A late summer evening sees Seastian, Aurora and myself at Fraser’s Motorcycles in Homebush. I was invited to the Sydney launch of the Ducati 1098 and brought along the older two of my beautiful little people. There was a little in trepidation on my behalf – I thought they may well be bored at an event like this.
We started looking around and enjoying the bikes and absorbing the Ducati vibe. Oh yes, it was thick in the air – a rich aroma of what the Italians call ‘figura’. It was all on show and quite rightly so, that is what Ducati is all about. I am new to this; it seems like the Triumph marque I have grown used to – and most other manufacturers in the industry – don’t do glamour, they don’t have that flair that goes with this Italian marque. So we strolled around and checked out the other bikes in the 2007 stable; all quite nice – but the 1098 stole the show from the outset.
The kids ran around and checked out bikes and brochures, danced to the music and had some juice. It was great for them to have fun whilst they stole the hearts of every female at the show. Once the show started they were in the front row to watch the intro of the new bikes for 2007 and Opera by Disguise. The almost surreal performance grew to a musical climax as the singers got the crowd clapping and cheering. Then…
The curtain in the corner drops after the opera singers finish a huge finale. The Ducati 1098 screams with unrestricted Termignoni pipes on the dyno as smoke machine and laser add even more dramatic effect. The crowd is whipped in to a frenzy as they shout ‘encore’!
The rider brings the beautiful machine to red line two more times as that familiar rev-limiter shudders the bike and it finally winds the huge Pirelli rear wheel down to a fanfare of applause. This bike has presence and power – and in that Italian tradition – its not afraid to tell the world about it…
