29 April 2006 - I read in the paper today that the Hispanic community is promoting a nationwide boycott of spending in protest of proposed illegal immigration policies. I suppose that includes Ducati resellers. Let me make the politically incorrect assertion that those people that are supporters of illegal immigrants can go screw themselves. And if any illegal immigrant wants to boycott Desmo Times this week they can feel free. You can buy your Ducati parts elsewhere.
On the flip-side, I love Latin America. One of my specialties in Special Operations is the Latin American region. I'm aware of the problems in particular countries and the historical underpinnings of such problems... yet I'm still against illegal immigration. Unfortunately we don't have the collective will to stop it. Bush is on track with his assertion that if we can't stop the flow we should just give amnesty. What's the point of bitching about something if you aren't willing to correct the problem? Just think of all the potential Ducati owners if we removed the illegal immigrant branding. More importantly, let them pay taxes and maybe I'll see a dime of my Social Security expenditures.
28 April 2006 - I was supposed to be in the mountains today, blissfully carving up the best that the Georgia mountains have to offer. Instead I'm sweating it out in my back yard, building a retention wall around a stream that runs through my property. The bad part about living in the Panhandle of Florida is that it takes hours to get to good riding locations. It is 7 hours to the Georgia mountains. That's 400 miles each way... 800 miles round trip, at 17 MPG in my truck with a bike in the back.. at $3.00 a gallon... You get the picture. I lost the motivation when I figured what it would cost to go to the mountain. Instead I'm building equity at the house... sweat equity. Lots of sweat, little equity. If I had it to do all over again, I would have moved to the mountains. As it is, I have it too good in Pcola to move, and delude myself that some day the house will be paid off and we can build our dream house in the mountains... Dream on LT.
27 April 2006 - I'm learning the hard way the pitfalls of inventory. As I've expanded the Desmo Times product array, it has become difficult to stock everything that I want to. The problem isn't in deciding what to carry and what levels to stock items, but rather in getting the things I want. For instance, I've carried Vee-Two brand clutch hubs for the past 2 years. They are quality-built clutch hubs and I use them on my own Ducks. The problem is that I've been trying for the past month to order more. First I'm told "they will be ready next week". That week comes and goes and still no hubs. Then I'm told "They'll ship tomorrow", but they fail to ship them the following day. I then try for the next week to get an email returned to let me know the status of the hubs. Nothing... And this for a vendor to vendor interaction. The next time you see an "out of stock" message on my website, know that the problem isn't that I haven't ordered more, but rather that I have to wait on the manufacturer to send them to me... and vendors string me along just like they do to end-consumers.
26 April 2006 - This week my Intro to Business students presented their marketing plans. This semester, I had them prepare a marketing plan for the S2R1000. I was impressed with the presentations. Unfortunately, none of my students were motorcyclists. I laughed when one team identified the Triumph W650 as a competitor for the Monster. I guess I'm so close to motorcycling and Ducatis that I think everyone should already know about them. I am sadly mistaken in this assumption. The neat thing was that my students came up with ideas that Ducati could easily implement. If I was an inside Ducati man, I'd slip them the ideas. As it is, I am blissful in my obscurity. I figure I'm doing enough to keep the company afloat.
24 April 2006 - It hit 85 yesterday. I must be getting old, because I don't seem to have the patience for the heat the way I used to. Once it hits 85 degrees F, I put the bikes up until winter. This may sound strange if you are from a different climate, but from May-Sept the heat index is always above 90 degrees in Florida. The high humidity sucks the life out of you and makes one long for air-conditioning. I used to get up early and ride before the heat would hit, but the last few years nightfall in summer has done nothing but take the edge off the heat. There is no respite. I endure one long summer trip on my bike and head for the mountains for a few weekends. Other than that, my Ducks cower in their insulated garage, waiting for the cool temps of autumn. I've got 6 months of heat before that welcome season. The upside is that I get to ride all winter. That's right, I ride most days from Oct-May. My rule of thumb is that if its above 30 degrees, it is warm enough to fire up a desmoquattro, don the electric vest and hit the cold tarmac. Ah, cold tarmac.... not good for traction, but it beats the heat blisters on my ass during the summertime.
23 April 2006 - It continues to puzzle me as to why Ducati can excel at the world level of racing, but continue to struggle in AMA Superbike. To be honest, the success of Suzuki has ruined the series for me. I hate to be defeatest, but until other factories can get competitive in AMA Superbike, I will continue to spurn the series. I don't even set up my DVR to tape the events. However, I am quite excited by Ducati's success in WSB and MotoGP. Bayliss continued to shine today in WSB, sweeping both races, and Lanzi is back on form. Nothing better than seeing both Ducati's on the podium. So answer me this. If Ducati is beating the best that Suzuki has to off in WSB, why is Ducati contemplating a 1200cc superbike? The answer is longevity of the platform... more on that some other day.
I spent last evening working on the MHe. I installed a corse clutch casing cover that I had milled out and installed heat proofing beneath the CF tail. I'm amazed at how much longer things always take than I budget. I expected to complete the job in a few hours. It took over four hours, and I even know what I'm doing. The nice part was that I got to work on one of my own bikes. Of late, that is a rarity.
22 April 2006 - Welcome to the Daily Desmo. I've been thinking about adding this editorial ever since beginning my message board. The message board hasn't turned out as planned. I intended the message board for both comaraderie and tech questions. In the end it has provided neither. It doesn't generate enough posts to offer any comaraderie and people still send me direct emails instead of posting to the board. In the end it is a flawed experiment, but I will continue to host it.
About a year ago I started to write monthly editorials, but they received little interest so I discontinued them. With the Daily Desmo my aim is to highlight things in my Ducati business. Sometimes it will relate to products I am developing, products I carry or noteworthy customers I have come across. Other times it will be ramblings about Ducati racing or design.
I hope you find the daily desmo to be both entertaining and informative.
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