Quick update. Here now and bloody loving it. Haven’t been to the factory yet, that’s on Monday. Did a gastronomic walking tour of the city centre today and it was wonderful. The food is off the scale!
Parking is a PITA in a car - I parked opposite the factory, in what looked like a perfectly reasonable place to park. Got a ticket. Ignored it. That was four years ago…
Visited after Mugello this year , it was class. Because I was the only Ducati in the group the others had to park outside and for security they buried my bike with helmets and leathers. Later we realised you can check all your gear in at the tour start area. You can go in there before the tour starts but they didn't really make that clear. The museum was very good and the factory tour is literally that. Keep your toes away from the forklifts. Cool to see the old lines tech (where my bikes probably came from ) compared to the flash modern stuff. Enjoy
10 points for those who recognised the matching luggage from 70's fashion house Joe Brown Mountaineering
OK just got back to the hotel after factory tour and museum visit. It was absolutely bloody awesome. The factory runs like a Swiss watch. Robots are used to ferry parts around but not for assembly. Everything is put together by hand, so the bikes really are hand built. There is a surprising (in a good way) number of women in the production areas. Probably about a 70% men 30% women split. That was the highlight for my wife, who was happy to see equality being progressed. Each model has its own area of production, with a ‘supermarket’ (rows and rows of boxes) of parts for each model. Today alone they had made over 150 bikes ready for shipping. Main market is the US and then Europe. The museum was also brilliant. Some fantastic bikes and loads of history. Take water with you. We were knobbled by the heat and although there is a machine with bottled water in the Ducati shop if you don’t have Euro coins on you, forget it. Everyone still has to wear a mask when inside, when/if this will be lifted who knows. Highly recommended!
Sorry, didn't take any pics of bikes produced after about 2000 or so as they're all a bit 'hmmm'. The real heroes of the museum are all pre-2000...
Don't use bungee cords for luggage buy rok-straps. Enjoy & ride sensible get out into the sticks & double back on a nice section for some funnage'
And so I've just realised something with this forum in trying to upload the pics I took. I don't have a Photobucket or similar account to attach URLs (as I'm being requested). I do have a load of pics but there's no obviously neat or simple way to upload them to a post. Sorry to disappoint XH but it's becoming annoying.
Just go to the USER ALBUMS section & create one for yourself. I have several & they don't seem to have a limit though I reduce the size of my images for uploading. It's a hosting site so don't rely on it keeping it safe, always have your own backup on a none running HDD.
Thanks! Maybe when I get time to reduce file size etc. about 20 pics. Keep my pics on the Cloud. Much safer. If anyone wants to see them check the 900SS IE new group on FB lol.
Some pics from the Museo. Classic for the oldies (me) V4 for the Weans, Hodgies 999 (drool) and my personal fav the supermono.
