Hey, what’s up guys? Today, we thought we would change it up a bit, and toss our track suits and knee sliders into self storage for a bit of riding on the open road. I personally dusted off my riding jeans, leather jacket, shades, and boots for a bit of relaxed riding. Paul? Well, wait and see.

I also wanted to take this time to pimp Space Maker, the leading way in domestic and business self storage solutions. They want you to know, their centers are more than somewhere to leave your possessions, they are a valuable extension of your home or office.

Anyways, a special thank you to the folks at Ace Motorsports in Concord for providing us with the Thruxton and Scrambler 900. The full article will be featured in our 2011 print issue which is just around the corner. In the meantime, here a sneak peek at what’s in store for you.

Hope you enjoyed the sneak peek. The full article will be published in our 2011 annual print issue. We are quite excited about it since it will be double the size of our 2010 issue, at 100 pages, in full color. Be sure to check our Facebook page often for more updates.

I guess it is time to go retrieve our gear from our storage center. It is really quite convenient and affordable nowadays to have extra room to store our stuff. The garage has been pretty cluttered lately. Another recently discovered benefit of separate storage, was during our garage flood. All of our stuff would have been water damaged and smelled had it been in the garage. So be sure to check out our sponsor, and put your unused goods into storage.

Be sure to log on to Triumph Boards for more triumph related information. Stay tuned.

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Hi guys, this is Paul here with another update on our KTM RC8. We scheduled to pit our Austrian rocket against the current king of the hill, the BMW S1000RR. In this video you will get to see a quick glimpse of some of the roads that we pit these two motorcycles on. A quick thanks to the folks over at Moto Marin for providing us with the BMW.

We also have some sad news to report. We did not know this at the time of testing, but found out that MotoMarin in San Rafael, CA shutdown just last week and is no longer in business. Our best wishes go out to the former employees.

Please pick up our 2011 Annual Issue due out soon to read the full article.

Check back here often for more updates or log on to KTM Boards for more KTM fun.

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Hi guys, Paul here again. At the Ace Motorsports Ducati Demo Day I was able to ride the 2010 Ducati 848 Dark. The bike is essentially a regular 848 with a matte black paint job. While the guided tour was not long enough or fast enough to fully test the new 848, it was enough to give me a sample of the characteristics of the motorcycle in crowded street riding and short trips through town.

At the slowest speeds, around parking lots, or making u-turns, the 848 Dark is easy to keep under control. The clutch is easy to operate to keep the massive 849.4cc L-twin engine from stalling. Like previous models of the 848, the 2010 Dark version still suffers from the hand-pinching inability to turn the wheel to full lock. With delicate finger placement on the outer edges of the handles and some clever body positioning, it is possible to nimbly maneuver the 848 Dark in tight spaces. Three-point turning is a classic fallback skill that will still need to be employed in some situations.

On the open road is where the 2010 Ducati 848 Dark starts to shine. The desmodromic controlled 134 horsepower engine can start to breathe and propel the rider to adventure. Zero to forty disappears in an unadvised blink of the eye. You might have gone to 60 or 80 MPH if you had blinked both eyes, but eventually you will need to shift into second. The same easy action clutch level that allowed for easy low speed cruising works effortlessly with the shift lever to make changing gears a dream. Despite an aggressive body position and the forward pitch of the seat, the rear sets are in an unusually comfortable position preventing fatigue and strain when shifting gears or weighting the pegs.

While there is no 848S edition with Ohlin suspension upgrades, the forks are available as an upgrade. The stock 41mm Showa shocks still do a good job reducing wheel hop, and front end diving. During heavy braking, utilizing the twin semi-floating discs and Brembo calipers, the Showa shocks hold their own reasonably well. It is not as static upfront as it could be, but you never feel like you are going to slip off the front.

In addition to the carbon fiber mudguards and tank panels that are available as Ducati brand accessories, there is also a windscreen that is 30mm taller than stock. This may seem like a boon, saving your head from the wind noise and improving the aerodynamics of the motorcycle, but you would be wrong. When you are riding on city streets, it is not practical to be in a full tuck with your chin on the gas tank, eyes peering up through the windscreen. The visibility of the road around you is slightly impaired by your lower eye level, and you stick out as a target for police.

These are just minor concerns compared to what you are giving up in the jet stream, wind resistance. It is counter conducive for top speed and acceleration to want to increase wind resistance, but for comfort and long-term riding, it is worth losing the one-eighth second from your quarter mile. As you are riding down the street, with your abdomen resting on the shrewdly sculpted gas tank, taking your weight off your back, your helmet floats just above the stock windscreen. The wind resistance blowing on your visor and embracing your head lifts the weight off your straining neck muscles, relaxing your upper back, and allows you to ride fatigue free for hours.

