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First ride impressions

2939 Views 9 Replies 7 Participants Last post by  D K
Hello everybody.

Got really fortunate that someone backed out, so I got in front of the line pretty quickly.

150 or so mile ride yesterday in the twisties in northern California.

My first impression was that the bike was pretty light. It feels a little small, but nothing I can't change around later.

I was pretty impressed with the engine. This is my first wet clutched duc, so quite different to the 916's of old.
I think the mapping is pretty good, although, it could use some tweaking right off throttle. 0-1/8th throttle let's say.

The gearbox definitely needs some thought. As most ducs, they break in over time, so I'm hoping this is the case as well and I'm not too fussed at this point.
I did get at least 10 false neutrals on the way home. Mostly on the down shifts.
They in itself aren't so bad, but if you're loaded up and have a fistful of throttle - and now find yourself in neutral - that might not be ideal. You have to wait for the revs to come back down, otherwise you are trying to enter a gear when the revs are too high and that's not good.
Not so easy to think about when you are leaned over in front of a semi truck entering a tunnel....
Another issue is the shift lever is too short and slightly awkwardly placed. Needs adjusting and possibly lengthened.

Let's talk about the suspension.....
When I hit a speed bump in the dealer parking lot, one of my hands came off the bar.
I ride with a pretty light grip, so I wasn't ready for that one.
Ducati definitely missed the boat when it comes to suspension valving on this one.
On the highway, when it's smooth, the suspension seems to work really well, but when you hit bumps, then you are going to go for a loop.
To me, the slow speed valving (which is much harder to control) is fairly decent, but the high speed valving is way too stiff. Too much rebound as well.
That needs to be though out better. It doesn't cost any more money to valve suspension correctly vs. incorrectly.

Then let's talk about the seat.
What is that???
It's way too hard and the dip on the front part keeps you in one place and is quite uncomfortable.
It needs to be a little higher in the front, a little narrower and slightly softer.
After 150 miles my ass felt like I just pulled a dime in the pen.

Tires.
I was pleasantly surprised. They have a lot more grip than I thought and behaved pretty well. I didn't get too low of course, but I could tell you should be able to at least scrape the pegs if you wanted to. So that's good news.

Overall, I give the bike as it stands a B which could easily be turned into an A- with very minimal tweaking and inexpensive mods.

YMMV

David
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Thanks for that review. Finding it interesting to hear the breadth of impressions people have. Seems largely dependent on frame of reference and what people are used to riding (since this bike attracts people from so many disciplines).

Mind telling us your height and weight? Would be good to know to correlate riding impressions and suspension performance.
Hello everybody.

Got really fortunate that someone backed out, so I got in front of the line pretty quickly.

150 or so mile ride yesterday in the twisties in northern California.

My first impression was that the bike was pretty light. It feels a little small, but nothing I can't change around later.

I was pretty impressed with the engine. This is my first wet clutched duc, so quite different to the 916's of old.
I think the mapping is pretty good, although, it could use some tweaking right off throttle. 0-1/8th throttle let's say.

The gearbox definitely needs some thought. As most ducs, they break in over time, so I'm hoping this is the case as well and I'm not too fussed at this point.
I did get at least 10 false neutrals on the way home. Mostly on the down shifts.
They in itself aren't so bad, but if you're loaded up and have a fistful of throttle - and now find yourself in neutral - that might not be ideal. You have to wait for the revs to come back down, otherwise you are trying to enter a gear when the revs are too high and that's not good.
Not so easy to think about when you are leaned over in front of a semi truck entering a tunnel....
Another issue is the shift lever is too short and slightly awkwardly placed. Needs adjusting and possibly lengthened.

Let's talk about the suspension.....
When I hit a speed bump in the dealer parking lot, one of my hands came off the bar.
I ride with a pretty light grip, so I wasn't ready for that one.
Ducati definitely missed the boat when it comes to suspension valving on this one.
On the highway, when it's smooth, the suspension seems to work really well, but when you hit bumps, then you are going to go for a loop.
To me, the slow speed valving (which is much harder to control) is fairly decent, but the high speed valving is way too stiff. Too much rebound as well.
That needs to be though out better. It doesn't cost any more money to valve suspension correctly vs. incorrectly.

Then let's talk about the seat.
What is that???
It's way too hard and the dip on the front part keeps you in one place and is quite uncomfortable.
It needs to be a little higher in the front, a little narrower and slightly softer.
After 150 miles my ass felt like I just pulled a dime in the pen.

Tires.
I was pleasantly surprised. They have a lot more grip than I thought and behaved pretty well. I didn't get too low of course, but I could tell you should be able to at least scrape the pegs if you wanted to. So that's good news.

Overall, I give the bike as it stands a B which could easily be turned into an A- with very minimal tweaking and inexpensive mods.

YMMV

David
Good review that David, I agree on all points except the gearbox, I reckon I got the only good one to come out of the factory, no false neutrals in nearly 1000 miles now! Nice a Ducati with a wet clutch isn't it, not sounding like a sack of spanners :)

Spot on about the suspension too, I've got a fully adjustable front end on its way from Italy and it can't get here soon enough.

Jerry
Good review that David, I agree on all points except the gearbox, I reckon I got the only good one to come out of the factory, no false neutrals in nearly 1000 miles now! Nice a Ducati with a wet clutch isn't it, not sounding like a sack of spanners :)

Spot on about the suspension too, I've got a fully adjustable front end on its way from Italy and it can't get here soon enough.

Jerry
Jerry You are not the only one, haven't hit any false neutrals either over 1700 Km's :)
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Thanks for the review, DK; please keep us posted as you make the upgrades.


Sarah
I haven't hit any false neutrals, but I absolutely cannot get it into neutral when the motor is running and the bike is stopped. It's easy to find neutral while slowing down dropping from 2nd gear, but if I stop completely it just jumps from 1-2 and 2-1. Not a big deal because it will get better with more miles.
Try adjusting your clutch cable mate...

You can do it while riding.

Turn the adjuster out - ccw - until you barely feel any slack with the cluth out.
Mine was off too but I didnt feel like mentioning it since it was too trivial.




I haven't hit any false neutrals, but I absolutely cannot get it into neutral when the motor is running and the bike is stopped. It's easy to find neutral while slowing down dropping from 2nd gear, but if I stop completely it just jumps from 1-2 and 2-1. Not a big deal because it will get better with more miles.
Mind telling us your height and weight?
I dont mind telling you - 6'2" and 188lbs, but this has nothing to do with weight.

It has to do with experience.

People who dont have a lot of time in the saddle may not have a reference to compare against.

I can tell you - Ducati got the valving wrong.

The suspension can cause a crash if youre not careful.
Like riding a beach cruiser on a downhill track.

It simply is not compliant enough.

I would like to know what weight fork oil they are using and change that out before anything else.

D
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Good review that David, I agree on all points except the gearbox, I reckon I got the only good one to come out of the factory, no false neutrals in nearly 1000 miles now! Nice a Ducati with a wet clutch isn't it, not sounding like a sack of spanners :)

Spot on about the suspension too, I've got a fully adjustable front end on its way from Italy and it can't get here soon enough.

Jerry

What suspension are you getting? Marzi?
What are you gonna do with your stockers?

I might like to do some surgery to see if they are crimped or what...

D
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