Hi guys,
It was an interesting experience reding this thread. At one point I was outraged that the 1199 didn't blow away every other bike in all the tests but the one analogy that stuck was the Nissan GTR Vs Ferrari. There are 15yr old suped up Toyota Supras that would blow away a Ferrari 458, cost 2% of the price, burn less fuel, require less maintenance AND seat 5 instead of 2, logically making it the far better car that would win any magazine. But since when was buying a bike about logic? It's what you WANT. Fortunately bikes cost comparatively little enough that most of us can afford to choose what we most desire. When comparing 4 Jap I4s that in reality differ very slightly from each other, then I can understand valuing reading an exhaustive comparison to see which one is best suited to you given that their pricing is also virtually identical.
But anyone who's ridden a Ducati will know that while they are also very fast like I4 litre bikes, they make their power TOTALLY differently, sound completely different and make you feel totally different. Having owned loads of Jap bikes (which I still love, the original fireblade defined my youth), I chose to buy an 1198S 2+ yrs ago when I decided to get back into bikes - no test ride. I did ride a friends Gixxer 1000 K9 a week earlier just to make sure I still had "the urge" & I still want a Gixxer but that's another story... But all the reviews I read left me totally unprepared for how different the 1198 felt when I rode it out if the dealership. It was just so easy to ride with lumpy power everywhere minus the top-end biased rush of I4s. To me it's like a big naturally aspirated V8 versus a twin turbo 4 cylinder. That ride home I pulled up at a set of lights where there were a few sportsbikes. I nodded hello & thought "I'll just take off real slow so no one thinks I wanna race". Lights go green, I accellerate smoothly away & short shift into 2nd & 3rd. I was wondering why the other bikes hadn't gone past me & looked in the (crappy) mirrors & see they are all miles behind me! My point is Ducati's don't have to work as hard as I4s to go quick & they flatter you as a rider. Now riding at 10/10ths sure you might miss that top end rush but how often do you do that?
The other thing for me is that with I4s if you're ham fisted with the throttle you gotta worry about traction & losing the backend more, whereas with the Ducati it's got such great traction that when you crack the throttle it GRIPS & accellerate so hard that your biggest worry is literally hanging on. I'm a big guy >110kgs, and nothing has kicked harder for me (so far) than the 1198. And now in my 30s I don't want to spend months recovering from an accident so you bet I want traction control & ABS, esp in the wet. People who complain about these aids there's a simple solution - you can turn them off - so what's the beef?
In any case, after a long wait - I sold my 1198 in Jan thinking the 1199 would arrive 1st of March - my 1199S arrived at the store today. And leme tell you, if you think I give a toss how fast a pro racer laps on it compared to the BMW then you'd be wrong! Anyone who's been to a track day knows the bike is the least important factor in the equation - most in the fast group are on 600s that have been dropped a few times while they learned how to shave an extra second off their lap time the hard way.
In any case, I've made my choice & I stand by it. You could offer me two S1KRRs & I wouldnt swap it for the 1199 in the same way that you could offer me two Nissan GTRs & I wouldn't swap them for my Aston Martin Vantage.
You can improve performance if you really want more; you can't add soul - that's gotta be in the machine's DNA.
Hope you all enjoy your riding, whatever it is you ride.
Peace.
