Roadracing World Comparison

Their 10-bike shootout is available in the digital July issue and will be out in print shortly. If you're interested, PM me an email address and I'll send you the PDF.

ttkarp said:

Their 10-bike shootout is available in the digital July issue and will be out in print shortly. If you're interested, PM me an email address and I'll send you the PDF.

Click to expand...

hey do you have a bike? I'm in Michigan too. How was your dealer experience?

ttkarp said:

Their 10-bike shootout is available in the digital July issue and will be out in print shortly. If you're interested, PM me an email address and I'll send you the PDF.

Click to expand...

That was an interesting, if disappointing comparison. Shame the Ape and ZX10R both took health-related dumps on the day, along with their chief tester Chris Ulrich - all likely due to the same reason, the 107+F degree weather in the desert on their designated single-day shootout date. IMHO they should've rescheduled; as it was they went to press with two of the main contenders out via DNF and only one rider for feedback (although Toye's certainly a worthy pilot, with a lot of speed and comparison testing experience). That might also have allowed them to source a Pani from a dealer rather than Ducati and thus avoid the factory's restriction to factory spec tires only for its press fleet bikes. When the benchmark is laptimes, it's pointless to take a bike out on DOT-spec tires when all the competitors are on full-race Dunlop N-TEC slicks.

Still some interesting tidbits to be gleaned from the test though. With Dynojet's official truck onsite for same-day, same-operator testing the Pani got within 9HP of the S1000RR (169 vs 178) to come in 2nd overall in HP, 1st in Torque; Toye absolutely raved about the motor. Plotting the power curves over each other from the raw numbers showed why, although that nasty dip in the torque curve from 4500-6500 every dyno has shown is definitely hurting the bike.

Ducati looks to have also shot themselves in the foot not allowing more suspension/chassis setup, as RRW said they didn't get a chance to touch the bike prior to going on track. Said they got to click away with the DES, but no comments about sag or link, and came away saying the suspension sucked bad enough that along with the tire restriction, it sunk the chances of a bike that had the potential to win overall. Maybe an understandable restriction for some tests, but for the RRW test, a pure track test by very experienced and capable racers who know how to make bikes work on track, just not smart.

Was suprised to see the 430lb wet weight, supposedly on a certified scale. They also weighed the wheels separately (with tires mounted), and the Pani wheels were a LOT lighter than anything else, even the EBR with it's radical hubless mags - a full dozen lbs lighter for the pair than the wheels on the ZX10R or S1000RR. With the ZX10R coming in 438lbs, it begs the question of how heavy that Superquadro lump has to be considering how minimalist the rest of the chassis is.

Looks like fantastic raw material in need of some TLC in the areas of fueling and suspension. So a normal Duc, I suppose...

For $23K, they really ought to have those things refined a bit better. A perfect opportunity for a bit of Audi-ization on the 2013 model, I'd say.

You always have good posts SteveB, thanks. I hardly have to read the article now, but I will cause I'm out of the country and bored. And thanks to ttkarp too for the generous offer of emailing the article, it is well appreciated! (pm sent)

spinkick said:

hey do you have a bike? I'm in Michigan too. How was your dealer experience?

Click to expand...

Yeah, I got my S/ABS From TT Motorcycles in ....... Township. They were great to deal with. Where you from? Clarkston for me.

ttkarp said:

Yeah, I got my S/ABS From TT Motorcycles in ....... Township. They were great to deal with. Where you from? Clarkston for me.

Click to expand...

Jumping in here . . . but has anyone gotten word from TT Motorcycles on an actual delivery date for the Base models? Last I heard was this week . . .maybe. I like the dealership so far and they have all been extremely nice, but the warm weather has made me slightly impatient

Thanks from Midland, MI. I'll PM for the PDF.