[wade280]

im looking to buy a 749, my first ducati. what should i expect? is this a good frist ducati? i have always had jap bikes. my last was a honda 900RR. after riding the honda, will i not like the 749? thabks for the insite.

 

[Kramer749]

Sold my RC-51 after a year of racing and street riding to get the Duc. Ive had it for 2 1/2 years and think I'll keep it a lot longer. Im sure you'll miss the power of the 900rr, but the bike is great for riding the mountain, going to trackdays, and sucks riding around town. Buy a new seat or get it recovered with more padding. I think honda uses cardboard and covers it for their seats, so you might be use to it already. The maintance checks arent fun for your wallet, but its good to know your bike is running like it should. Buy a case of beer and make friends with your parts guy. So you get some good deals, because parts are not cheap. Good luck on your purchase.

 

[wade280]

thanks for the insite. i'll mostly be rinding back roads so it should work good for me.

 

[SportBikeMike]

I'm also a convert from Japanese bikes. The first thing I noticed is alot more torque down low compared to my R1 where I had to rev the crap out of it to get any decent power. IMO this makes the bike alot easier to ride around town and in the twisties because you're less concerned about gear selection. Another difference is the Duc gets about billion times more attention than my Jap bikes ever got.