I had a invite to test ride the Ducati range drop through my door last week!!!
So I booked up a test ride on a 999 and a Monster S4R, I mean it would be rude not to.
You hear all these things like they handle as if they were on rails etc etc so now i'm going to find out for myself. I think we have one member on here who owns a Ducati, but for the rest of us its not everyday you have the chance of a free test ride!
I'm now hopeing the weather won't let me down,
Chris.
TEST RIDE ON SAT
I saw that (record for longest stoppie) being done, on TV. Craig Jones was yer mann I believe. I would have never thought it to be possible to cover such a distance on the front wheel, absolutely amazingtrebs wrote:That reminds me.. I was promised a test ride on a Buell last month..
I'll ring the dealer in the morning and chew his ear!
I only want a go because a Buell holds the world record for longest stoppie
what a talented bloke,Chris.
-
Johnny Wishbone
- Posts: 124
- Joined: Tue Aug 10, 2004 3:21 pm
- Location: Dublin, Ireland
Well Kaz and Johnny or anyone who might be interested!
The links below just show which model's I rode. not the actual ones!
http://www.mcnews.com.au/Wallpaper/Duca ... F_1024.jpg
http://www.motoring.co.za/site/30/picdb ... /6/9/35424
Well i've got to say about 20mins before my first test ride on the black 999 (after already having slung my leg over the saddle and tried the bike for size) I was getting quite excited at the prospect of actually taking this fine looking bike out on to the tarmac.
12.00 noon turned up. There I was sat on the bike and pressing the starter button firing it into life. Wow what a rattly engine, that was my very first reaction but, that was soon forgotten once on the road. I used the front brake for the very first time in the car park and nearly did a stoppie!!!!!!!!!!!! I could not believe how good they were, (as in America they would say) "they were awesome" and they were.
Out on the road I found the mirrors kept moving once I had set them which was a bit annoying. I must say, "the saying it handles like its on rails" is pretty much true, the front end gives you so much confidence and feed back and the whole bike feels so planted I was really enjoying this. The engine produces a 122bhp and you could definitely feel the extra ponies compared to the storm, more so at the higher rpm than the lower end, also the engine seemed to rev very freely which meant it picked up speed rather quick. I didn't find the bike cramped for myself (I'm about 5'-11'') but I had read this years bike had been redesigned in that department and there was quite a bit of room to move around in the saddle.
To be honest a 13 mile ride in a convoy is never going to be long enough to really test a new bike, but 13 miles on a 999 until Saturday was only a dream. This bike retails for £11,295 on the road.
The S4R test ride came along at 1.00pm and I will say sitting on the bike in the car park the retro style riding position felt really good. Once out on the road it certainly had some low down grunt. Accelerating hard in second and third the front became very light, it did lift but not enough to raise the wheel off the tarmac, (just lengthen the forks) it felt really quick too, again it handled excellently, confidence inspiring.
Although it accelerated really quickly in the lower gears it had a really high top gear and the engine did not like it unless you were really moving, perhaps it would get better with more miles covered. One thing I realised now is I do not like a bike without a fairing, so if I do ever change I must remember that. The gearboxes on both bikes I found to be good (quite smooth when changing gear and positive).
I nearly forgot, the weather for the day turned out to be a cracker!!!
Before we left to come home my brother gave me chance to test ride his Harley Davidson 1450 Electro Super Glide (or something like that) which I did, but that's another story!!!
Cheers
Chris.
The links below just show which model's I rode. not the actual ones!
http://www.mcnews.com.au/Wallpaper/Duca ... F_1024.jpg
http://www.motoring.co.za/site/30/picdb ... /6/9/35424
Well i've got to say about 20mins before my first test ride on the black 999 (after already having slung my leg over the saddle and tried the bike for size) I was getting quite excited at the prospect of actually taking this fine looking bike out on to the tarmac.
12.00 noon turned up. There I was sat on the bike and pressing the starter button firing it into life. Wow what a rattly engine, that was my very first reaction but, that was soon forgotten once on the road. I used the front brake for the very first time in the car park and nearly did a stoppie!!!!!!!!!!!! I could not believe how good they were, (as in America they would say) "they were awesome" and they were.
Out on the road I found the mirrors kept moving once I had set them which was a bit annoying. I must say, "the saying it handles like its on rails" is pretty much true, the front end gives you so much confidence and feed back and the whole bike feels so planted I was really enjoying this. The engine produces a 122bhp and you could definitely feel the extra ponies compared to the storm, more so at the higher rpm than the lower end, also the engine seemed to rev very freely which meant it picked up speed rather quick. I didn't find the bike cramped for myself (I'm about 5'-11'') but I had read this years bike had been redesigned in that department and there was quite a bit of room to move around in the saddle.
To be honest a 13 mile ride in a convoy is never going to be long enough to really test a new bike, but 13 miles on a 999 until Saturday was only a dream. This bike retails for £11,295 on the road.
The S4R test ride came along at 1.00pm and I will say sitting on the bike in the car park the retro style riding position felt really good. Once out on the road it certainly had some low down grunt. Accelerating hard in second and third the front became very light, it did lift but not enough to raise the wheel off the tarmac, (just lengthen the forks) it felt really quick too, again it handled excellently, confidence inspiring.
Although it accelerated really quickly in the lower gears it had a really high top gear and the engine did not like it unless you were really moving, perhaps it would get better with more miles covered. One thing I realised now is I do not like a bike without a fairing, so if I do ever change I must remember that. The gearboxes on both bikes I found to be good (quite smooth when changing gear and positive).
I nearly forgot, the weather for the day turned out to be a cracker!!!
Before we left to come home my brother gave me chance to test ride his Harley Davidson 1450 Electro Super Glide (or something like that) which I did, but that's another story!!!
Cheers
Chris.