Well here's a new one!

Stopped to fill up in Braidwood before heading back home and a bloke pulls in on a Ducati 'Scrambler'. As I walk out after paying he asks why I ride something 'So Slow'.

What bizarre parallel universe do these tools inhabit? And no, I didn't bother wiping my arse with his shitty hipstermobile. I have a clean licence for the first time in decades, I'm not going to risk that for a tool like him!

Pete

You should have asked him why he was riding a girl's bike.

What a wanker.
I've ridden with Pete.
Let's just say he ain't no slouch!
Hope he breaks down in bungendore and asks for the local bike mechanic

Nothing like a guy riding a bike that was basically 'lifted' from the GRiSO talking stupid smack.

What a fucktard.

I think that was my mum. She's always out baiting people for races. Ever since she got rid of the Honda melody she thinks she is really something. Glad you ignored her.....

Really what worries me is that the first interaction with someone, (Me.) was derogatory. I couldn't really give even the most microscopic of shits what the idiot thinks of me and my bike but I think it states volumes about how he sees the world.

Mad!

Pete

I feel like riding around the Braidwood area looking for Ducati scramblers just to go really slow to annoy the shit out of a hipster.

Then cut his top knot off.

Methinks you may have avoided a clumsily-laid bait Young Peter. A silent but sincerely condescending look should have withered The Fool ah la Fred Gassit style.

As I say to all of my Guzzi and other bike colleagues.

"GRiSO owners have nothing to prove"

You did the right thing, Pete. That hipster will display that attitude to somebody like my old Marine riding buddy (RIP) and find his head permanently stuffed up his A-hole. Now that is a tough lesson to learn in life...

Fart, sneer, walk away.

Guys,

I lived and breathed Ducati for the last 30 years, I loved the raw grunt of the old Bevels, the smooth power of the early belt drives and the sheer exhilaration of the 4 valves. During those years I met many genuinely nice riders on Dukes. I travelled to Italy and poked about the factory,  in what was heaven on earth for me in Bologna.

Of late something had changed, I noted that the people that were riding the Dukes were beginning to look a lot like those weekend warriors on Harleys. Shiny red rockets were going no further than the local cafe, Every man and his dog was on a Duke and the factory had begun to produce models to feed the cravings of cashed up 'yuppies' who wanted to be on centre stage everywhere they went.

The behaviour of the tossa that Pete encountered was what I was seeing more frequently at weekend meetings I attended less and less. People I spoke to could tell me about the latest Ducati designer sun glasses and gloves, yet stared blankly at me when I spoke of Raymond Roche and early 4 valves. Mention Desmodromic heads and they would look at me like I was speaking another language.

It took a while to put my finger on it but lets call it for what it has become, soulless snobbery! My early days were spent riding with mates on our favourite brands all mixed in together, Laverdas, Bennellis, Nortons, Trumpys, BSA, Guzzis, Ducatis, Beemers and YamaKawasuondas. In fact it did not matter what you rode as long as you rode, we all got along and enjoyed playful ribbing over beers telling tall tales of the days rides. Our bikes were alive and had soul.

The bloke Pete met typifies current ignorant behaviour of our inner city consumer wankas! Unfortunately they spend money and Ducati is run by people that want to make lots of it. The current model line up is a blend of exquisite race rockets (too small for all bar a contortionist) too a a bevy of street bikes that for me are just plain ugly!

But and here is the big thing, if it wasn't for those consumer wankas I would never have discovered GRiSO, because it did not have a D on the side. Their elitist attitude led me to look for something else, something with that soul I was craving.

Today I ride a GRiSO, it is not the fastest thing out there but it can get me from point A to point Z, via every letter in between and leave me wanting to do it all again. Bloody hell I wanna go for a ride now but it is pissing down.

Disclaimer*
Watching Bathurst and Moto gp on telly is thirsty work so I may have imbibed a couple of medicinal ales.

Well put CD, you got way with words.
Thanks
Caoi

wardentm wrote:

Well put CD, you got way with words.
Thanks
Caoi

Yep.

Yes well put CD, you sometimes feel like urinating on a front wheel, but we are civilized ....... arn't we ?

No. I would have torn out his eyes and raped his skull.

Now that CD has put it so eloquently, its a bloody good thing Guzzi are slow to catch onto the squids n hipsters. I've noticed that GRiSO's have a refinement to them that my old push rod 2V can never match. I'm partial to that old world feel n charm. Just hope Guzzi doesn't go too far and become poofy like Beemers.

Plus 1 Converted Duc, i come from the same as you, these meatwhistlers that you run into like Pete did are far to common now a days..But i take comfort in the fact that they are just examples of spagnum that must somehow survive ..

The Scrambler doesn't seem to be selling all that well here. I've seen very few on the road. I read an early review that predicted the Hipster kids here would shun it for not being "authentic". That seems to be very accurate. All the hipster kids here are on old Jap bikes. I have a friend who is making a fortune rebuilding the old Hondas and Yams for these kids. The biggest cunts around here seem to favor Sportsters and GSXRs. I've never found the Ducati guys here to be all that bad. Most of them are pretty serious and skilled riders, not the sort to care about retro styling. I guess moto culture varies considerably depending on the country or region.

A few years ago a glossy magazine had an article on the 10 most acquired/desired fashion items a men had/wanted. Along with the Rolex watch and Gucci man bag etc. I think No.8 was a Ducati.

Converted Duc wrote:

Today I ride a GRiSO, it is not the fastest thing out there but it can get me from point A to point Z, via every letter in between and leave me wanting to do it all again. Bloody hell I wanna go for a ride now...

That's the essence of it right there, CD. We do like to go fast, but it ain't a race. It's about the feeling of pure joy at the end of the day and the anticipation of the next day's ride.

Douchebag without a brain! How much you wanna bet though that at some point some other prick said the same to him or similar.

Funny though, I get a lot of Ducati riders often taking a good look at the GRiSO.