While we are all eagerly awaiting the next generation of changes to the Ducati 848, visit Ducatist and take part in some exciting motorcycle discussions.

Stay tuned for more updates.

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Hi guys, Paul here again. The factory sponsored motorcycle demonstration trucks from Ducati and Triumph visited Ace Motorsports in Concord over the Mother’s Day weekend. All licensed motorcycle riders over age 21 were able to test-drive the Ducati motorcycle of their choice. Riders needed to be over the age of 25 to ride the Triumph motorcycles.

Hundreds of motorcyclists journeyed to Ace Motorsports in Concord for their chance at a test ride and the riders here at Inline Performance Magazine were no exception. The escorted demonstration rides lasted around 35 minutes and took riders through the crowded city streets of Concord, and a few curvy backroads.

Some of the models Ducati brought for test rides were the Hypermotard 796, Hypermotard 1100 Evo and Evo SP, the Monster 696 and 1100, the 848 Dark, and a black Streetfighter S. A pre-production Multistrada 1200 S Sport Edition was on display, but not available for demonstration rides. That would not stop Ace Motorsports’ Parts Manager Jim ‘Big Jim’ Florshinger, who, after some clever hacking of the PIN locked keyless ignition, started up the Multistrada and took it for a joyride around the parking lot.

Triumph was not to be outdone and showed up in force with a multitude of models. The models making a classy appearance for Triumph included the Daytona 675, the Street Triple, the Speed Triple, the Tiger SE complete with luggage boxes, several Bonneville’s, a Thruxton, and a Scrambler. Also in attendance were an America, a Speedmaster, a Thunderbird, and the Rocket III Touring model.

The lines were long, and some models quickly filled up for the entire day. On the first day, the skies were clear, the weather was warm, and the sounds of excitement and rumbling exhausts filled the atmosphere with fun. On the second day, a few patches of rain stopped the tours in the midday after a few rounds of early morning rides. The rain would eventually let up and the roads dried out for a few more guided runs around the road course in the afternoon.

Check back frequently over the next few weeks as we will be posting individual reviews of the motorcycles we were able to sign up to ride.

As always, visit our motorcycle forums at Ducatist and Triumph Boards to take part in some exciting motorcycle discussions and start some of your own.

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When the IPM team headed down to the San Mateo Motorcycle Show this weekend, we headed down early, expecting a bit of a crowd. Still, the lines for the demo rides stretched into the parking lot by 9:45am. When I say I got the last spot for the Kawasaki ZX-10R, I got the last spot. Far more deserving fans of the Ninja line gave an audible groan as the plasma screen above the sign-in desk registered that the last of the sportbike demo rides was now full.

The Kawasaki guys gave us a quick run-down on the kinds of behavior that’d get us kicked off the ride – wheelies, endos, etc. – and then took us over to get acquainted with our machines. ZX-6Rs, ZX-10Rs and ZX-14s stood there in a neat line; only the big “demo ride” windshield sticker and the copies of our drivers licenses back at the booth stood between us and Arizona. Pushing away any thought of making a break for it on my ebony ZX-10R, I began a quick run-through of the bike’s controls. Clip-on handles with plenty of room, an Ohlin’s steering damper up top, a nicely visble HUD that was nonetheless a bit hard to read, hidden as it was up in the front end.

Despite being 386 lbs (dry) and fairly compact, the ZX-10R is not the kind of machine you automatically gel with. All I could think was, How far am I going to need to lean over in order to turn the damn thing?

As it turns out, not very far. In the initial low speeds of our test drive (leading up to a 90mph takeoff up a nearby on-ramp) she handled absolutely agreeably. Smooth clutch, a beautiful purr thrumming forth from the altogeter-too-silenced exhaust, very responsive all around.

It was when we hit that on-ramp five minutes later, when the machine subtly launched me up to speed so effortlessly, that I realized the allure of this overgrown, 998cc Ninja. This is the sort of motorcycle that’ll shove your stomach into your spine and your face through the back of that tractor-trailer, 500 yards up, before you can say “Holy Tokico brake calipers!” The ZX-10R accelerates beautifully.

Her powerband is fat and happy, too, owing to the bike’s quartet of top-end-optimized cylinder heads. She’s also set up to give the rider a plenty of feedback, with lots of contact areas to help you corner with precision. I’m not a huge fan of the Ninja’s styling (“uninspired” is a nice way of putting it), but for an easy $12,000 MSRP, who cares? Your friends will only see a blur (an ebony, lime green, or candy burnt orange blur). If you could open the exhaust up a bit, they might even hear you, too.

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