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Ductalk: What's Up In The World Of Ducati
Ducati News Roundup Curated by Vicki Smith for Ducati.net |
Scooped by Vicki Smith for Ducati.net |
Two hours west of the Atlanta airport is a five story, state of the art monument of glass, steel and concrete generally considered to be the finest motorcycle museum in the world. We step inside for a photographic tour.
A little tour of my favorite place to kick the week off
Scooped by Vicki Smith for Ducati.net |
This page overlaps somewhat with the page titled “ZE. Rollin’ and Tumblin’." That page had a short list of reasons why racers crash, with some of my own crashes used as example...
Some of this is taken from Paul's wonderful book "Racing The Gods" which is a #1 new release in Amazon and for sale HERE
Scooped by Vicki Smith for Ducati.net |
Part 2 of Alan Cathcart's interview with Ducati Boss Domenicali
Scooped by Vicki Smith for Ducati.net |
There's a growing category of motorcyclists -- moms who ride.
Lady riders getting some love from CEO's and mainstream press. Nice.
Scooped by Vicki Smith for Ducati.net |
MONTEREY, CALIFORNIA – May 4, 2015 –Ducati dealerships repeated as the top ranked brand in the newly released 2015 Pied Piper Prospect Satisfaction Index® (PSI®) U.S. Motorcycle Industry Benchmarking Study. The study measured dealership treatment of motorcycle shoppers, with rankings by brand determined by the patent-pending Pied Piper PSI process, which ties “mystery shopping” measurement and scoring to industry sales success.
2015 marked the ninth consecutive year that Ducati and Harley-Davidson dealerships were ranked either first, second or third. Brands showing the greatest overall improvement from 2014 to 2015 were Aprilia, KTM and BMW. Brands with declines from 2014 to 2015 were Can-Am, Indian and Star. All of the five top-ranked brands for 2015 – Ducati, Harley-Davidson, Victory, Triumph and BMW –improved their performance compared to the previous year. In total, thirteen of the seventeen brands improved their performance, resulting in the highest industry average PSI score of the nine years Pied Piper has been benchmarking the U.S. motorcycle industry.
An example of industrywide improvement is the substantial increase in test rides offered. Five years ago an immediate test ride was offered only 15% of the time, while the possibility of a future test ride was mentioned 19% of the time, for a grand total of test rides of any type mentioned 34% of the time. The 2015 study showed that immediate test rides were offered 35% of the time and future test rides were mentioned 28% of the time, for a grand total of test rides of any type mentioned 63% of the time. Other examples of industrywide improvement include salespeople requesting customer contact information 57% of the time vs 46% of the time five years ago, salespeople asking about trade-ins 39% of the time vs 27% of the time five years ago, and salespeople encouraging customers to sit on a bike 81% of the time vs 70% of the time five years ago.
Pied Piper has found that on average, when motorcycle dealerships are ranked by their PSI score, dealerships in the top quarter sell 22% more motorcycles than dealerships in the bottom quarter. “So much about the motorcycle business is difficult for a dealership to control,” said Fran O’Hagan, President and CEO of Pied Piper Management Co., LLC. “In contrast, dealerships can control the sales process used by their sales team, and the results are clearly worth the effort.”
About Pied Piper PSI® and Pied Piper Management Company, LLC
The 2015 Pied Piper Prospect Satisfaction Index U.S. Motorcycle Industry Study was conducted between July 2014 and April 2015 using 1,779 hired anonymous “mystery shoppers” at dealerships located throughout the U.S. Examples of other recent Pied Piper PSI studies are the 2015 Pied Piper PSI® Internet Lead Effectiveness(™) (ILE™) Benchmarking Study, in which the U.S. Lexus dealer network was top ranked, and the 2014 Pied Piper PSI (In-Person) U.S. Auto Industry Study, in which the Mercedes-Benz dealer network was ranked first.
Complete Pied Piper PSI industry study results are provided to vehicle manufacturers and national dealer groups. Manufacturers, national dealer groups and individual dealerships also order PSI “mystery shop” evaluations—in-person, internet or telephone—as tools to improve the sales effectiveness of their dealerships. For more information about the Pied Piper Prospect Satisfaction Index, and the patent-pending PSI process, go to www.piedpiperpsi.com.
Scooped by Vicki Smith for Ducati.net |
Pro Italia Motorcycles, one of the foremost sport bike dealers in the country and located in Glendale California, announced today that it will be holding Café Desmo, the Southern California Italian Sport Bike Event, at Newcomb’s Ranch on Angeles Crest Highway on Sunday, May 3, from 11am to 4pm. It will be preceded by a pre-event party on Friday, May 1, starting at 7:30 at 3319 N Verdugo Road in Glendale.
Bill Nation, Dealer/Principal of Pro Italia, noted that “Café Desmo has been an extraordinarily popular event for Pro Italia for the past 24 years, recently attracting thousands of people and hundreds of bikes. This year, given the two year hiatus of Café Desmo, we’re working to make it the very best bike gathering we have ever had.” Bill continued, “There’ll be a ride up the Crest starting from Pro Italia at 10am on May 3. Coming from all directions we’ll gather at Newcomb’s Ranch to listen to music, eat food prepared by Newcomb’s and hang out with hundreds of bikes and people in Angeles Crest Forest. It promises to be a great way to spend a Sunday in SoCal.
For 2015, Café Desmo will include:
And most importantly, the opportunity to spend time with like-minded enthusiasts and the entire Pro Italia team.
