My 2014 1199r

After great anxiety on many levels, I finally collected my R having come from my dearly missed 999R then a MV F1000, ride on a friends 1098 + reading all the Negative, Positive posts, magazine reviews & YouTube etc. I raced out to Portlands Moto Corsa Ducati from work in ND (via Bozeman to pick up the family) arrived at the dealership Tuesday afternoon in wonderful sunshine, did the paperwork then the photo shoot with my "ugly mug" with my stunning R





Didn't fancy the idea of doing my 1st SBK ride in years in Portland, so loaded in the PU headed to the hotel on the outskirts and went for a brief 40 mile ride





Next morning 5am headed east to Dalles OR where I switched from Wet 120 to Sport mode with around 120 miles showing, then south to Fossil, varying the speed loads & gears with brief hard acceleration, the roads and the bike are incredible, return to The Dalles on hwy 197 nice windy & hilly high speed road, then onto the boring I-84 back to the hotel following the beautiful Columbia river. 480 miles done, today it rained had to wait until 5PM until it stopped, in the mean time I installed Shift Tech license plate without turn signals & removed mirrors and installed the blank off parts. The roads dried, managed to get a quick 90 miles in before the threat of more rain.
Tomorrow I having 1st service done, before we head for home. I hope to get a ride in Yellowstone's Bigsky area before returning to work.

So summary, IMO it's V-twin with I-4 type power delivery similar to my old MV, even though I haven't been able to take it to the redline yet 9k max for couple sec's it's fast, I can't wait to explore 12k. Forget all the negative dribble this is a street legal a race bike, I didn't experience any problems in traffic other than the heat & having to modulating the clutch with the on / off throttle & up / down gear changing, have to keep a slightly open throttle while coasting to a stop and down shifting 3 2 1 as my bike wants to stall if the throttle is 100% closed. I will see if it changes after the 1st service. I'm not complaining if that how it is I will not have a problem living with it. It's a very stiff / hard ride as obviously there is no tubular frame for give, but then it's not diving hard under hard braking. I need rear sets, will go with Sato + there case slider kit! pegs need to be back & up for me. I am loving it

Congratulations on your purchase. And congrats on springing for it even though you experienced anxiety when all you should have experienced is excitement!

First thing second: Your R shouldn't want stall when the throttle is closed. If it's stalling something is wrong. But if it just 'seems' like it 'wants' to stall, then reset your mind to be ok with whatever the FI is doing and keep your wrist off the throttle.

Go with DP rearsets (this is coming from someone who's been through three sets)-or just buy some $50 knurled pegs if you aren't intending to go upside-down with shifting. The stock rearsets are fine other than the teflon pegs.

If I were you, I would invest in some decent riding gear. I know you only rode 40 miles, but you only need less than a hundred feet in which to seriously injure yourself, if some clutz knocks you off or you come off of your own volition. I personally would not take the risk. Even if it was 500 yards up the road. Each to their own. Enjoy the new bike and stay safe.

topolino said:

If I were you, I would invest in some decent riding gear. I know you only rode 40 miles, but you only need less than a hundred feet in which to seriously injure yourself, if some clutz knocks you off or you come off of your own volition. I personally would not take the risk. Even if it was 500 yards up the road. Each to their own. Enjoy the new bike and stay safe.

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Yes that was my quick 40 mile spin around an urban area, I kept a huge distance from all the Sheep, always looking for my exit.
I have new Rev-It Hunter 1PC + Arai IOM TT as pic'd, but I didn't have track type boots, getting these today, was riding with my Gaerne trials boots
Just felt it overkill to put on the 1PC for town, kevlar jeans are on my list for local street riding

Congrats and beautiful bike!! I second the comment on the DP Rearsets, they are incredible.

Hey Sean, thanks for the post! Keep us updated as you learn about the R. I'm hesitant and in the same shoe as you. Share your thoughts and experiences of R owner ship.

