24 Jan 2009, fan modifications applied
to my St4s! Purchased LT Snyder's six bladed aluminum fan and
placed a single pole single position switch into position between 12vDC
lead at fuse panel and the fan's positive lead at the connector.
See Mod Page. Also, learned that GIZMO folks' website is offline.
Not sure how to reach them for those wanting the Headlight Gizmo shown
on my Mod page. Sorry.2 Nov 2008,
temperatures have mellowed here in Tampa and now the humidity/high temp
factor is gone, I can get the ST4s out and stretch the legs some...dang
roads are straight as arrows and filled with cage drivers. Have
found my way over to Euro Cycles of Tampa, nice shop, good folks.
Sep 2008, Moved to Tampa FL. Brought ST4s with
me but left the 998s behind in TN to stay at the house. Doing
split base operations for now. It is way to hot here in Tampastan
to do much riding this month, looking forward to fall.
May 2008, Front tire replaced with a
Diablo Corse III. Also scored a Sargeant Seat on a very good deal
from Alain at Corse Motorsports who had a customer who wanted to sell
his (still in wrapper from Sargeant). Unfortunately the owner who
had planned to put it on his ST3, had a motorcycle mishap and was
selling his ST3 and all bits. Fortunately he is OK and recovering
well.
April 2008, another trip to the Dragon,
HWY 129 and point beyond, including the Cherohala Skyway, it was a
beautiful ride and now it is time for a new front tire :)
28 Oct 2007 - Wx cooler, ST4s is all
reassembled. I pulled all the body work before sending it in for
the 12K service, saves time and money :) After getting it back
from Alain's I did a thorough cleaning of the body work that had been
hanging in my garage and put her all back together; looks great!
27 Sep 2007 - 12K service completed :) Once
again,
Alain Ledgerwood mechanic and owner of
Corse Motorsports in
Nashville did a great job. It was also very reasonably priced.
Great job Alain and Corse Motorsports!
22 April 2007 - Plenty of developments,
My 998S FE is freshly serviced (6000 miles) and has new Michelins front
and rear; total price ~$1300. The ST4s is coming up on its 12,000
mile service, these get pretty expensive, so I am in a bit of a delay.
Steve has undertaken a major project and successfully converted his
Matrix 620ie to a Matrix 800 S2R. It is pretty awesome. Now
he has the look he wanted and the power he had been searching for, plus,
it is a one of a kind. I have done a bit of re-organization of this web site
and added web space dedicated to
Steve's Matrix S2R 800
and the 998S FE.
19 November 2006 -
LCD Module partial
failure and repair. I disassembled the LCD display module and
repaired it today. Found water inside and corrosion of the circuit
card. Dried the interior of the housing, removed the corrosion, an
resealed the unit... it is working perfectly again!!! WOOOT!
See photos and description of the repair in the Maintenance and Issues
section.
2 November 2006 - For my birthday, I
notice that my LCD display is now only functioning partially, hurray!
1 October 2006 - Purchased a 2004 998s
Final Edition. It sure is pretty.
22
September 2006 - Back to East Tennessee the Dragon (hwy 129) and
Cherohala skyway. Weather was a bit uncooperative. A bit
damp in a few corners on Hwy 129 but it did not spoil the fun.
Different story on the Cherohala when we got to 4500' MSL we punched in
(aka clouds obscured vision if we had been flying an aircraft it would
have been instrument meteorological conditions (IMC)). By the time
we got to 5000' MSL it started to rain in addition to being cold and
very windy. We donned the rain gear and my son on his Monster and
I on my ST4s crept along until the descent an then in the valley we rode
home in the rain. Couple of photos are on the
photo page taken while we were still in nice weather. The next
day it rained like crazy although we still went an watched University of
Tennessee (my older son Ben is a student there) defeat Marshall.
It was a fun trip!
10 June 2006 - New Pirelli Diablo Corse
front tire. Saw Alain at Corse Motorsports again, this time for a
front tire and time to pick up oil and a filter. 9000 miles
changing oil and filter. Using
Mobil 1® MX4T 10W-40.
14 May 2006 - My son
purchased a 2004 Ducati Monster 620i.e. "Matrix Edition" from a Grad
Student at U of Illinois. Great looking machine!
6 May 2006 - Added this block after
returning from East Tennessee and riding some of the magnificent roads
there. My son and I had a great time! The highways of
Tennessee have gained notoriety for being maintained in superior
condition, all the roads we traveled in TN were great. Not quite
to the standard of German roads but in most cases much better than say
Northern California. North Carolina should take a page from this
playbook. Ok, nice black top, great terrain, so many corners it
felt like we were riding in loops at times, the circuit we traveled was
referred to as the Cherohala Skyway Loop
here is a map it is from
TAIL of the DRAGON a web site about Deal's
Gap and US Highway 129. Our circuit also included the Cherohala
Skyway, define by NC State Rte 143 and TN State Rte 165.
Photos from the trip are on the photo page.
Ciao, Vinnie.
30 Apr 2006 - New back tire,
sticking with the Diablo; preparing for the trip later this coming week.
Corse Motorsports, did me right.
20 May 2004 -
6000 mile service also replaced steering stem bearings an seals (Ducati
Warranty) service total $534.