For further information please check out the Pro Italia website (www.proitalia.com) or contact Karen at Pro Italia (Karen@proitalia.com / 818.249.5707 ext 354).
With the announcement of this year’s Café Desmo, it seems that beautiful motorcycles, superb riding roads, great events, extraordinary customer service and Pro Italia go hand-in-hand.
Cafe Desmo, always a great event...
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Lady bikers: Members of the Women On Wheels Indonesia community (from left to right), Ade Desti, Ellea, Fury Irfie, Dhea and Yanti, pose with their ...
Really proud to see this type of community and support
Scooped by Vicki Smith for Ducati.net |
2nd annual Ducs on the Farm track day at Blackhawk Farms. Ducati only with instruction for intro class.
This is a perfect "first track day". If you have been on the fence it's time to take it to the track!
Scooped by Vicki Smith for Ducati.net |
Take a ride with moto-adventurer Jamie Robinson as he uncovers backyard adventures across the nation. In Episode 2, Jamie explores San Francisco and its neig...
Scooped by Vicki Smith for Ducati.net |
Hand Crafted. In Austin it's a high art. Only in its second year, the Handbuilt Show is an invitational showcase for hand crafted motorcycles that has rapidly set the standard and totally raised t...
Lots of Ducati's (and other beautiful handcrafted motorcycles) in this story I wrote this week for Gizmag. Make sure you check out the photo gallery, it's chock full of MotoMagic
Scooped by Vicki Smith for Ducati.net |
Imagine for a second that you've made it. Whether it be through sheer luck, hard work or divine skill, you've reached a point in your life where you have everything you'll ever need – maybe eve...
I posted something on this a while back but it
is open now and I really hope people that are in the area go and see it...
Scooped by Vicki Smith for Ducati.net |
The Italian-based apparel manufacturer Dainese has a new Chief Executive Officer - Cristiano Silei.
Scooped by Vicki Smith for Ducati.net |
Oh man what a weekend!
Scooped by Vicki Smith for Ducati.net |
Less than a week away, let the party planning begin!
Scooped by Vicki Smith for Ducati.net |
The winter months are long and empty for MotoGP fans but the pre-season testing is over and the first race in Qatar is upon us. From this weekend until November 8, fans will pack into 18 circuits a...
Not Ducati specific but pretty interesting if you attend races in person where you find yourself info starved and unable to post anything to the web.
Scooped by Vicki Smith for Ducati.net |
2015 is the 20th anniversary of the Amelia Island Concours d'Elegence and the event was also celebrating 20 years of motorcycles being an integral part of the event by inviting 60 years of Daytona high banks history to the field.
About 4 million dollars worth of past Daytona winners and entrants were on display in an incredible 60 years of Daytona winners. Lots of videos with the bikes running including iconic, rarely heard bikes like the Britten, TZ 750 and Ducati 750SS Bevel scattered thru the gallery... Vicki Smith photos
If you have never been to this event it's pretty much a You Need To Do This kind of deal. Everywhere you look it's mechanical awesomeness. I actually saw a Stutz Streamliner. Just wow.
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Three cats. Four kids. A sprawling house in Subang Jaya, Selangor. Life for hijab-wearing suburban mum Nurulalis Aidil Akhbar seems ordinary ... until the weekend rolls around.Come Saturdays and Sundays, the 40-year-old woman shimmies into leather, slips on a pair of Aviators and hops onto a bike that’s more than four times her weight and at least twice her size. She’s now Kiki ― motorsports enthusiast, president...
Desmodonne in the news! Go Kiki!
Scooped by Vicki Smith for Ducati.net |
In a recent interview by Moto.it with Claudio Domenicali, the Ducati CEO fielded a number of questions about the Italian company's business and its relationship with its German owners (read it here..).
Scooped by Vicki Smith for Ducati.net |
For the rest click the headline
Scooped by Vicki Smith for Ducati.net |
Ducati lost a piece of it's soul today
Franco Farne, legendary rider, mechanic and engineer has passed at 81. The obituaries will say he was brilliant and important, he was there at Ducati from the beginning for all of it, from the Cucciolo to the modern superbike, the stuff of Ducati legend – Paul Smart’s Imola win, Mike Hailwood’s come back to win the Isle of Man TT, that he was among the first to see the potential in Carl Fogarty, that his partnerships with Taglioni, Bordi, and NCR in particular, resulted in brilliant, stunningly fast, machines. But the thing about Franco Farne that I loved best...
(For the rest click the headline)
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The saying goes that one time is a fluke, two times is a coincidence, but three times...three times is a trend. Looking at Ducati's last three years of sales (2012-2014), which spans only a 2% marg...
Scooped by Vicki Smith for Ducati.net |
The Ducati Riding Experience (DRE) - which provides schooling aboard Ducati machinery at legendary tracks with some of legendary names in racing - was revamped for 2015.
Scooped by Vicki Smith for Ducati.net |
No, Ducati is not offering a new, ultra-exclusive variant of the 1098 called the SPACE RANGER. They should, but that's besides the point. The point is that Suzuki is apparently a stakeholder in the company that makes this 300cc ode to Ducati's superbike.
Scooped by Vicki Smith for Ducati.net |
The story of hills race told by Giovanni Burlando: 75 years old and about 850 contests raced with some of the best racers in the world such as Agostini and Pasolini.…
I really enjoyed this well done video, his stories about racing in the day are priceless.
Really nice write up on a Ducati legend