A CAUSE to Ride For
A letter from CAUSE.ca concerning a motorcycle tour of Sierra Leone, reveals how bikes can better the world by using dual-sport to deliver aid and education.
Welcome 2010 and the Age of Adventure Riding
Near bald, the Hypermotard 1100S’s Pirelli Diablo III is spinning in the damp dirt, while fellow rider Mark pushes it from behind. Despite the enduro looks the Hypermotard was never meant for this, but some thrown dirt, pushing and shoving, the Ducati enters the Kettle Valley Railway (KVR) creating a definitive ride of 2009.
Learning from the New Rider
How quickly do we forget what it’s like to be a new rider? The accumulation of experience can eventually drown out the novelty of riding and wonder of what a motorcycle can do and represent. We kick ourselves for not throwing a knee down in the corner, we twiddle suspension settings looking to eke out [...]
Ambassadorial Exercise in Dirt Riding
A Globe and Mail article on the health benefits of Dirt Riding leads to a thread of comments underlying the prejudices of self-propelled trail users against responsible motorcyclists. We think the solution may start with being better ambassadors while on our workouts.
Adventure and Motorcycling’s Changing Mosaic
Loafing along through Ontario’s cottage country I have a Stuart MacLean moment. There are a lot more Canadian flags here, displayed on flagpoles sprouting from houses or springing from lawns like an outgrowth of nationalism. Astride the R1200GS Adventure, bumbling along, sitting upright and taking in the world you notice little differences – hints that [...]
The Monster 696 Test Blog – That’s a Wrap
It’s a moment that I wish we’d had a film crew for. The Monster 696 is alongside the 848 and the Hypermotard on a vacant cul-de-sac by the airport. Jets pass overhead as we take a breather, and it strikes me that with these three bikes, a little more budget, and a little more time [...]
The Monster 696 Test Blog – Ambitious Undertakings
Sometimes I wonder if I’ve bitten off more that I can chew. For our Monster 696 review, we’re attempting to do a proper video review. We’re not talking some guy who brings his helmet cam to a press launch, but something similar to what we do for the car side with OutDrive.ca. The thing is [...]
The Monster 696 Test Blog – One of Four
Our Monster 696 is one of four in North America, air freighted in for display and showcase it’s shocking that the folks at Ducati trust us with its care. True, certain threats on my life were made should anything go wrong, but I’m not out to abuse the privilege. Technically at this instant we’re ripping [...]
OMG! A Monster!
We don’t normally do teasers, but we’re pretty excided here at OutDrive.ca, we’re getting a chance to test one of the first Monster 696s in North America. We’re not talking about a guided and scheduled to the nines press launch either. This Monster 696 has been air-freighted from Italy and that gives us a unique [...]
Horsepower and Happiness – The Wrong Equation?
At the Vancouver Motorcycle show, I glanced over the ZX-14, 2008 Hayabusa and B-King and set up a date with the Ducati 1098 R for later in the year. To a one the horsepower figures are astounding, driven upwards by a market with the “more is better” philosophy. I’ve some bad news for consumers and [...]
Passions Lost and Found
Occasionally you lose your way. That happened to me this fall in the context of OutDrive.ca. In the intervening months this has lead to a lot of self-analysis, a foray into auto testing and a reconsideration of riding. In the end I think OutDrive.ca may be better for it, allow me to explain. 2007 started [...]
Top Gear – Clarkson on “Massively Homosexual” Automotive Design
Jeremy Clarkson, of Top Gear fame, recently ranted in the September 2007 issue of the magazine, that automobile interiors would be better if they drew on home interior design, rather than say standards for safety, easy of production, cost effectiveness and (in some cases) common sense. Attempting to prove this in a television piece (possibly [...]
Gran Turismo – Grand Canyon: Day 4 – Zion National Park, UT to Grand Canyon, AZ : 373km
We’ve left the heat of the Vermillion Canyons behind and as we begin our final approach to our destination periodic bolts of lightning streak downwards to the Arizona desert floor. This is a storm, a proper one. Occasional lashes of rain cut through the sand’s blown grit as the wind tosses the Ducati GT1000 around [...]
Gran Turismo – Grand Canyon: Day 4 – West Wendover, Nevada to Zion National Park, UT : 1000km
It runs under the salt like electricity, but the GT1000’s tires can’t insulate me from this current. We’re on one of North America’s temples of speed, the Bonneville Salt Flats, which, damp in spots, is featuring tenuous traction as we play on the stark white moonscape. Given the conditions I’ll not be emulating “The World’s [...]
Gran Turismo – Grand Canyon: Day 3 – Boise, ID to West Wendover, NV : 600km
We’ve cut the day short and landed in West Wendover, Nevada. I use “we” in a sweeping sense as I’ve come down ill and the GT1000 and I have been riding in the support vehicle for the day. No great sacrifice though, this transit of the “droneways”, our newly minted term for interstates, has taken [...]
Gran Turismo – Grand Canyon: Day 2 – Spokane, WA to Boise, ID : 750km
I’ve gone naked. By the time we reach the Old Spiral Highway outside of Lewiston, ID I’ve stripped the screen from the Ducati GT1000. The windscreen was slowing the handling, making the bike susceptible to sidewinds, and inducing a weave past 160kph. Removing the screen the Ducati GT1000 is transformed. The steering is lighter, the [...]
Gran Turismo – Grand Canyon: Day 1 – Vancouver B.C. to Spokane, WA : 793km
Stopping to take video of our group’s bikes as they ascend off of Diablo dam and into the Cascades along Highway 20, I’ve fallen behind. Mainly it seems because I miscounted the bikes and ended up waiting for a rider who didn’t exist. That’s okay, because our long-term loaner Ducati GT1000 is happily charging through [...]
1098S Testing: Lost and Found
Rolling out of Frazier Park I’m setting sites on Palmdale, CA for the evening. Lacking a detailed map, GPS or even coherent local instructions I’m at a bit of a loss as to the points between the two, but certainly don’t want the pounding drone offered by the I-5 or even 138. Fortunately there’s a rider waving [...]
Ducati 1098S Testing: Directions
The CHP officer is standing in front of the cruiser parked facing traffic in my lane, his hand out palm flat in the universal symbol for stop. I’m confused and more than a little worried. With no plate, and papers only in electronic form on the laptop, I’m thinking a world of not good thoughts. [...]
Ducati 1098 Testing: Escape from LA
“We give bikes out without plates all the time.” I completely fail to understand this concept and explain that in British Columbia it’s a pretty big deal. Suddenly, I feel like a naive foreigner. Still I don’t have papers for the bike so that’s a good excuse to avoid slab on the 1098S – as [...]
Ducati 1098S Testing: Welcome to Hell-A
Sitting in an over priced $190.00 Ramada Suite in West Hollywood I can only conclude things are not going particularly well with this excursion to test the 1098S. It’s not the bike, that’s brilliant, but getting there certainly hasn’t been half the fun… and I’m waiting for a change of tide. Nipping up the Angeles [...]
Time Flies… So does the KTM 990 Super Duke
Time flies when you’re having fun, and the KTM 990 Super Duke is a lot of fun. Our three weeks of testing, which has been punctuated by other bikes like the Benelli TNT 1130 Café Racer and BMW F800S, is almost up. Some bikes we return without a second thought, but the KTM is not [...]
Feel My Fear…
Neil! Love the video intro on the R1!!! Has a nice “Top Gear” feel to the production. You must be a bit nervous that you’ve now set a new bar for content…us readers will now be hungry for video segments to accompany all features!! Ha ha…seriously nicely done! Best, – Steve, www.sundaymorningrides.com It’s the “set [...]