If you want back and up then you may not want Sato. Check their web site for positions before and see if than is what you want. Not sure what it was when I looked but some are forward. Not sure if any move the pegs rearward?

sean999r said:

.. today it rained had to wait until 5PM until it stopped, in the mean time I installed Shift Tech license plate without turn signals & removed mirrors and installed the blank off parts.

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So you're riding an R on the street with no mirrors and no turn signals? Am I reading that right?

Congratulations. Stay street legal on the streets !

Charliem90 said:

So you're riding an R on the street with no mirrors and no turn signals? Am I reading that right?

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-- he's in OR and WA.....they do as they please

Grats. Thats a nice bike!

Charliem90 said:

So you're riding an R on the street with no mirrors and no turn signals? Am I reading that right?

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Yes no mirrors or turn signals, did the same on my MV, use hand signals if I'm in dense traffic situation & I'm turning etc need to inform. I've been riding most my life on bikes without mirrors & signals right from my very 1st bike as a 16 yr old.

same in NM

Thursday afternoon the all day on/off rain showers moved off and the roads dried out, rode loopes I-84 I-205 and east return west bound I-84 managed to bump total miles to 570 thought better to return to hotel since I'd broken so many speed limits, but regretted not reaching 600+

Friday dropped off bike for its 600 mile service, informed them about the potential stalling problem when down shifting to a stop, also had lost a heat shield screw & spacer for the rear carbon heat shield. Service Dept said to allow 3.5 - 4 hrs came back in 3.5 & waited another 2hrs, so pretty dam boring as we were eagerly waiting to get loaded up & return home, especially the kids. service charge was $409- yes I know this is high, they reset TPS etc there Mech' took it for ride and couldn't find a stalling issue after the service work.
Drove straight through to Bozeman.

Saturday morning I thought I'd go ahead and remove the charcoal canister only to find out that the dealer had already removed it, seeing T piece connector & Allen head screw as hose plug for the vacuum line. That's all good but I'm surprised that the service dept didn't inform me of this.

Race bodywork going have to go on, I do not like all those finical little screws and slide in tabs. Think I will go with race carbon w/hi flow intake moto holder bracket & seat frame, small LED or HID lights

Midday dodging the rain showers went out for quick loop of Belgrade Bozeman, the stalling tendency has gone and everything is set, weather permitting for blast around Yellowstone tomorrow early AM just concern about the wildlife, have to look into the viability of an electronic deer scarer for the near future, oh and I did put on full leathers.

Removed the ugly black plastic rear cyl' covers / heat protectors, I had
Some KTM sml flange head fasteners very similar to Ducati to temporary
Replace the stand-off type bolts that secure the right side cover to the head,
beautiful being able to actually see part of the engine, time for glass of wine.

First off congrats.Thank you for doing that, she is a looker now
Let me know what that does for the riding temps.

You don't need a dedicated "deer scarer" the exhaust works just fine. I have Elk all over my neighborhood and they run like the wind when I come around. Sounds like a bear to them I would imagine.
The 848 with its rear facing exhaust didn't have the same effect.

Went for another town rise after removing rear Cyl' covers, zero difference in heat radiance

sean999r said:

Removed the ugly black plastic rear cyl' covers / heat protectors, I had
Some KTM sml flange head fasteners very similar to Ducati to temporary
Replace the stand-off type bolts that secure the right side cover to the head,
beautiful being able to actually see part of the engine, time for glass of wine.

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Next you need to remove that ugly exhaust cover that comes on the new models. Nice bike.

Sunday 6/29, up bright and early headed north towards Yellowstone Park Hwy 191, had great fun on the canyon rd section to Big sky, but froze my fingers right about same time yellow warning light came on about " ICE " air temp was around 40F in the canyon, turned around made back just in time for low fuel light.

Midday, 2nd run temps up around 60F headed out on 100 mile loop Hwy 84 -287 return
I-90 1st part high speed river / canyon rd the rest a bit to straight, on a long clear straight opened her up reached indicated 185 mph noticed the red rpm warning light was on but rpm's from what I can remember when glancing were 11k Is that correct ? Soon as I saw the red I backed off, but could easily have reached 12k though, bike was still accelerating hard