its 100 better than the 1098 http://www.motorcycledaily.com/03november08_newducs_milan.htm Image Unavailable, Please Login
Don't worry, wait until the dead of winter and that 2007 S will be $11-12k. Probably have a few thousand in add-ons too. Nobody it seems goes without a Termi or Leo Vince exhaust. The 999 has tanked and even everyone's favorite, the 916/996/998, seems to have dropped quite a bit in the last year or so. A 998 or 999 for $8k is a great deal and a lot of bike for the money. I'm all for improving the product and building what people want to buy, but it is getting ridiculous. The 1098 is overkill on the street, heck my 999 has way more peformance than I will ever use responsibly on anything but a track. The 1198, likely pushing about 160 hp to the rear wheels, is more than the works Ducati superbike racebikes had just a decade ago. Few riders have the skill to use that much power. There are so many bikes that are the two-wheeled equivalent of a Ferrari Enzo it is just mind-boggling. Some may say they are expensive, but in reality relative to the performance they offer they are cheap.
ding ding ding. It is an amazing time in motorcycling. The bikes coming out are just off the charts, but the charts keep getting stretched every year. For $10k you can buy WAY too much bike for anyone but a pro level rider. They are the performance bargain of the century.
Drool, Drool, Drool, Drool, Drool, Drool, Drool, Drool, Drool, Drool, Drool.... to bad they are so dangerous I can't get myself to buy one!!!
i probably shouldn't tell you how much power my R1 makes at the rear wheels then ;-) i hear you though all bikes and cars have gotten way out of control but i'll be the first to admit i'm addicted to the power. i love doing high speed runs on empty highways. i can't wait for ducati to release a 200hp bike (well one that's not 100k i know the limited edition desmodici makes 200hp)
Before I had kids I used to enjoy the occasional (as in every time I was on it ) blast through the gears on the sportbike I had at the time. High 140's was the fastest on a straighter stretch of my favorite local two-lane country road. With barbed-wire fences and telephone poles, that is freakin' fast. I don't care who you are. In hindsight this was highly dangerous and reckless. I might see 80 on the same road today, or 70...or the speed limit. Probably still just as dead in an accident, but when you get over 120 or so the world looks completely different. Things fly past you in stop-motion, you have no margin for error. Deer, tractors, Sunday drivers, buzzards in the road, there are too many variables on the street for that kind of speed. Not to mention a guaranteed arrest and huge fine if caught on radar. A few close calls, a few more family responsibilities, and I have found that riding like that is a LOT less fun than it used to be. It is a decision that probably every rider will reach at some point, hopefully all get the chance before the BIG ONE. Before that though, enjoy. It is like an addiction: exhilirating and destructive at the same time.
I guess that's something every sportbike rider has to do at least once. I had my Monster hit the revlimiter in 6th going down an overpass. INSTANT PUCKER! No clue what the mph was, to scared to take my eyes off the road long enough to look at the speedo.
agreed. found myself having a friendly speed comparison over the weekend with an LP640 on a public interstate (btw, that car is FAST!). After the adrenaline rush wore off, I have decided I either need to start doing track days or buy a cruiser before something very bad happens. Even a 600cc sportbike is above my abilities, and pushing my abilities on the street no longer makes sense.
Considering that a newer 600 is as fast as a 900 or 1000 from say, a decade ago, it is not surprising that so many new riders get hurt on them. IMO, people buy 600's thinking they are somehow less dangerous for a new rider, when in truth they represent basically the same level of incredible performance compared to a GSXR1000. A few years ago Sport Rider published a letter I wrote them where I criticized their attitude that literbikes were too much but 600's were good for beginners. They didn't seem to understand my point that both are probably too much for a newbie. But they have to sell magazines, so each year the 600's get faster and according to them, even more suited to some 18 year-old fresh out of boot camp.
I agree 100%, I had a Monster 620 for a few years and the gap from that to a CBR600 was huge, disorienting at first. I couldn't imagine the CBR as a first bike, let alone a literbike. In high school (mid 90's) I had a friend who bought a 600 Ninja and it took him about a week to wad it up, he's never ridden since. another friend bought a used UJM standard, never crashed it, still rides.
The problem with a "racing bike" is, IMHO and in my limited experience, that cars just seem plain boring afterwards. When I finished my first riding lesson (I just started) and jumped in to the car to drive home, I felt I could push the limits of the car much harder than before - knowing that a airbag system, metal cage around me and seat belts would protect me. That's the scariest part of bike riding: No safety AT ALL. If you screw up, then you are screwed - no matter how awesome your skills are. My first MC will be Monster 696: 80 hp is enough I don't want to make cars too boring.
Even scarier is that you just have to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, and some idiot could kill you. I don't worry about me, it is the people behind me digging for the last McNugget from their floorboard that scares the crap out of me. An acquaitence of mine left work early to enjoy a nice Friday afternoon ride this summer. Thirty miniutes later he was dead as some drunk POS crossed the centerline in a corner and hit him head on. This guy had been drinking all day and didn't even have a license for a prior DUI. The number of people like him, or with his mentality, is pretty scary. It is experiences like this that eventually will make me stop riding. My wife has already stopped riding with me. I'd rather miss my bikes than be the subject of a cautionary tale told to others about the dangers of riding. BTW my first streetbike was a 1100cc Suzuki with over 100hp when I was 20. Yes, I was stupid but survived.
That is one sick Duc. I am definitely liking the pearl white, ever since it was found on the new 848's. When is it for sale?
