Hey all. My name is Jim Berard, I live in the Chicagoland area in the US. I'm a longtime Ducati enthusiast/collector/club racer, and I just picked up my first 851, so I joined up here to tap into what looks to be a great resource.

My current stable is such:

'08 S2R1000 (race bike; Superbike trim)
'08 S2R1000 (currently in street trim, to be converted to Supersport race trim this year)
'06 Triumph Daytona 675 (track bike, sorry, I know it's not a Duc, but it's a nice machine nonetheless)
'98 900 SS FE
'96 944 Monster (race bike)
'92 851

Past bikes include:

'02 ST4s
'01 996 (race bike)
'96 900 SS CR (my first Ducati, and the first new bike I ever purchased)
'92 900 SS (race bike)

I think that's mostly it; there were a few other Triumphs in there as well, but I'm mainly a Ducati guy, and obviously, my bikes are predominantly ridden at the track. The roads in Illinois are no great shakes, fun- or condition-wise, and besides, IMHO, there is no better place for a Duc than the track.

So, back to the 851: unfortunately, it is in less than excellent condition, having been in storage for the better part of 7 years. As such, the plan is to take the motor from my '96 M and slot it into the 851 chassis in order to build a hybrid endurance race bike. I'd love to restore it, but this would require too much money to rebuild a bike I'd have little use for. The good news is that the bike is a standard 851 (so non-restoration isn't too criminal), it's complete other than the lack of the fairing, the parts as a whole are in decent, servicable shape, and, once I sort a few details out, I'll pretty much be parting the whole bike out with exception of the chassis and possibly the cases, so stay tuned for future posts (also, I need to reach the 10 post threshold before I can do the classifieds, which I intend to do with honor and integrity!)

So that's it. I look forward to tapping into the database and contributing in any way I can...

Edit: Also, I plan on posting up the project once I get started in earnest. I'm also a member on several various forums here in the states. Also, a pic of me on the '08 M down at the CCS Championships in Daytona last fall: