Well, since the weather was great here all weekend, and I got a lot of time out on the Tesi, I now have just over 600 miles on it, the last 385 this weekend alone, and now -- as it is about to go in for the first service (Ducati 1100 DS, standard engine, standard first service) and I now have enough 'feel' for the bike to have pushed it fairly hard in more than a few corners, here is the report:
First, some corrections to my original post (which, for some reason, the system will not let me edit) The wheels are Marvic, not Mavic. Second, the tires are the new Conti Race Attack, not Conti Attack. HUGE difference, and these puppies are flat out incredible:
Best thing I have ridden on the street and damn close to the feel of a slick, once properly warmed up (they do take a bit of time and are a bit 'greasy' until you do so.) I now know what I will be ordering for replacement tires for my other Bimotas when the time is ripe. The combination of the now-set up as I want it suspension (and the adjustments on the Tesi are easy and easy to feel the difference, just go a bit at a time and don't overdo it without riding a bit first) and these tires once warm let you go through the twisties and the transitions as well as this old fart is capable of doing. Marvelous feel and confidence. Here is the pattern:
Last thing left out in my original post in changes from the photos of the first show bikes that are at the website as contrasted to the production versions is the seat. Much nicer and nicely finished off as well. A shot follows:
Now riding impressions: Given the same weight, the extra 100ccs between my 06 DB5 and the 08 Tesi 3D can really be felt. The bike has more grunt and spins up out of the corners faster. Seems to pull cleanly from about 3500 or 3600 rpms while the DB5 needs about 3800 to 4000 to respond well. Pretty much what my friends riding the Multistrada and the Hypermotard with the 11000DS have said.
The motor pulls hard from 3500 to the slightly lower redline/limiter with a nice, healthy rasp through the stock exhaust which gets downright nasty at about 6800. No reason to switch to race cans for aural gratification.
The front end clearly is a whole level or many levels above my mid-90s Tesi 1Dsr, which had the last and best iteration of the first generation Tesi. No feel of binding or stiction. A friend who sat on it at breakfast and rode the older Tesi series said he could feel the improvement simply moving the bars from lock to lock in the parking lot. As he said, no more 'drag' than a good set of forks, plently of feel so you don't get that numb, discontected feeling the early Tesi front ends could have.
On the road, the bike has an astonishlng, 'plush' feel. The minor bumps and pavement divides are not felt at all, while the bars still give you feedback and, again, do not have the disconected feel that turned many off in the first generation bikes. Now I understand why Yamaha adopted a Tesi like system for their own hub steered touring bike. I could really get to love this system on a good sport touring set up!
And, now that I have gotten my 'hub steer cornering mindset' plugged in after a decade away from the Tesi, I understand why some testers did not like the bike. It has none of the signals you get with forks going into a corner or a series of transitions. But once you get the knack of it, and don't depend on the 'signals' from the forks compressing, you can push hard and deep, especially with a pair of warmed up Race Attacks on the rims and the suspension set up for your weight and style of cornering. A word of caution, however, is that you have to feel the system out carefully and learn its limts before you push hard consistenly. Find some spots with run off areas to try it. I have a 'private' set of curves that have an extra lane on the side, where the county for some reason wanted to make what was a two lane set up a single lane. I pushed hard enough to start to run a bit wide, and found the limits and the signals that way. Working other than there or on a road course with generous run off areas could get you in trouble if you handle the Tesi like a bike with a convetional front end.
Of course, that let me get to stupid levels about two hours ago, and when I sat up at a light at the end of my personal 'test route' my first impression was, "oh wow, this thing is nigh on perfect.' The second thought was, 'moron, you are going to be 60 next month, don't push anything like that on a public road, no matter how flat and isolated so you don't have to worry about oncoming traffic or someone coming out of a side road or driveway. Worry about dragging something or washing out and high siding. Grow up!' (I often have conversations with myself in the middle of a ride. As the Hammer says, 'Dad is mental.')
All in all, my absolute favorite ride. Period and bar none. Yes it ain't cheap, but in the day of Harley "Screaming Eagle" editions topping 30K and the new 1098R supposedly approaching 40K, it is cheap at half the price. (Unfortuanately, it isn't half the price, but it is less than the price of the anticipated 1098R) As I was at the local 'Sunday Neat Bike Brunch' stop, a friend who is a BMW service manager and bike nut looked at all the billet work on the brakes, frame plates, and assorted parts, the Extreme shocks (nitrogen filled), the carbon fiber bits and pieces, and the exquisite overall workmanship (which the older bikes sometimes lacked, especially on paint and fiberglass detailing) and said, 'You know, it is worth every penny.'
Couldn't agree more.
That leaves me with a question I asked myself when I found out that there are a couple of new Tesi 2Ds left in the US, finally down to a far more reasonable level then their original, and much too high price: Two D or Not two D, that is the question. Is it more prudent to keep my MV or sell it and another bike off to get the only example of the second generation of the Tesi platform? Ah, a puzzlement. Dave
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