Motorcycle USA Shootout

Much Better!

2012 Superbike Smackdown IX Street - Motorcycle USA

Damn traction control !
No wheelie shot with the Pani

Gladly theres a nice wheelie in the video

i thought this was more along the lines of the truth too

i'm surprised the Panigale did not fare better against the BMW. It would seem most of the testers did not like its street manners compared to the BMW.

if they were better riders, they would appreciate the potential of the bike more

I spanked up on a beemer all day yesterday. Thats ........! Dont get me wrong when the straight aways came he caught back up. But when the turns came I lost him just as fast. Last year I rode 1098 and he 1198 and I couldnt shake him (he's 65 lbs lighter too). This new bike is amazing. Very, Very, satisfied!

On my bike you can actually feel the slight drop in power at around 5K with the stock exhaust. It feels almost like a turbo lag! Does the slip-on eliminate this, or minimize it at least?

omega10 said:

i'm surprised the Panigale did not fare better against the BMW. It would seem most of the testers did not like its street manners compared to the BMW.

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The BMW has been winning all the reviews so no surprise there. What REALLY surprised me is the CBR came in second. Now that is a shocker.

The fireblade has been holding onto 1st and 2nd spots since 2008, so its not really very surprising for the street test.

To be honest, it is just like wat they described, easy to ride, good mileage, almost no heat, strong mid range, low service frequency.. just a little boring after a while.. which is why i decided to switch. =X

I call BS on most of this comparison. I now have 300+ miles on my base and I consistently get better gas mileage than what they are reporting. Maybe they were riding around all day at 9k rpm? Second, If they were testing with all of the electronic aides disabled why not use the base model, that way it would have fared better in the "MSRP" category. Lastly, finishing second to the BMW, fine I can live with that but third to the Honda? Are you kidding me?

rm4two said:

I call BS on most of this comparison. I now have 300+ miles on my base and I consistently get better gas mileage than what they are reporting. Maybe they were riding around all day at 9k rpm? Second, If they were testing with all of the electronic aides disabled why not use the base model, that way it would have fared better in the "MSRP" category. Lastly, finishing second to the BMW, fine I can live with that but third to the Honda? Are you kidding me?

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What kinda mileage u getting?

Think they did mention the base model they have to wait for a month or 2 later.. which happens to be the same case for the motorcycle.com reviews..

I need to get my bike already. All these so/so reviews are making me nuts. "Not happy in any gear?" Id like to think she is streetable enough

well, i am happy in every gear ;-) don't give 5 cents about these reviews. you will ride the bike once and immediately love it for eternity.

True that!!

Rickety said:

The BMW has been winning all the reviews so no surprise there. What REALLY surprised me is the CBR came in second. Now that is a shocker.

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I read it legit and didnt flip to the end to see who won their test. When I turned the page and saw 3rd I could not even imagine who was 2nd! Cmon guys why in the world would the Honda rank that damn high? We all know it beats this bike out and that the only one holding a candle close is the BMW. If only Ducati were parallel on cost it would sting a little less. I would sure love to ride one to experience it, but would surely take a pass at riding a CBR over just sitting on a 1199. Enough said.

Gunny Fitz said:

I read it legit and didnt flip to the end to see who won their test. When I turned the page and saw 3rd I could not even imagine who was 2nd! Cmon guys why in the world would the Honda rank that damn high? We all know it beats this bike out and that the only one holding a candle close is the BMW. If only Ducati were parallel on cost it would sting a little less. I would sure love to ride one to experience it, but would surely take a pass at riding a CBR over just sitting on a 1199. Enough said.

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Well, the CBR is a nimble-handling, well-polished machine that isn't too expensive. But, when it comes down to it, the CBR beat the 1199 due to some criteria that I don't think most would find terribly important. The CBR definitely has better gas mileage and range but I don't think that comes into play for most people who buy an open class supersport. I think I've only heard someone complain once about fuel mileage of a supersport in all my years of riding.

So that leaves the noise. Yeah the 1199 is louder, but I wouldn't deduct a bunch of points for that. I actually like the volume.

The price is always the thing that will sink a Ducati, so the Honda definitely has an advantage there. Either way, having owned 1000RR for 4 years before the 1199, I chose the 1199 and I'm happy with it. Haven't ridden the 2012 CBR but I don't think it was a big enough update to change my mind.

Very true neighbor!

akalapovic said:

What kinda mileage u getting?

Think they did mention the base model they have to wait for a month or 2 later.. which happens to be the same case for the motorcycle.com reviews..

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I have a 30+ mile commute to work, 20+ of which is highway and I consistently get 36 mpg. I think their math is wrong? The low fuel light is set to come on at 5 liters. The bike holds 17 liters of fuel. Reverse engineering this, if their low fuel light came on at 5 liters/111 miles, that means they used 12 liters of fuel. 12 liters = 3.17 gallons. From there it's simple math 111/3.17 = 35mpg. Which isn't far from what I'm getting. What they did was take 111 miles and divide it by all 4.5 gallons (which they didn't use). There was still well over a gallon of fuel in the bike. As for me, I always reset trip 1 when I refuel so I know exactly how far I've gone and how far I can go before I need to find fuel. With my 1199 I don't bother until 130 miles displays on trip 1 and I know in about 15 more miles (145ish) i'm SOL. One of the nice things with the 1199 (not sure if the xx98s did this or not?) is when the low fuel light comes on it resets "trip F". I assume Ducati wants you to know how far you can go on your reserves lol? Right now I'm at 135.6 miles on trip 1 and 21 miles on trip F. If I subtract 21 from 135.6 I get 114.6. This is when my low fuel light came on. Using the same formula 114.6/3.17 it get 36mpg. Like I said I call BS.

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GIrish said:

But, when it comes down to it, the CBR beat the 1199 due to some criteria that I don't think most would find terribly important.

The price is always the thing that will sink a Ducati, so the Honda definitely has an advantage there.

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well I agree that many of the criteria wont matter...especially things like fuel mileage or it being too loud. But all the rags are testing the S model then slamming it on price vs the competition. The base model is $17,995. The Honda is $13,800 which is a much better comparison. And the Honda does not have a quickshifter, custom mapping, EBC or traction control. And it weighs more and does not have as much power. Same thing with the BMW....they continually compare it to an 1199S when they should be comparing it to a base. I assume Ducati was anxious to get bikes into testers hands and the S models were the first to ship but it should be highlighted a little better that they are comparing apples and oranges as nobody else has the high quality components of the S.

That said all of the test riders would prefer an 1199 or a S1000rr if they were laying out the money.

if them testers only found the right button, where it shows the fuel mileage...
that said, would you trust the expertise of this level of intelligence?

Phil said:

if them testers only found the right button, where it shows the fuel mileage...
that said, would you trust the expertise of this level of intelligence?

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Exactly!