I've been a member of this board for a while, but haven't post too much. I had a 07 Ducati Monster S2R1000 which was a great bike. Gobs of tq down low and just a blast to ride... so I thought. Back in April I got a chance to demo ride an 848. I fell in love. I rode it through a canyon and just had a big ole grin on my face the entire time. At one point I actually was laughing in my helmet I was having sooo much fun. But I found some restraint and decided not to buy it and just keep what I had. Last weekend I got to work the MotoGP race in Laguna Seca (I was a handler on turn 8 baby, the corkscrew. I'm actually on TV for the big AMA crash with Jason Desalvo sp?). After talking with a bunch of guys I decided it was time to trade my Monster in for a superbike. I went down to Spectrum Ducati in Irvine (if you guys buy a bike, go to them they are some of the coolest guys on earth. They give great deals too. They really hooked me up with this bike... and my Monster.). Anyway, I decided I wanted to test ride the 848 again. Took it out and it was just as amazing as I remembered. But I thought I needed to ride some other bikes just to make sure that's what I wanted. So I hopped on the 1198 next. WOW. Just wow. Wow to the OMG factor. I got on it and took off. Typical dry clutch which I'm used to with my Monster. I turned the corner and cracked it open a tiny bit. Holy cow, the tq out of that thing is unreal! Wheelie the instant I took off. Had to remember this bike has lots of power and I needed to respect it. My right wrist and I had a little conversation about safety and I told it to take it easy on this bike... lol. I drive down the road, I'm in 3rd gear doing about 45ish. I give it maybe half throttle and the bike just does a wheelie. I was soooo not ready for that. I got on the freeway on-ramp, leaned it over and cracked the throttle to about 1/3-1/2. it was so powerful I couldn't hold my line and swung wide. Once on the freeway I gave it a small blip on the throttle and was instantly at 110 and climbing. It was effortless. I never gave this bike more than 1/2 throttle and it was nutty powerful! I took it back to the dealership and the salesman came out and asked, "well?" I laughed and told him "absolutely not!" It was too fast. Too much torque. I know I would have gotten dead really quick on that 1198. I really think it's a track bike or for much much better riders than I. So I chose the 848. It's lighter than the 1198 and the decreased rotating mass of the engine makes it feel much lighter. The 848 is much more flickable, and the power is strong but manageable. It pulls hard all the way to it's redline, and wheelies are pretty easy to come by. It also has a wet clutch instead of the famous Ducati dry clutch. I wanted the wet clutch this time because dry clutch on my Monster was very grabby and are basically an on and off switch. While that's great for the track, it's not so great in traffic or low speed situations. The 848 was much easier to ride since it's lighter and I felt I had good control of the bike through turns. I'm pretty stoked with my decision. I looked at the white ones but felt they were too bland. The Nicky Hayden version just came out and is sick, but I didn't want to pay a premium for them. They aren't dealing with them since there are only 500 being made. Spectrum got their first one in and it was sold same day after putting it on the floor. Anyway, I plan on getting some seat time ASAP. We had a ride planned this morning, but it fell through... and it's too hot to ride in the afternoon here in the desert.
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Mods to come will be a license plate relocation kit. Drop a tooth in the countersrocket. Either a Akrapovic exhaust or a Termignoni exhaust system. And probably a set of bar risers since I'm short and the reach is a bit long for me. Oh, and suspension will get set up for me here shortly.
A few things I've noticed since getting the bike. At full lock my hands hit the front fairing. Is there any way to fix that?
The engine is a friggen hot! My legs get so hot on this thing.
And I've had it stall once on me while pulling up to a stop. I talked with a few people about the notorious stalling when pulling up to a stop and they say it's just because the overlap of the cams. No biggie for me.
Mods to come will be a license plate relocation kit. Drop a tooth in the countersrocket. Either a Akrapovic exhaust or a Termignoni exhaust system. And probably a set of bar risers since I'm short and the reach is a bit long for me. Oh, and suspension will get set up for me here shortly.
A few things I've noticed since getting the bike. At full lock my hands hit the front fairing. Is there any way to fix that?
The engine is a friggen hot! My legs get so hot on this thing.
And I've had it stall once on me while pulling up to a stop. I talked with a few people about the notorious stalling when pulling up to a stop and they say it's just because the overlap of the cams. No biggie for me.
