My friend Jordan stopped by Randy’s Garage on Sunday, May 18, 2014 with his new(ish) red Ducati 848 Evo! Jordan also has a Ducati Monster that he rode at the Motoworks Chicago Track Day in the fall of 2013. This was my first exposure to his Evo and a chance to look at one close up. We discussed the mechanics and process of suspension tuning based upon Chapter 15 of Lee Parks book: Total Control: High Performance Street Riding Techniques. When it became clear that tuning his suspension would require tools we did not have, and also a third person to help, we used the time to chat about motorcycles, family, work and life.

Jordan and his Dad and brother helped me out of a jam last fall when I dumped my bike and broke my ankle in the process. They picked up my bike from the accident and moved it to a safe location, then later delivered it to my garage when I was home and recuperating.

Jordan’s Ducati 848 Evo and Randy’s Bonneville at Randy’s Garage.

Jordan’s Evo sportbike has a stock liquid-cooled V-twin engine that puts out 115 horsepower @ 10,400 RPM with 70.8 lb·ft (96.0 N·m) of torque @ 8,250 RPM and weighs about 370 lbs. My Bonnie has an air cooled parallel twin engine that puts out 67 hp @ 7,400 RPM stock (mine is probably somewhere around 73-75) and 52 ft.lbf @ 6,000 RPM (mine is probably higher) and weighs about 450 lbs stock (mine is probably around 400-420). Other than that they are exactly alike! (ha-ha!)