The bike collection (as promised)

The Desmo's sound awesome, where i live they have a bikers meet every Thursday evening, a Desmo showed up and it got EVERYONES attention, stunning.
 
Wow.

Just flippin' wow!!!! :D

Awesome, your a lucky fella to have that bunch to take your pick from.

How on earth do you get time to ride them?. I would spend most of the day stood in the garage trying to work out what one to go out on. :p

I'm going to be really cheeky here, and slap me if I'm out of order, but what do you do for a living to be able to afford such stunning and seriously expensive kit?.

Cheers.
 
Well the bikes are kept in the UK since the roads out here in Florida are rather dull to be honest with you. This of course means I don't get to ride them all that often but it's nice to go home and visit my parents a few times a year and go obviously weather permitting enjoy the bikes.

The Desmo is of course my Father's, no doubt i'll get to ride it when I'm back next time but i'm pretty sure he'll keep that one to himself as much as possible!

My Father's retired 4/5 years ago now and I guess the Desmo made a nice 50th for himself. He was Chairman of Crosby Homes and a main board Director of the parent company Berkeley Homes too.

I'm a pilot myself but I've had a couple of very successful businesses that I've sold, with a very exciting opportunity coming up over the next couple of years. Not that I can actually work here in the US until next March anyway as I'm waiting on my work permit still ; however I have the Porsche here so it's not all bad. Oh and lets not forget the sun...
 
simply awesome collection of bikes there mate, I salute your taste in 2 wheeled exotica.

Since I binned the R1 in march I havent been on a bike, after seeing that KTM I feel I cant stay out the sadle to much longer :D
 
mjt said:
can i be cheeky too and ask who you fly/flew for?
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No-one right now, will be flying corporate though hopefully. However with the market how it is right now in the US, I'm holding off on my type rating until things get better. No point blowing $20-$30k when there's little chance of being picked up.

As for the tax disc, on both KTM's it was moved to another place so it wouldn't interfere :p

I have to admit though, whilst I changed my KTM RC8 for the 848, I did find it the most comfortable superbike I've ever ridden and other than (IMO) a little jumpy fueling low down it was incredibly easy to ride. I hadn't ridden a bike for 4 years, got on that and felt immediately at home.
 
Is there an FI bike that isn't a bit lumpy low-down? My SV seemed to experience it too :/ Had to keep the revs up to keep things smooth. Moh.
 
Griffo said:
Is there an FI bike that isn't a bit lumpy low-down? My SV seemed to experience it too :/ Had to keep the revs up to keep things smooth. Moh.
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True, it is better than most V's at the low end but I still found it far too snatchy when taking roundabouts and very tight corners. I'm not an expert rider, I'm not too proud to admit that but the KTM is a lot worse than the 848 at the low end for that. I'm not alone in this either, if you check the KTM forums, there's a good amount of people that are having the same issue I am. It is however rectified by replacing the exhaust with the Akra one because you also get the remap at the same time.

Given the choice of spending ~3k on the exhaust (expensive at the moment) or this very unique 848, I was rather tempted by the Ducati... My 848 has a full Termi system, not just the cans, different ECU, about 5k's worth of carbon as well. All of course for 2.5% less in taxes :p Not to mention ; the KTM was getting old anyway, it nearly had 700 miles on it ;)
 
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Man, you don't half put a lot of miles on your bikes! :D
NB: Some monk told me 4k was a lot on my bike. Mind I'd only had it 4 months hehe, but still.

The only other machines I've ridden are a CBT 125 thing and the Suzuki GS500 I think for DAS. So not much to compare to. Though I'm sure the GS was easier at low speeds, I presume it is carb'd.

The 848 sounds pretty tasty! If I can get comfy on a sports bike I might try one next, as opposed to a sports-tourer. We'll see!
 
They all look great mate .:) You planning to get the new Ducati Streetfighter?

Would also be well up for a bike meet once the better weather comes

Persil
 
Strange an SV is lumpy low down, you checked your air filter isnt full of crap? :p
Splash out on a Power commander and remap should sort it out :p

And yea all the RC8's suffer from the dodgy FI, but it is their first sportsbike theyre learning :p
 
Fireskull said:
Strange an SV is lumpy low down, you checked your air filter isnt full of crap? :p
Splash out on a Power commander and remap should sort it out :p

And yea all the RC8's suffer from the dodgy FI, but it is their first sportsbike theyre learning :p
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They tell me (sv owners forum thing personages) that a Power commander is either over the top or of not much use for the SV, if I recall. :/

Also she was brand new, newer than some brand new nearly new stuff.

I'd hope inlines are smoother than Vs, is this very much the/not the case?
 
Very nice bike collection IceMan, love the KTM particularly. As for the cars and the house, wow is all I can say :)

Not the biggest fan of convertibles in general or Porsche Boxsters but the Gallardo you have/had and the GT2 are stunning. I can understand what you mean about not wanting a Ferrari for an everyday car, my uncle had one until recently and he used to get so many jealous idiots scratching it, kicking the alloys, etc. Just not worth the hassle!
 
Griffo said:
They tell me (sv owners forum thing personages) that a Power commander is either over the top or of not much use for the SV, if I recall. :/

Also she was brand new, newer than some brand new nearly new stuff.

I'd hope inlines are smoother than Vs, is this very much the/not the case?
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Oh yea inlines are smoother, but they lack low end power so they dont have much go before certain revs, thats where twins are great as they have all that low down torque so surprised yours feels dodgy down low :/ have you had it serviced recently?
 
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