The bay area has some of the finest motorcycle roads around, doesn't it?

04 636 going through some work to make it my track bike
07 990 SuperDuke (one fun hooligan bike)

 

3 ducati supersports
couple of yami wr's
and a few others
I've been a bike mechanic for the last 10 years in the City and do a bit of side work( including tires) at the house in Petaluma.

 

05 r6 with fair amount of mods
08 r6 that is a built race bike

 

what kind of tires? im in petaluma as well

 

quite a few! We had a thread for it a while back, hasnt been bumped in a while though, someone should find it

 

What model ducs have you owned/do you own? I've always had a closet love for ducati. Unfortunately, I just love the low maintenance level of the Japanese bikes, while providing equal or better performance than the Italian. If money was no object, I would definitely have a Duc as well though.

 

hey where in the city do you work? Im at he BMW shop once in a while

 

05 gsxr1000
03 R6
07 crf15r
05 crf50
86 pw50

 

I made the jump to the Italian world and I have to say the Japanese equivalents for the supermoto world just can't compare. I test rode the DRZ SM, the Yamaha, I've ridden the Hondas and they just don't have the ***** to the walls feel of the Aprilia. The trade off though is supermodel like maintenance schedules and neediness. Oil changes every 400 - 500 miles.... Motul 300v....

I will say though, I loved my R6 to death and really wish it hadn't been stolen. Most solid all around bike I've owned, and super reliable to boot. If I went back to the sportbikes it would be another R6 I think, maybe R1.

 

For a street legal SM it's all about the european models: Aprilia, KTM, Husky, and Husaberg.

For the track... I guess it depends on what you want to do and what the rules are, the SXV's are pretty badass but very temperamental IMHO.

 

Uh, no more, but in the past:

Ducati Paso 750 - heavy as hell, and slow

YSR 50 - tricked out with YZ80 water cooled engine

Honda 900 RR - tricked out by Erion Racing before the faux Erion Racing Hondas on the showroom floor - stolen in SF

 

3 supersports- 2 with carbs, 1 injected.....air cooled for the win

Desmoto Sport on 9th st

And its hard to beat a plated yamaha WR450 for sm and trail

 

Scott, Lance, and the rest of the crew at Desmoto are awesome! Desmoto has worked on my R1's and Mille R in the past. You guys rock!

 

My list:

92 CBR600 F2
04 CBR600RR
86 VFR 700F2 (I think F2)
04 NSR50 (current)
07 RSV1000R (current)

 

Agreed, I think what drove me to the SXV is the fact that there are maybe 8 of them in the entire bay area. Looks so good, and is rarely ever seen.

I do know that for a proper track bike it does need a bit of reconfig on the suspension side. Its alright out of the box for casual road racing, but if you want to do supermoto at the kart tracks or similar it needs a bit of work.