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The Italian media are already all over that binomials: dream team or nightmarish couple? I think it is about pride. If I was Martin, I would do all I can to win, which of course was the objective throughout. But he now has one more motivation: to show Ducati what they are going to lose. That being said, it is clear they don't care if Martin wins. They already won! Ducati managed to recruit the best rider of the ultimate decade: Mark Marquez. All the rest is of secondary importance.

I somewhat feel bad for Jorge Martin; until Marquez surprise announcement that he would not settle for a non factory team, I am of the opinion that Ducati were going to keep them both. As Dominicali put it, it is a formidable marketing coup, and there was no way Ducati was going to let it slip out of its grip. He said he understood that the other teams were unhappy, but this is how the winning team can nitpick and the rest gets the leftovers, so to speak. This is going to be an ulterior motivation for Martin to win with Pramac this year. He also signed with Aprilia ahead of Ducati's official choice; a sort of pulling the rug from underneath their announcement. Now there is no more suspense, everybody knows Marquez is taking Bastianini' seat.

I received the Skwal I3 today, and I have not yet ridden with it. I tested the three lighting options; I am most likely not going to use the front lights, still or flashing. Reason is the lights bounce on the fairings of the Le Mans, which makes it a distraction. My father would have said those lights look like a brothel' sign... Tomorrow, I will take it out for a spin, to check loudness.

My Quota is still awaiting its initial inspection and I don't know if I am going to get it in time to do the John Day excursion. I am not going to ride the V11 that is certain. It is next on the list of those awaiting Davey's care, but I don't take anything for granted. His current patient sprung a leak during its first test, and unfortunately, to get to it, requires a major dismantle.

Morning temperature where I live: 87 degreesF! 30.5 DegC. I went to Austin last week-end; temperature outside 97 degF! 36 DegC. That's measured temperature only. If you take into account the heat index, you are easily into triple. We are getting there....

As expected; Ducati would have been foolish to not onboard MM93 instead of Martin. Whatever happens to the 2024 Championship, Marquez is certain to bring a lot of publicity to the brand. Now, Martin better win the 2024 title, because he may not get another opportunity. I am not certain Aprilia is going to provide enough consistency to give him the weapons to fight with the Ducati. The next question is, will Marquez be able to keep his Red Bull sponsorship in the Ducati factory team? Bastianini is rumored to replace Acosta in the Gas Gas Tech3 team. The biggest question mark is now Pramac. They have lost their top pilot, and will not get Marquez either. Will this be enough to tip the balance towards Yamaha? If Pramac goes Yamaha, then VR46 or Gresini may get a Factory bike each?

This is the piece that may have broken on the Quota... Anyone recognize what it is?

Unfortunately, the Quota will finish on a truck.... broken transmission....

I read all the Tony Hillerman novels....

Even wine is to be taken cautiously. A lot of blending happens out of the customers' knowledge. As with Honey. Bread used to be for French, what good coffee used to be for Italians. In fact, one staple of the French restaurant was to always have a basket of bread (free) on each and every restaurant table. It still happens occasionally, but it is gone for the most part. Bread used to be at the core of everything. From breakfast and the "tartine", till diner with "la trempée". A simple veggie soup, where you would immerse strips of bread. The "soupe à l'oignon" preserves a bit of that tradition. The bread situation is bleak nowadays. The Boulangerie where you would go get the bread every morning is long gone, replaced with what is called "Bread Depot". They only cook the bread that is delivered by industrial companies. Long gone the Boulanger that would wake up in the wee hours of the morning to make his own dough and his own bread. All the traditions have been ironed out. All the knowledge has been computerized, so instead of an experience coffee brewer, you find the 16 year's old kid, that will push the button.

Next time I am in Paris, I will try to show you what it used to be. I found an Air B&B close to a café which has been there since the early 1900, owing to the painting they have inside the Café: "Le Tramway". As this café was right down to my apartment, I used it as my headquarters, and in seven days, I knew everybody in the place. Waiters, Waitresses, regulars, owner. The café is the one making the corner of the building. It still looks like that today. On the left-hand side is the Tramway that gave the name to the place. This is one of the early 1900 Tramways. A mechanical one, no overhead power lines. It still happens!

I saw the "The Fall Guy" yesterday at iPic. Throughout the movie, Ryan Gosling, a.k.a. "Colt" is craving for coffee, with many unsuccessful attempts using different machines. Can anyone remember a show where coffee is an important element of the plot? I will start: a Korean show, "Would you like a cup of coffee" that revolves about an apprentice Barista that must learn how to brew the perfect cup of coffee from the owner and master of the bar. I like the philosophy that revolves around making good coffee, on top of the Korean search for perfection in the respect of others. It would be considered shameful to serve anything but perfectionism. Since we talk about Bars, there is something that I miss a lot from my younger days. Bars, Café, Pubs.... you know, places where you would encounter anybody and talk to like you had known them since you were born. I must admit that I don't find this any longer here, or there. Anywhere you go where people congregate, it is all keeping to oneself. Silence. No more exchanges. I still remember the days when we would go to the bar after any major event, to discuss it with perfect strangers. Whatever opinion they had, we would always reunite around a café, sometimes adding strong liquor in it; We would always repair the world, making it a better place. We should go back to those Bars, Café, Pubs... Pronto!

