1299 FE or V4 Speciale

Both are great bikes, but in my opinion the V4 handles better. It just feels more responsive, chassis-wise.

I am glad you pulled the trigger on the V4 SR you wont regret it they ride like they are on rails, go like Hades, you can tune that suspension & other inputs to the 'Nth degree.

I looked at the Speciale but could not figure with different paint, Akro exhaust (Which is not street legal) a bit of carbon and so on the extra $25,000 on top of the "S" I got.
I mean if you go the other rims they keep the Marchinsini rims it comes with for that price I would want both sets of rims.

The only real thing that irks me on it is in the day even trying the night backlight in the day on the dash the trip is hard to read due to the relection from the Olins steering dampener. If you scroll it to the bottom it goes into ant font hard to read I get the fuel light at @170klms hence the I watch the trip meter start looking for fuel at the 140-160klm mark as some wheatbelt towns here do not have a fuel supply.
I have no issues with the tach needle as some whingers wanted a broom handle pointer to me the tacho is a guide if your going full on use your ears & arse instead of looking at the tachometer needle rather than where your going at speed!!!!
As for the heat well it does get hot around town, highway speeds are ok but some people bung on about that as well.
Like all first of full production run of any new motorcycle/car they do have quirks give Ducati their due its a bloody good effort first up (Discounting the Desmocidici)
So for those that bung on about all the faults the bike may have perhaps you should have brought an R1 and put up with the snapping cranks episodes.
Or the BMW1000RR which I read somewhere as far a reliablility goes they were 46% reliable yeah that would be a good one going across our Nullabor.
And if you dislike it that much sell it and get a moped.......

This thread is very speciale to me v4 many reasons...

If you don't want to keep the FE and hope the value increases, personally, you've made the right choice. The V4 is nowhere near as demanding to ride, especially if you want to take it easy on the knee.

Hope the recovery continues on the up.

The last of the recalls has been completed, and the bike is supposed to ship shortly. I've even got my license plate already. Hopefully my knee will continue to progress. 60 days in the hospital, 5 surgeries, 13 ED visits, and 5 ambulance rides in a year. When I said I had complications I meant it. It's been a nightmare.

Well SR you kept function of a sorts I guess in your knee to be able to enjoy your Speciale and I am sure over time the past horror year will fade as you enjoy what the bike offers.
You will be like a new kid on the block SR the only downer is running it in of which I spoke to my dealer friend about the second 1500klm part of the run in.
He said don't bother with the second stage of the run in if you kept it to 6 grand with the occaisional 7-7.5 grand varying the throttle positions the part 2 of the break-in is a waste of time, so after 1000klm bloke its full throttle thats what I did with no issues what so ever.
Everything would have bedded correctly and worn evenly, one of my friends whom thrashes all of his bikes said ride it like you stole it straight from the floor easy to say when its not your $40K sitting on the floor.
He onsells his bikes after a few months so others get the problems that manifest themselves from being thrashed.

Cinders said:

You will be like a new kid on the block SR the only downer is running it in of which I spoke to my dealer friend about the second 1500klm part of the run in.
He said don't bother with the second stage of the run in if you kept it to 6 grand with the occaisional 7-7.5 grand varying the throttle positions the part 2 of the break-in is a waste of time, so after 1000klm bloke its full throttle thats what I did with no issues what so ever.
Everything would have bedded correctly and worn evenly, one of my friends whom thrashes all of his bikes said ride it like you stole it straight from the floor easy to say when its not your $40K sitting on the floor.

Click to expand...

Yeah, I know this. Took out the demo and loved it. Mine arrived and running it in took the fun out of it completely. Got the first service done and it's back to putting a smile on my face