Today was a quiet day in Byron – mainly because it was raining for most of the day. I did get to the DesmoHQ on the outskirts of town just as the rain really started to come down. They have some tricked up bikes however they all went under cover when the water started falling!
I had a comment from Vince on yesterday’s post with some questions that needed answering with regards to this year’s Ducati Turismo.
Where do I start? On reflection (thanks to the questions) it was an unusual Turismo for a number of reasons. Firstly, there were only 60 bikes, in the past there have been upwards of 300. I’ve now been on 5 Turismo runs and this was by far the smallest considering it was held in a region where many riders could get to. Secondly, and this was probably due to “rule” changes, it was mostly a 1200 MultiStrada event with mix of Diavel, Monster and some superbikes making up the numbers. There was at least one if not two 1199 Superleggeras and a new Scrambler.
I think the average age would have been mid 50s as well, there were maybe less than 10 riders under 30 and there was a good vibe between the group. There were riders from up and down the east coast and the Scrambler came from Tassie! I enjoyed talking with the other riders, most of them being (very) long term Ducatisti.
The accomodation was good – well chosen and easy to get to the dinners in the evening which were in good venues. The Armidale Bowling Club had a separate dining room assigned to us and the Henry Parkes in Tenterfield was reserved excusively for the Turismo. The final gala dinner was at the Byron Beach Cafe which was very small compared to earlier events – probably because they only had 70 odd people to feed including the pillions. It felt quite low key, there was no band or grand finale.
I didn’t get many photos during the three day event, probably because I was leaving mid morning and getting in mid afternoon whilst I could hear some bikes leaving at 7 – 7:30am! This leads me to another oddity of this years Turismo – the length of each day. The longest day was really the first day with the other days being quite short in comparison to earlier events. I was surprised because in the past we would do 450 – 500 kms a day, this year it was well under 400 each day, even when I took some unofficial detours to lengthen the rides!
With only 60 bikes, there were large gaps between the groups unlike having 300 bikes and seeing some in every town or village en route. Some sections were quite quiet with more non Turismo riders for company.
The route chosen was “classical”: Thunderbolts, Waterfall & Nymboida, the Gwydir, Bruxner and Summerland Way with a smattering of side roads. All straight forward and not much consideration for other roads that are lesser known and more interesting.
Personally I think the decision to not allow the older bikes hurt the Turismo. I know that this was a marketing exercise to sell more new MultiStrada’s however, the older bikes attract more attention and get people talking about the brand, its heritage and racing programs. Most attendees had new-ish bikes and weren’t going to upgrade, so you could say that Ducati were preaching to the converted anyway.
Maybe the next one will be better – in 2017, I heard that the MultiStrada Experience will alternate annually with the Turismo. I hope that Ducati ask for feedback from the riders and take it on board.
Mark C says
Sweet blog! Not everyone talking about bikes the same way!
Check out more of our Official Ducati Art Blog here at
http://bit.ly/DucatiArtPrize
Mark C says
Sweet blog! Not everyone talking about bikes the same way!
Check out more of our Official Ducati Art Blog here at
http://bit.ly/DucatiArtPrize
Vince says
Thankyou for that Stephen, I had wondered if it would draw the usual crowd despite the new rules but it seems people largely voted with their feet. There has been a lot of disgust expressed about the new rules and the slight relaxing to include older bikes if they had 2 year recent service history with Frasers was seen for the cynical olive branch it was. But wait, it gets worse.
The ridiculous thing is that having old bikes along is THE MOST LIKELY WAY TO SELL NEW BIKES, surrounded as you are by nice newer bikes and seeing what they’re like and talking to owners about their experiences. Talk about a massive shot to their own foot by NFI!!!
There has been increasing disgruntlement over the years with Turismos being organised more to suit the staff than the riders, and seemingly a bit of a loss of grip on reality. But you get that, and these are Ducati riders and frankly we have been around and know how to sort it for ourselves. eg one Turismo more participants went down the Bonang Hwy than went on the official route – easily 150 and likely more. I shredded a tyre on it (oh what fantastic corners – all 160km of 25’s and 45’s) and only the most gentle riding down the Hwy got me the last 70km to the tyre truck.
There has been talk of arranging rider driven Turismos and I expect more of this to come after Ducati virtually abandoning everything about these events that was appealing. First it was putting them under an event mgt structure which got some very amusing discussions about one of their traffic mgt people who we all loved to ridicule, in a caring compassionate Ducati kind of way. Then it was the increasing exclusivity loss of the plot phenomenon that has been devaluing the event further with every rendition. This last one is obviously the pinnacle of contempt for those that underly the foundations of their success in the country. Shame really, but I for one am ready and able to make a serious contribution to a privateer effort.
Back to the main story… I live in Newcastle and went to see it off. The only official advice said it left from Frasers 9am. Every other Turismo I have been on (at least 7) left from the dealer, and almost always on Sunday (not all), but this one didn’t. Which was quite sensible when you think about it as the dealer is in a school zone and basically an industrial area, whereas leaving from the foreshore was much nicer for all.
But nowhere was there any advice / info to come see it off, and the golden opportunity to contact the local club (Hunter Ducati Owners Group, which I am the main coordinator for) and invite us down for a bit of spin off publicity was squandered. I got to Frasers 8:35am. No bikes. I asked several people where it was leaving from and NOBODY KNEW. Finally, at 3 minutes to nine, someone found out and kindly let me know. Hmm, 8km away and its school zone time. We got there in time to see the last 5 bikes coming out of Honeysuckle – which we had to chase for 4km to see that yep they were Ducatis with Turismo stickers on.
