoma tomorrow to pick em up I'm gonna be pissed.

My bike is actually done though, so I'll be picking it up after work this afternoon. At least I'll get to bomb around and install my spiffy new lights tonight.

Three Weeks!

So I took my bike into the shop damn near three weeks ago now. All they had to do was order in a tire, a chain and a new rear sprocket. The tire and chain showed up awhile back, but apparantly the fucking sprocket fell off the back of a truck somewhere between here and Italy. I called up Ducati Seattle today and guess what, they had one in stock. So I bailed out of work and spent the afternoon fetching the sprocket. Dropped it off at the shop this afternoon and the guys said they would do it first thing in the morning. If all goes well, it'll be ready tomorrow afternoon and I'll be able to pick it up.

Some good news though, my new exhaust pipes and tail light kit should be here tomorrow! Once I get those installed I'm going to have my photographer friend take some nice pics of it. It's gonna be awesome, I can't wait.