Twisting Asphalt - A SoCal Ducati Motorcycle Blog

So today Milt & I got our first chance to take the new bikes out for a real ride, this time on our turf, aka The Santa Monica Mountains… What a glorious ride through the canyons. We hit The Rock Store for breakfast, which was just a perfect way to say hello the new rides (and a great place to stop for coffee & eats!)…

[btw sorry for the low rez picts - apparently camera phones aren’t killer photographic tools!]

Couple of quick observations about the new bikes:

The 90� Twin Engine: First of all these things just flat out want to fly. We’re still breaking the engines in according to the manual, which suggests that you try to keep the engine rev’ing below 6,000 rpms for the first 600 miles. I had no idea how hard that was going to be. These suckers just want to be let out and run. Luckily for us there is a noticable change in the sound of the engine right around 5,500 rpms that let’s you know you’re about to engage the turbo boost. Anything above 5,500 and it feels like you’re sitting on top of a rocket. The 999’s have a bit more power lower in the rpm band, but trust me, this is just fine thank you very much.

Brakes: Absolutely killer front brake. I’ve got to get a bit better at being smoother because of the lack of ABS (my BMW has antilock brakes), but at the first bit of pressure they really start grabbing. The rear brake is fairly worthless however. The vast majority of new riders or Harley riders usually only use their rear brakes because they’re afraid of highsiding the bike (i.e. locking the front wheel and flipping head over handle bars) - The 749, since it’s basically a street legal race bike, doesn’t seem to put much stock in the rear brake. Physically it’s much smaller than the front set of discs and obviously because of the chain there is only one disc as opposed to the two on the front wheel, so it makes sense that it has less power.

Engine Braking: On the BMW I’ll often brake before, in and just about anywhere else using the engine first - in other words, downshifting. The Duc is a very different beast. Unless you almost pop the clutch, the bike is geared so tall that just downshifting one gear doesn’t do a whole hell of a lot. You’ve got to go from say 4th to 2nd to get any really effect if you’re just average with the clutch. If you’re fast you can get it down a few thousand rpms. The up shot to the difference in engine braking is that you can carry more speed into a corner when you downshift sequentually.

Suspension & Ridability: Besides being a flat out rocket ship, the other major difference between the Ducs and the BMWs is the steering geometry. They’re far more nimble. “Flickable”, was a word that Milt used to describe it. It’s very easy to slide in the saddle for a left, right, left corner combination. The bike is also much lower than the BMWs, so it’s far easier to lean and I’m sure the difference in height accounts for the drastic difference in perception. I don’t know if I’m actually leaning over further or it just feels that way. Have to get Copeland out to take some picts to find out. While I’m sort of on the topic of the seat, it’s seriously hard and it’s hot when the bike gets warmed up. Like HOT! But then it’s basically a race bike so I sort of know that going in… We did about 100 miles today and that’s probably about as much riding on one of these suckers as I think I’ll want to do on any given day. They’re a blast, but after awhile it does cross your mind that parts of riding this bike feel more workman like than the BMWs.

Overall, I dig the new Duc. It’s awesome. A very, very different feeling than the BMWs, but one that worth having time and again. I also have a new appreciation for the BMWs, as strange as that sounds. I knew going in that any trip up the coast was really a BMW ride and nothing has change my mind about that. I also greatly respect the BMW engineering staff - while the “s” is a sporty ride, it’s also comfortable, smooth, refined and mechanically sound. The Ducati on the other hand is a hard (as in suspension), fast, rough on the edges, rumbling, vibrating, sensory explosion in comparison. And the bottom line is that I feel blessed to have both to play with, they’re both killer rides!

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