Then we went to Ft Scratchley which was empty, but on the way we passed 4 official vehicles leaving although didn’t see the Big Red Truck. We went home pretty disappointed we had missed King Wally’s speech, catching up with some past participants, and shooting a video of those magnificent Ducatis heading off on their way.
We couldn’t go on this one as the ’03 ST4S I bought from Frasers 3 years ago is outside the rules since I do all my own repairs / servicing. Knowing we weren’t going, I had some elective surgery done and am on crutches for a couple more weeks. But I am pretty disappointed to hear that such a great marque has been let down so much.
Since I am a little bit taking over the blog in the comments section, I will add that my Ducati toting brother and I for several Easters spent 4 days riding the same roads and some of the best bits seem to have got left out, which I am a bit astonished about. I won’t go into details here, but there are some real pearlers that are easy to get to that have been totally overlooked. If you need one thing planning events like this it is local experience. Wally knows me well enough and we have exchanged emails often enough (in a good way), but there was no contact. Not that he needed to, but there is a fair bit of mutual respect and I am surprised there was no contact to either me or the local club. But it’s a shame I didn’t get on this one as I would have happily lead a breakaway group! At least with the early starters noted some people will have been adding stuff they knew, as did you Stephen. Thanks for the extra details.
Mark C says
Hey! Hope you can check out our Official Ducati Art Auction here at
http://bit.ly/DucatiArtPrize
You can get a chance to win Ducati Art here at the website above! Free entry. Contact me if there’s any problems or questions!
Vince says
Thankyou for that Stephen, I had wondered if it would draw the usual crowd despite the new rules but it seems people largely voted with their feet. There has been a lot of disgust expressed about the new rules and the slight relaxing to include older bikes if they had 2 year recent service history with Frasers was seen for the cynical olive branch it was. But wait, it gets worse.
The ridiculous thing is that having old bikes along is THE MOST LIKELY WAY TO SELL NEW BIKES, surrounded as you are by nice newer bikes and seeing what they’re like and talking to owners about their experiences. Talk about a massive shot to their own foot by NFI!!!
There has been increasing disgruntlement over the years with Turismos being organised more to suit the staff than the riders, and seemingly a bit of a loss of grip on reality. But you get that, and these are Ducati riders and frankly we have been around and know how to sort it for ourselves. eg one Turismo more participants went down the Bonang Hwy than went on the official route – easily 150 and likely more. I shredded a tyre on it (oh what fantastic corners – all 160km of 25’s and 45’s) and only the most gentle riding down the Hwy got me the last 70km to the tyre truck.
There has been talk of arranging rider driven Turismos and I expect more of this to come after Ducati virtually abandoning everything about these events that was appealing. First it was putting them under an event mgt structure which got some very amusing discussions about one of their traffic mgt people who we all loved to ridicule, in a caring compassionate Ducati kind of way. Then it was the increasing exclusivity loss of the plot phenomenon that has been devaluing the event further with every rendition. This last one is obviously the pinnacle of contempt for those that underly the foundations of their success in the country. Shame really, but I for one am ready and able to make a serious contribution to a privateer effort.
Back to the main story… I live in Newcastle and went to see it off. The only official advice said it left from Frasers 9am. Every other Turismo I have been on (at least 7) left from the dealer, and almost always on Sunday (not all), but this one didn’t. Which was quite sensible when you think about it as the dealer is in a school zone and basically an industrial area, whereas leaving from the foreshore was much nicer for all.
But nowhere was there any advice / info to come see it off, and the golden opportunity to contact the local club (Hunter Ducati Owners Group, which I am the main coordinator for) and invite us down for a bit of spin off publicity was squandered. I got to Frasers 8:35am. No bikes. I asked several people where it was leaving from and NOBODY KNEW. Finally, at 3 minutes to nine, someone found out and kindly let me know. Hmm, 8km away and its school zone time. We got there in time to see the last 5 bikes coming out of Honeysuckle – which we had to chase for 4km to see that yep they were Ducatis with Turismo stickers on.
Then we went to Ft Scratchley which was empty, but on the way we passed 4 official vehicles leaving although didn’t see the Big Red Truck. We went home pretty disappointed we had missed King Wally’s speech, catching up with some past participants, and shooting a video of those magnificent Ducatis heading off on their way.
We couldn’t go on this one as the ’03 ST4S I bought from Frasers 3 years ago is outside the rules since I do all my own repairs / servicing. Knowing we weren’t going, I had some elective surgery done and am on crutches for a couple more weeks. But I am pretty disappointed to hear that such a great marque has been let down so much.
Since I am a little bit taking over the blog in the comments section, I will add that my Ducati toting brother and I for several Easters spent 4 days riding the same roads and some of the best bits seem to have got left out, which I am a bit astonished about. I won’t go into details here, but there are some real pearlers that are easy to get to that have been totally overlooked. If you need one thing planning events like this it is local experience. Wally knows me well enough and we have exchanged emails often enough (in a good way), but there was no contact. Not that he needed to, but there is a fair bit of mutual respect and I am surprised there was no contact to either me or the local club. But it’s a shame I didn’t get on this one as I would have happily lead a breakaway group! At least with the early starters noted some people will have been adding stuff they knew, as did you Stephen. Thanks for the extra details.
Mark C says
Hey! Hope you can check out our Official Ducati Art Auction here at
http://bit.ly/DucatiArtPrize
You can get a chance to win Ducati Art here at the website above! Free entry. Contact me if there’s any problems or questions!