So I recently picked up the 899, coming from a cbr 600 my daily commute is Santa Cruz to Sunnyvale about 80 miles round trip with maybe half being lane splitting and half on semi twisty.
First impressions.. As someone else said order the comfort passenger seat before you even get the bike, what ducati sells in that spot will leave men gelded and women choking you before you go 10 feet.. the comfort seat is ok, snaps in easily, looks good and is just $150ish
The throttle in race mode is a bit touchy after my cbr especially in traffic/lanesplitting but sport or wet make it easy and
Turning... omg it makes my cbr feel like a tank the ducati is so quick to tilt and grips the road so well I get absurdly lazy or wind up way too far over the speed limits but for track it's amazing.. well on the road it's amazing. Whether lane splitting or on skyline/hwy9/woodside road/17 doesn't matter every corner is easier and quicker the ducati is simply inspiring.
Which leads to the riders seat.. I test road it and thought meh it's ok, then a week of lazy commuting and for the first time in my 100s of thousands of km on motorcycles I have a saddle sore.. I didn't believe it so I checked what I was doing, and it's when I'm lazy riding upright the seat is just wrong shape for my height 181 cm.. If I sit right to corner/ride fast it's fine but lazy 1 hand upright ouch..
Overall I do think it's an amazing bike, I'm happy with the purchase though I do miss the 600 seat at times
For those that think the 899 is poor version of 1199.. well consider 50% of the time I ride I'm lanesplitting, 40% in clear on city freeways staying within 15mph of speed limit, 8% on twisties having fun and just 1-2% on track well probably less..
So for me the easier lean of 899 makes a lot more sense. sure you can dust me on a straightaway but once we only have that striped lane between cars or hit some twisties
First impressions.. As someone else said order the comfort passenger seat before you even get the bike, what ducati sells in that spot will leave men gelded and women choking you before you go 10 feet.. the comfort seat is ok, snaps in easily, looks good and is just $150ish
The throttle in race mode is a bit touchy after my cbr especially in traffic/lanesplitting but sport or wet make it easy and
Turning... omg it makes my cbr feel like a tank the ducati is so quick to tilt and grips the road so well I get absurdly lazy or wind up way too far over the speed limits but for track it's amazing.. well on the road it's amazing. Whether lane splitting or on skyline/hwy9/woodside road/17 doesn't matter every corner is easier and quicker the ducati is simply inspiring.
Which leads to the riders seat.. I test road it and thought meh it's ok, then a week of lazy commuting and for the first time in my 100s of thousands of km on motorcycles I have a saddle sore.. I didn't believe it so I checked what I was doing, and it's when I'm lazy riding upright the seat is just wrong shape for my height 181 cm.. If I sit right to corner/ride fast it's fine but lazy 1 hand upright ouch..
Overall I do think it's an amazing bike, I'm happy with the purchase though I do miss the 600 seat at times
For those that think the 899 is poor version of 1199.. well consider 50% of the time I ride I'm lanesplitting, 40% in clear on city freeways staying within 15mph of speed limit, 8% on twisties having fun and just 1-2% on track well probably less..
So for me the easier lean of 899 makes a lot more sense. sure you can dust me on a straightaway but once we only have that striped lane between cars or hit some twisties
