Henry Lubong's Journal

This is the first time I rode my bike at night in the twisties… on a familiar road of course; where else, San Felipe / Metcalf. I met up with Glenn and JMack and had a halo-halo in Jollibee before we head to our favorite road. I’ve ridden at night on San Felipe road before [...]

My riding buddies are excited to see my new bike so I took her out for a group ride and show it off a little We met at *bucks and head to San Felipe / Metcalf. As usual, we had our bike talk at the bottom of Metcalf just before the 101 overpass. Our rides [...]

I was riding home from work on 101 and I got stuck in traffic behind a VTA (Santa Clara Valley Transport Authority) public transit bus on lane #1. All of a sudden this bus started spewing black smoke spraying it all over me. My visor was all covered with oil and almost blinding me. My [...]

This day calls for a toast. I just became an official Ducatisti today! I picked up my new Ducati 848 at Moto Italiano in Santa Cruz. My wife took a few hours off so she can drive me to the dealership and take my pictures as well . When we arrived in the dealership, my [...]

I can’t sleep, too excited for the free event at Laguna Seca tomorrow. AMA will be testing their bikes for the upcoming Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix on July and Laguna Seca will open their track to the public for free. The most interesting part in this event is the fan parade lap around the [...]

I’m not that unlucky after all. After what happened on Thursday, I went to ducati.com to see if there are any other Ducati dealers around my area. There’s another one in Santa Cruz called Moto Italiano. I called them up and they have a white 848 in stock but it’s a demo bike. It has [...]

I’m so excited today about getting a deal for the Ducati 848. First, I called Honda Peninsula to ask them about the price. Guess what, the bike that I was looking at was sold yesterday for $15,800. I was like, WHAT!!! That is the only white one they have and the last one that they [...]

It was just a lust at first but that pearl white man, that pearl white…. Wow,  I just called Modesto to ask them if they have a Pearl White Ducati 848 in stock. They only have one but the OTD price has gone up to $14,800. If it’s just a $400 difference from my local [...]

Today at lunch, I made a trip to Honda Peninsula in El Camino Real (one of the Ducati dealers in San Jose) to check out the 848 and 1098 bikes. They only have one pearl white 848 and a couple of red 1098s in the showroom. Although they look the same, the white 848 is [...]

Besides Porsche 911 Turbo, a Ducati Superbike is another dream machine that I’d like to have parked in my garage. I have long been lured by Ducati bikes specially the 999R. Last year, they released the 1098 in a typical Ducati red color. It has garnered lots of good reviews, both from magazines and owners. [...]

Wohooo! I finally got my Ohlins Steering Damper for my kawi and installed it tonight. This is one of the most important upgrade on a bike if it doesn’t have one. Even if it does, you would want to upgrade it to Ohlins. They are the leader in motorcycle suspension technology and a respectable brand [...]

So I talked to BikeBandit this morning through online help. The rep i talked to is very nice and very helpful. A very good salesperson too . I told her that I wanted to return the suit and get a refund but she convinced me to have it exchanged. They don’t have the silver/black in [...]

FedEx just delivered my new leather full suit that I bought from BikeBandit. The Teknic Violator runs one size smaller so the size 40US that I usually wear is 42US for this suit. I only had experience with Joe Rocket and Alpinestars so I don’t know what to expect from this one. The video below [...]

As part of my preparation for the track day event on October, I had my suspension dialed in today. Well, not for the track but for the street. But I also got the settings for the track so I can do it myself later. I had it done at Evolution Suspension in San Jose. Rob, [...]

We went for another group ride this afternoon on full leather suits. One of my buddies just bought a new one and had to break it in before our upcoming track days. The problem is, the last time I used mine was about 2 years ago and I’ve gotten much bigger after that. The leather [...]

I don’t think I’ll be comfortable riding without this ear plugs so I bought another one from Ebay. It’s only $12 and I got the one with the red tip this time. I really recommend this to any riders who are still using foam ear plugs. You’ll see or I should say hear a big [...]

My Etymotic ER-20 ear plugs that I’ve been riding with for 2 years are gone before we even started to ride today. I never ride without it. It is as important as my helmet. I must have left it in Starbucks’ table. Of course anything you leave in the table goes to the garbage afterwards. [...]

Well, yet another gorgeous day. Same friends I rode with yesterday hit up the road again.  I was supposed to baby sit because my wife had to go to work. But she took four hours off for me. I love my wife! Anyway, another guy on a Ducati 748 joined us too, so there were [...]

Not too early but early enough to catch the morning mist in the Santa Cruz Mountain. I rode my Ninja today with a friend who has a Ducati 999R. It’s been a long time since I rode my bike in the twisties. I think the last time I did a group ride was before I [...]

It’s time to get back on the saddle again. I got her cleaned up yesterday, fed with full synthetic fluid and got her a new filter as well. This morning, I fired her up and we hit the road. She never fails to perform. I love my 636 ZX-6R.