I've thought about weighing in but it's so subjective and personal. But here it is. A little background probably helps. I'm 64 now, was 60 when I bought the 1199. I've been a major gearhead forever. I've owned fast cars, boats and motorcycles. I roadraced bikes at an Amateur level 35 years ago.
13 years ago I got back into bikes, and at the time was also on a binge buying Corvettes as weekend cars. I quickly wound up with both a sport touring bike and a Goldwing for two up riding. But I wanted something more sporty and wound up with a Ninja 1000 along with the other two.
Somewhere along the line I wanted something really special performance wise (yes, I know this is a long story...get over it). My choice came down to a Z06 Corvette (the 505 hp version) or an 1198 Ducati. I decided an all out crotch rocket was stupid for a guy my age -56 at the time. A Z06 it was.
Well, four years later I didn't need a Goldwing anymore, and the Z06 was sitting too much, so it was time to get a motorcycle that was something special (YES, I'm getting to the comparison part).
I have been friends for many years with the owner of a Ducati/ Honda dealer so a Ducati was an obvious choice. But I also had both a BMW 1600 and the Ninja 1000, so I knew those dealers. I considered everything. But for me I was able to throw practical reasons out the door because I also would have two other bikes.
I knew the Ducati could be a high maintenance mistress. The BMW would give me bragging rights as the fastest bike, and at the time the ZX-10 was the fastest with Japanese reliably.
If it was to be my only bike, I would have bought the ZX-10 for refinement and reliability. If it was to be a track bike the S1000RR for the speed and nannies that might keep me out of trouble. But the bike was to be my third bike. It's kind of like sex. Your going to climax with any of them. But if it's just your mistress, you want "fantasy sex". You know, the stuff most wife's don't want to do.
So, do you want a bike that you know will never cheat on you and will always be there for you but wears boring clothes, or one that can cook and talk intelligently at the office Christmas party while wearing a nice dress, or the one that turns you every which way but loose but may not show up at the hotel every week as promised?