Most pundits are saying it is not a question of if, but when. Look at the sprint race that just finished a few moments ago. MM93 is second behind Bagnaia. Tomorrow, with Bagnaia's penalty to surrender positions on the grid, we may see the 93rd Ducati race win by the #93. Jorge Martin did not finish the sprint race. MM93 is clearly in the world championship title race too, and he is fighting for that red Ducati alongside Bagnaia next year.

I also bought the @Pressureangle suggested air filler; Here's my wants: The filler retains the last dialed pressure for the chosen mode; it would have been great if you could toggle between two pressures, because motorcycles have two distinct pressures between front and back. My 911 too. It is not a big bother to dial the various pressures. However, I am certain it would not take much to have that feature added. The four ways pad seem to require multiple repeat presses to increase or decrease the pressure.

I think that Enea Bastianini getting the factory seat instead of him left him sour... there is also some prestige to go with being paired with Francesco Bagnaia who has a contract signed valid until 2026. Marc made a mistake when he announced that he would be happy in any team with a current year spec'ed bike. He realized he sold himself too cheap. This is why I think he did a 180 degrees by contradicting himself, and changing any team to factory team exclusive. Why should he make Ducati's life easy? Marc would be ill-advised to switch bike one more time, when time is what he has the least. I predict he is going to stay with Ducati next year. The Aprilia is penciled to Enea Bastianini who is almost certain to lose his current ride. All the dominoes are going to fall into place once Ducati makes their announcement. Pramac has confirmed they will continue the same arrangement next year. We know Aldeguer will get one of the two bikes, most likely Martin's. The second seemed to be a done deal for Marquez. Whatever happens, Franco Morbidelli is gone. There were some rumors that Marquez could join Acosta in the KTM official team. Those were contradicted right away by Brad Binder's manager, who said Brad has a contract with KTM, not GasGas. I am not 100% convinced that Ducati has decided between JM and MM.

@PJPR01 I am sorry to hear your house was damaged! I lost the contents of two freezers full of brisket and other kind of Angus meat. In today's prices, this represented a significant write-off. I remained without power almost a full six days; I tried to stay without AC, because of the humidity, it makes it impossible to sleep when temperatures are above 80F. The saddest realization is that the crews came, cleanup the fallen trees over the medium voltage lines, but did not touch the other damaged trees. Next high windstorm and the power will get knocked off again. I am getting confused why those exposed lines don't get buried underground, to get rid of the problem once for good... A few trees fell on houses, but those were inside private properties. Some of my neighbors have generators, but they make too much noise for my taste. In any case, they are not powerful enough to power the AC; at least, they have lights and fans.

From what I understood, and I am not a meteorologist, the major issue with Derechos, is they are impossible to predict ahead of time. Hence, when it hit us, the warning came basically at the time the Derecho formed. I received the warning on my phone at 18:15, all hell came loose at 18:25! I was home, and it was like suddenly the lights were switched off outside. Some of the residents that were on I-10 said they were like sitting ducks, they could do nothing. This was my first encounter of such a weather event, and I must admit that in a wooden house, I did not feel that comfortable.

Another day and another thunderstorm with damaging winds and possible floods in Houston! Seems like my Radar App is sending me warnings throughout the day, every day. I wish those would be over sooner than later. No matter how impervious you are, you can't ride in storms like this.

The plot thickens.... Ducati said they never promised to divulge the name of the pilot that would be next to Bagnaia for 2025 and 2026. Whereas it was thought that Marc Marquez did not care about getting in a factory team, as long as he would get a current year bike, this has now been changed. Marc Marquez said that Pramac was not an option for him. The pressure is now back on Ducati. It was sort of the ideal scenario, they were going to keep all their eggs in the same basket, possibly minus Enea Bastianini, who seems to be strongly taking the door, direction Aprilia to replace the retiring Alex Espargaro. But with the new information we have, we now know that Marquez will not remain at Gresini, nor will he go to Pramac. At least, this is what he said. Independently of knowning what Pramac is going to do in 2025. Jorge Martin has sworn that he will not remain in Pramac next year, and if he remains with Ducati, it will be in the factory team.

