New here and trying to decide on model

Hey,

Well new to this forum but long term Duke owner from the 851 days, through 916 SPS and currently have a Monster S4RS and a Diavel Carbon.

Thought I'd given up on 'sports bikes' as such but stuck with an irrational desire to buy an 1199. Irrational as I live on a island in the Atlantic where there are no tracks. However we do have some of the best mountain roads in the world here and 100's of kms right on my doorstep, see pictures.

Anyway, I'm trying to decide on which model, heart says Tri but head says base which leaves in the middle with the S. Then money comes in and Base with ABS makes the most sense I guess.

So suspension being the major difference I've got a couple of questions. The Monster has Ohlins (not as trick as they look on that but hey) and the Diavel standard base Ducati spec. Its taken a lot more time to dial the Diavel into the roads and my riding style, not helped by me not understand to get the best out of the Diavel you have to get up over the bars and ride supermoto style lighting the rear at will with the traction off.

I have now got a great setup and all the roads here are basically perfect tarmac with no bumps and holes so once you get a decent setup it just works (not even motorway/freeway here just one 30 km strip North to South) so very consistent and real need to play with setup once dialed in.

So those of you with bikes who are riding mountain twisties on the base model, have you dialed in the bikes and are they working or are you still thinking you need cartridges for the front and maybe a TTX for the rear?

If that's the case the S makes sense as you get the lighter rims that I'm a fan off, weight of big spinning things is very important and underestimated.

See the dilemma there?? reading through threads from searching so many opinions... anyway spent time with both models yet?

Secondly, headlights, struggling to find decent pictures that really shows the difference, can anyone help there?

Finally, at the moment it's around 35-45C daytime temp, I'm used to Duke heat from 916/996 even the Diavel is painful if stood, anyone with earlier Duke history care to compare heat of the 1199? Don't sit in traffic here or towns as there just isn't any traffic to sit in!

Ignoring emotional reasoning which I've got enough hassle with, are there other substantive things I should consider? And resale isn't really one as currently there is only one base model on the island so used they hold value very very well but take ages to sell as marketplace is tiny and local taxes make import/export of used bikes never worth it.

Anyway, hi all and hope to be making the decision soon.

One thing is Base ABS I can get within a couple weeks as the Spanish distributor on the mainland has one in a crate, S would be mid September and Tri would be November but give time to save a few more pennies.

Get the S. Base w/ABS is great, but you know you want the S. Might as well get it.

I love my Base w/ ABS. I don't regret not getting the more expensive one. Money better spent on other bikes for me. But you already have a lot of other nice stuff.

Chris

Hi!

Nice stable of bikes! Love the look of your roads.

Well, I personally don't have enough experience with Ducs and the differences between the two suspension types... So I went with my heart/gut and bought what I wanted. I choose the Tri and am completely happy.

To each their own... Good luck, I'm sure you'll be happy with any of them.

Hi, you're pretty fortunate to have twisties at your doorstep, most of us usually have to ride some ways to have any fun! And on the note I had a 916 a few years back and the heat is better on the Pani, not by much. However it really shouldn't be an issue for you as it doesn't sound like you'll be stuck in much traffic.

As for your choice of model, I'm certainly not going to tell you what you should buy but I'll give you my reasoning on why I bought the S.
Firstly I put my deposit down on a base but quickly changed my mind after I thought about all the reasons on buying the Pani in the first place, the electronically adjustable suspension being the main one. Ive had mine a few weeks now and changed the settings a number of times from soft to very hard and everything in between. The way I see it is somedays you'll want to cruise, others you'll ride hard and it's nice to be able to adjust it with ease to suit your mood. The suspension is pretty trick if you ask me , and it's always been my biggest complaint with any new bike getting it dialed in, certainly not hard on the S.

The L.E.D lighting looks cool by day but really changes night riding as you can actually see, they're very bright! Yes the wheels are lighter but I'm on the fence as to whether they look better than the base, carbon front guard breaks up the red and also looks pretty trick. I added Termis to mine and a few other extras to which point I could of just bought the tri and got the pipes free. Trouble is I didn't really like the tri Colour scheme ( sorry tri owners ) but there are a few skin kits available now which make the tri or any model for that matter look how the tri should have looked. But for me when I think of Ducati I think of red, much like when I think Ferrari.

I didn't need the DDA kit, unless you're doing track work I don't know that it's necessary.

People have there own reasons for choosing which model to go for, suspension was mine. Good luck with whatever you choose

Hamish is spot on...you will appreciate the suspension capabilities

Is it possible you can shoot a Go-pro vid for us of those amazing roads?

Well taken a while but ordered a Tri and looks like I'm going to be lucky enough to get the last one being shipped to Spain and the only one on the islands.

Dealer is offering me a choice of DP extras thrown in as he can't discount, so what are the must have bits?

Oh and will sort some vids out for you all, was out on the diavel today on my favourite stretch, one hour of constant twisites with 300 meters the longest straight. Keeps you very focused!

I went with the base after a long Decision but the reason I went with the base is:
$17,995 Base
$3,600 BST carbon wheels
$1,200 Ohlins TTX MK II rear shock (on order)
$2,300 Ohlins NIX FGRT 203 Front forks (on order)
For the price of the S
IMHO it's better than the OEM stuff. Not that the OEM is bad. I do however like the LED head light.

also added the DP carbon:
Front tire hugger
Rear tire hugger
Clutch cover
Rear stock spring cover
Generator cover
Key cover
DP tidy tail
Rizomo turn signals and pegs
Shorai battery
Tall windscreen
Still a ton of stuff to get like rear sets and levers