I have a friend w/ a Ducati 1098S who has asked me if I'd like to break it in for him since he has no time to ride. I finally made it over today for my first ride. First impressions, it's a gorgeous bike, and the Termignoni c/f cans emit wonderful music. As I mount it to swivel around, my hands hit the fairing. Dang, I can't remember the last time I was ever being so scrunched up on a bike, prob. when I rode a 748 or 996.
The mirrors provided a great vibrating view of my elbows, and it was hard to swivel my head to view around me being so far leaned over. As I was cruising down the highway, I thought it should come w/ free chiropractic visits.
I turned onto one of the better local roads, w/ lots of great corners and elevation change. Here the Duc was in it's element...I forgot about the ergos, and it felt like it was on rails...almost like your hands are around the front axle. Unfortunately, I can't say much about the power, b/c I was restricted to ~5.5-6K rpm, but it felt good in that range.
When I got back to my friend's place, I took the Super Duke on the same road. It feels lighter, turns in quicker, but the front end isn't quite as planted. The power felt in the same ballpark, but the 1098 def. sounds better. Comfort can't even be compared, and I feel safer on it since it has great mirrors and I can see around me much better.
When the 1098 was released, I was drooling over it, and thought about buying one. It's still a really cool bike, but I'm so much happier w/ my SD, which has all the performance (for the street, at least) while being much more comfortable and practical. The 1098 is like a supermodel - incredibly hot, but perhaps not the ideal bike to live w/ for a long term monogamous relationship. Riding it only re-affirmed how lucky am I to have found the Super Duke!
Also, my friend has an insanely cool car collection. If you like Ferraris, check 'em out. (this isn't all of them, he's temporarily out of space until his car "museum" is completed.
The mirrors provided a great vibrating view of my elbows, and it was hard to swivel my head to view around me being so far leaned over. As I was cruising down the highway, I thought it should come w/ free chiropractic visits.
I turned onto one of the better local roads, w/ lots of great corners and elevation change. Here the Duc was in it's element...I forgot about the ergos, and it felt like it was on rails...almost like your hands are around the front axle. Unfortunately, I can't say much about the power, b/c I was restricted to ~5.5-6K rpm, but it felt good in that range.
When I got back to my friend's place, I took the Super Duke on the same road. It feels lighter, turns in quicker, but the front end isn't quite as planted. The power felt in the same ballpark, but the 1098 def. sounds better. Comfort can't even be compared, and I feel safer on it since it has great mirrors and I can see around me much better.
When the 1098 was released, I was drooling over it, and thought about buying one. It's still a really cool bike, but I'm so much happier w/ my SD, which has all the performance (for the street, at least) while being much more comfortable and practical. The 1098 is like a supermodel - incredibly hot, but perhaps not the ideal bike to live w/ for a long term monogamous relationship. Riding it only re-affirmed how lucky am I to have found the Super Duke!
Also, my friend has an insanely cool car collection. If you like Ferraris, check 'em out. (this isn't all of them, he's temporarily out of space until his car "museum" is completed.