Hello from the Yorkshire Dales

And a cold,wet and windy Yorkshire Dales it is this morning.
Just awaiting delivery of a new Evo. Cobb and Jagger are due around 10am. My first Ducati although I've been biking quite a while.
Had the usual Japanese stuff then, in 1990, I bought a knackered '66 T120 Bonneville. Did it up, with a lot of help from a few mates, and ran it for 11 years. We (or rather, they)must have got it right 'cos it always started first boot, never leaked oil and ended up on the front cover of Classic Bike. I decided in late '01 that there was a gaping hole in my self-esteem that could only be filled by a Harley so the Bonnie and an NTV650 I had were sold and an XL1200S was bought. Nice bike, uncannily similar to the Bonnie to ride. After a while that was traded in for the same money I'd paid for it and a Twin Cam 88 Lowrider came next. Cool bike. I stripped it and had it painted at Roadhouse in Leeds. Silver and purple flames over candy black, really nice. Got a good offer for that and replaced it with a Softail Springer.......bad move. I don't know if you've ever ridden a springer but the best way I can describe it is.....it's like running behind, and trying to hold on to, a 90mph garden rotorvator. O.K for cruising Ventura Boulevard but not the roads around this country. Replaced it with an FXD35 SuperGlide. Swapped the fork springs and shocks for Progressive Suspension ones, tweaked the motor and had a Harley that actually went well and handled too.
If you're into Harleys, sooner or later you're bound to end up on an ElectraGlide. I bought a plain black FLH Standard. Lowered it, blacked it out and went everywhere on it. Awesome bike. While I had the 'Glide I bought a little BMW F650GS as a winter run-around. That did'nt have the power to pull the lid off a Muller Rice so I sold it and bought an R1200S. So much for the "winter run-around" idea. That was an ace bike, BMW's idea of a sports tourer and it worked. Grunty motor, Ohlins at both ends and comfortable enough for me (I'm 6'5") to do 9 or 10 hour days in the saddle. A favourite trip was up through Teesdale, Northumbria and The Borders, breakfast in Jedburgh, across southern Scotland and back down through Cumbria and the Dales. Great fun.
In early '09 the Sterling/Euro exchange rate went bonkers so I sold the 'Glide and made a few bob and off it went to Germany. A few mates had R1200GS's so I booked a morning's test ride on one from Allan Jeffries in Shipley. Took it back after 20 minutes and ordered one. Between May '09 and last week I'd covered about 23k miles on my GS's (the first '09 one and then a DOHC '10 version) and they really are superb bikes. They've been happy cruising M-ways two up with all the luggage or scratching pegs around some of the better roads in the U.K. The nice little A134 Downham Market/Thetford/B st E springs to mind (I was on the way to Ipswich to see a band) as does the AWESOME A835 Tore to Ullapool road. No traffic. Smooth tarmac. Bliss. If you're ever up there book into www.theceilidhplace.com Excellent food,beer,comfy beds,lively music and a good craic.

A low speed slide off on the gravel tracks of Kielder Forest along with a back injury (better now, thanks) sustained while mountain biking on the moors above Haworth convinced me that I could do with something smaller, lighter and agile-er. I'd decided on either a Monster or a Daytona 675R. The 675 was too small. Monster it is then. Uno rosso, per favore.
I'm really looking forward to getting this bike and, hopefully, I can get some miles done before the snows come. I feel a strange urge, as it's a Monster, to go up and do a lap of the roads 'round Loch Ness. Fill the Great Glen with the roar of Termigioni's.
Maybe that'll have to wait 'til Spring but I'll certainly be heading up to South West Scotland to have a blast around some of the quiet roads there.

I'll probably have the usual dumb questions about the bike and I'll no doubt meet some of you soon. Cheers.