From those days when I was in my teens, I remember installing expansion chambers on 49.9 cc moped. The objective was to get better engine performance, because all the two strokes competition motorcycles had them. I don't remember that "making more noise" was intended. It was a collateral. The motorcycles of the time, including the Britton ones, did not make any particular pleasing sound. Including the flat twins BMW. That seemed to change when the CB750 came out. We all agreed that it sounded good when the four silencers were removed. The Kawasaki triples sounded great with their silencers, because a triple has that certain suave appeal to man's ears. This is when a lot of exhaust making aftermarket companies started in Europe. For example, I remember "Devil" which is not very well known against today's Akrapovic and Termignoni. Of course, nothing could beat the Kawasaki or Honda six cylinders. Whoever had one, would automatically install some kind of "louder" sounding exhaust. I think those days were more characteristic of having your bike sing for the rest of those who were on the sidewalks. Like a little music performance for you to enjoy, no arm intended. I think the philosophy behind a loud exhaust has changed over the years. In Europe, it was always frowned upon. It is also one of the main reason a technical control has been introduced this year in France. Because of the many complaints against motorcycles making too much noise in urban concentrations. The new generations don't care about performance, rather, they are trying to tell the rest of the crowd they don't care about civic and social norms. They want to kick the good thinking people in the groin. My Quota has the stock exhaust, I do not intend to change anything. My Le Mans has a "Stayintune" exhaust system, the silencers were missing when I purchased it. It is noisy, even to me, on longer rides. I wear earplugs, but the growl is there. A lot of HD bikers have empty pipes on their ride. Those are really loud and not particularly appealing in the sound. I believe they have a loud signature because they need to be reckoned for who they are. One of my neighbor had one of those cars which exhaust can be switched from muffled to loud. I think it was a Mustang GT. So it is not only the motorcyclists. There seem to be a need for loudness among us?! Does a better sounding motorcycle inspires to ride it more? I think yes.

Most helmet makers put forward the safety and comfort of their helmets. I am of the opinion that wind noise is part of the overall safety because it contributes to fatigue and interferes with the necessary focus you need to conserve if you want to stay upside up, particularly on long rides.

You kind of stand out in the snow with a black helmet, don't you?

Good coffee is difficult to find nowadays, like a lot of other things, such as real honey or real chocolate. Fortunately, when it comes to personal taste, everybody has his own appreciation. Without wanting to offend anybody here or there, I never thought the USA were interested in consuming the best coffee. Most people and not circumvented to the USA seem to be satisfied with that big chain's beverage that taste awful to me. Nestle introduced Nespresso in the early 90's. One has to understand that even with a Nespresso machine, you don't get the real thing. The capsule system is simply a way to make it easy and quick. I learned about coffee when I got transferred to Italy, in 1981. Back then, I thought French knew all there was to know about coffee. I discovered that I was wrong. In these days, no matter where you were in Italy, no matter how small the bar, the village, how remote, you would get good coffee. Simply because in Italy, coffee, or the Italian espresso, is a religion. If you owned a bar, and did not have good coffee, your bar would be empty. Good coffee is expensive, and coffee machines are extremely expensives! getting a tasty espresso or black coffee at home may not come cheap if you purchase the necessary equipment. If you walked into a bar in the 80's, you would invariably find a La Cimbali espresso machine. In those days, there were nothing automatic, and making coffee, required a little bit of practice and understanding. But in any case required good coffee. Wherever I go, I purchase the second-best solution to acceptable coffee: the Bialetti stove top brewer. You could literally go to every house in Italy, and be certain they have one. Even using the Bialetti the proper way requires knowledge.... and good coffee. Personally, I always go (for my BialettI) with Illy coffee. It comes in tins, ground as it should be, under vacuum and outrageously expensive! If you really want to get into making fantastic coffee, I recommend you purchase a La Cimbali M21 Junior. It is not cheap, but you will become an artist. With it, you will need a equally expensive grinder, and again, good coffee! by the way, La Cimbali has competition, and you could find a similar espresso machine to the M21 for less with other brands. If you are not interested in learning how to make coffee or cappuccino, then La Cimbali has automated espresso machines too. If you want another alternative, you may also want to check out Turkish Coffee. The equipment is a lot cheaper, and you need to find good Turkish coffee too. Time for me to make myself a coffee! and don't even try to Folgers me!!!!!

For some reason, a lot of motorcycle riders favor plain traditional colors, with a majority wearing black helmets. I do not know why. I looked for a red helmet in the brand and line I favored, and could not find one at Cyclegears, where I bought my "black" Shark Race R Pro Carbon. In any case, I was looking at increasing my visibility at night, and during the day, the braking lights are driven by an accelerometer. Once I get the helmet, I will be able to give an educated opinion.

I think the number one criteria is what you specified: having a helmet that fits you, but also the safest construction possible. The EUR certification has been upgraded to the ECE 22.06 standard. The impact points testing went from 6 to 12 and there are other changes such as the impacts are done at various speeds. The 22.06 standard was introduced in 2022. The DOT certification is comparable, although less stringent than the European ECE 22.06 standard. The DOT does not test all helmets for approval. They roll out a set of standards and regulations for manufacturers who target the U.S. market to follow. Makers will then be allowed to self-certify that their helmets will pass the FMVSS 218 tests and append a DOT sticker. I chose Shark for my first helmet, because it was the only one that let me put my prescription glasses easily once the helmet is on my head. This is something Shark does seem to do better than the top known brands. The Shark I3 is sold in the US and compliant to both DOT and ECE 22.06, like probably most helmets. To be noted, Shoei sells the same helmet under different product names. I am talking about the Shoei RF1400 here in the US, and NXR. This was my target helmet, because sold as one of the quietest. Unfortunately, this is one of those helmets that give me difficulty to put my glasses on. Thereafter, come the secondary considerations, such as colors, pinlock, and what not. The I3 is heavier than my current Shark, and a lot cheaper. I don't expect it will be one of the most quiet, but I do like the additional braking lights.