GeminiJane
New member
Hooray:cheers:! Go the call that the truck was in the dealer's lot last night about 5:30 p.m. and I could pick up the bike after noon today once they had time to prep it. All my fears about getting right on the interstate were totally unfounded. My husband spoils me but doesn't baby me, so we rode the Ducati ST3 two up to St. Louis (125 miles) to get it and I popped right out of the parking lot onto the interstate and did just fine. We met up with a friend from St. Louis that we sold a Moto Guzzi to and he "escorted" me out of St. Louis and we had a nice ride together then on the Great Bluff road. The Spyder handled beautifully - only once on the interstate did my husband pull up beside me and give me the "palms down pat". I asked him later what he meant and he said I needed to slow it down - anything over 80 mph on the break in might be putting the RPM's a little too high. I was just following Todd and it didn't feel too fast or scary at all!
Thank you to all who gave me such good advice/encouragement. A special thanks to those of you who were in my area and volunteered to give up your time to meet me or ride me out of town. I hope you were able to enjoy our beautiful weather today to enjoy your :spyder:. Hope, too, we get to meet and ride together.
Cute story - I had just literally pulled out of the parking lot of the dealer on the the little frontage street that would then dump me on to the interstate. Hit a red light and was in left lane to hit the on ramp and a car with a family pulls up on my right. I see the "dad" who's driving look, poke his wife who hands him her cell phone and he snaps a picture through the window. Then, because the light's still red, he rolls down the window, gives me a thumbs up and yells "How fast have you had it?" I looked down, saw I had 1.2 miles on odometer (the 1 mile was the dealer driving it to gas it up and back) and yelled back "35". His eyes got big and he said you've had it up to 135? I said, "No - 35 - I just bought it from those people right there and only have two/tenths of a mile on it!
Only sad part of it is that when we got home, we realized that the clutch reservoir was overfilled plus the top of it wasn't screwed down tight and the brake fluid had dripped down the left side fairing and the turbulence right behind the windshield had actually sucked it over the center tank part, and over to the left side fairing a bit, too. By the time we got home it was caustic enough to cause the clear coating to bubble - looks like a heavy coat of hair spray or laquer. My husband builds and shows pro-streeted cars so has a lot of different waxes, cleaners, etc. but it was too late - the damage is done. It even pitted the plexiglass over the instrument panel and also on the flat silver gray of the "v" between the handle bars causing it to have dull spots that won't shine back up. But I'm sure my dealer will make it right. If the bike was five years old, it wouldn't even be an issue as you expect them to get some blips and such but since it only looked brand new and shiny for less than four hours, I'm sorta bummed
. But the upside is that it doesn't affect the way it handles and I'm lovin' that part - added to our sunny 80+ degree weather I'm a pretty happy gurl! (I figure it's only fair my bike should look a little aged to match my look as evidenced below - helmet hair and all as we had just gotten home.
Thank you to all who gave me such good advice/encouragement. A special thanks to those of you who were in my area and volunteered to give up your time to meet me or ride me out of town. I hope you were able to enjoy our beautiful weather today to enjoy your :spyder:. Hope, too, we get to meet and ride together.
Cute story - I had just literally pulled out of the parking lot of the dealer on the the little frontage street that would then dump me on to the interstate. Hit a red light and was in left lane to hit the on ramp and a car with a family pulls up on my right. I see the "dad" who's driving look, poke his wife who hands him her cell phone and he snaps a picture through the window. Then, because the light's still red, he rolls down the window, gives me a thumbs up and yells "How fast have you had it?" I looked down, saw I had 1.2 miles on odometer (the 1 mile was the dealer driving it to gas it up and back) and yelled back "35". His eyes got big and he said you've had it up to 135? I said, "No - 35 - I just bought it from those people right there and only have two/tenths of a mile on it!
Only sad part of it is that when we got home, we realized that the clutch reservoir was overfilled plus the top of it wasn't screwed down tight and the brake fluid had dripped down the left side fairing and the turbulence right behind the windshield had actually sucked it over the center tank part, and over to the left side fairing a bit, too. By the time we got home it was caustic enough to cause the clear coating to bubble - looks like a heavy coat of hair spray or laquer. My husband builds and shows pro-streeted cars so has a lot of different waxes, cleaners, etc. but it was too late - the damage is done. It even pitted the plexiglass over the instrument panel and also on the flat silver gray of the "v" between the handle bars causing it to have dull spots that won't shine back up. But I'm sure my dealer will make it right. If the bike was five years old, it wouldn't even be an issue as you expect them to get some blips and such but since it only looked brand new and shiny for less than four hours, I'm sorta bummed
. But the upside is that it doesn't affect the way it handles and I'm lovin' that part - added to our sunny 80+ degree weather I'm a pretty happy gurl! (I figure it's only fair my bike should look a little aged to match my look as evidenced below - helmet hair and all as we had just gotten home.
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