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Davegess
| | Posted on Monday, December 10, 2007 - 09:41 pm: | 
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What I want to see is Cycle Worlds 1098 and 1125R numbers. Not the 1098S. Not a 1098 with a pipe and module but a stock 1098 vs a stock 1125. Those are going to be interesting numbers |
Reepicheep
| | Posted on Monday, December 10, 2007 - 10:11 pm: |
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Ahhh... the mythical stock 1098... I'm not holding my breath.
Not sure how Ducati keeps getting away with that... either on the street or in the magazines... |
Spatten1
| | Posted on Monday, December 10, 2007 - 10:24 pm: |
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Not sure how Ducati keeps getting away with that... either on the street or in the magazines...
That's just what Ducati supplies for testing. The mags don't spend any money, they just get loaner bikes from the manufacturers.
Most of the manufacturers do a bit of special prep like a valve radius, etc. before sending them to the magazines anyway. They often supply bikes with the best factory tolerances, like a supersport prep. |
Doerman
| | Posted on Monday, December 10, 2007 - 10:26 pm: |
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Hmm.. oh, well I thought it was because they (Ducati) is the diva daahling of the motorcycle press.. |
Court
| | Posted on Tuesday, December 11, 2007 - 06:06 am: |
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>>>Ahhh... the mythical stock 1098... I'm not holding my breath.
Don't hold your breath. . . The 1098 is gorgeous and I'd be will to bet that the ones Buell own have already gone head to head with the 1098. I'll let you guess the result. If you buy the Ducati (not a "bad" choice) be sure you do it for the looks . . . a "I bought it because it outperforms" won't hold, as we say in the Rotax motor world WATER.
>>>>Most of the manufacturers do a bit of special prep like a valve radius, etc. before sending them to the magazines anyway.
Not sure where you got your "most", not questioning it either. I can tell you that Buell does not. In fact, the last time I did a test with Reg Kittrelle we ended up with "random" bikes.
The Monster that Ducati North America had shipped for us was damaged in transit, so they pulled another one out and set it up.
When we went to Bartel's to get the Buell they'd gotten too busy and just "hadn't gotten around to it". We went to Glendale and took our choice (based on color) from the Buell demo truck.
The 1125r is an excellent motorcycle. |
Reepicheep
| | Posted on Tuesday, December 11, 2007 - 09:36 am: |
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Don't get me wrong, I think the world is a better place because Ducati exists. The fussy maintenance intervals, the hard to get and expensive parts, the thin dealer network, and the potentially devastating cost of minor boinks keep me from likely ever *owning* a Ducati, but in terms of "greatest bikes" I would put that Hypermotard on the short list with my XB9SX. Motorcycling is not about being practical, its a spiritual thing. Both Buell and Ducati "get it". For that matter, so does HD.
Did I ever tell you about the 749 owner I saw at the movie theater parking lot? I was in the minivan with my wife, hot summer day. I was pulling into a parking lot when I notice that it was occupied by a brand spanking new R6 (temp tags from the day before and all) flat on its side. The sidestand had sunk into the hot asphalt.
I parked the van in another place, and ran over there before somebody less careful then me whipped in there and drove over the thing, and made a bad situation worse. Plus, I don't know how long an R6 will stay "fluid tight" laying on it's side. Probably a long time, but if it did leak oil, I'm guessing whoever would park it in soft asphalt on a 100 degree day would also ride it home missing most of it's oil...
I was stuck. The typical R6 with temp tags owner is no doubt a perfect gentleman. But some, in some places, err... might be a little steeped in testosterone, and be a bit on the poser / defensive side. And they might have a girlfriend with them that they need to impress. That could be a recipe for me being in a situation I don't want to be in if they walk out, see me picking up their bike, and decide they would rather look tough in front of their girlfriend (instead of stupid, which was at this point their only other choice). Low risk, but high enough I thought about it.
So I was standing there... thinking for a moment, and I saw a bike with a passenger coming down the next isle. I flagged him over... so he could witness that the bike was "in the position" before I meddled with *anything*.
This guy was probably a 25 year old black guy, that looked like some kind of model. He was almost as good looking as Henrik.  And on the back of the bike was probably a 23 year old girl, who also looked like a supermodel, she was attractive enough to be dating one of Court's sons
He was on a Ducati 749... and he clearly was a motorcyclist. He helped me put the bike up, found a thing to put under the kickstand to put the R6 back up to stay this time, and we gathered the miscellaneous $100 plastic and aluminum Japanese motorcycle bits in a pile, and otherwise restored the R6 as best we could. Nuked mirror, nuked fairing piece, crunched turn signal, cut up grip. Not a good day, but the shifter, pegs, and clutch lever survived, so he would get home.
Anyway, I compliment the guy on his Ducati 749... it was beautiful, and the two of them riding on it were amazingly striking... it was like GQ cover shot in motion. She looks sheepish and laughs, and tells my wife and I that he was teaching her to ride.
I do the math pretty quickly, and say "on that!?!?", and she looks even a little more sheepish and says "yes", and they guy laughs. She then points to the broken turn signal and broken lever and scuffed fairing on the 749. "I dropped it the first time, but I got pretty good after a couple tries".
I just laughed and told her "He must really love you, good for him!!!", everybody had a great laugh, and we all went on our way.
Another one of those "gem of a moment with remarkable people" brought to you by motorcycling. |
Davegess
| | Posted on Tuesday, December 11, 2007 - 10:33 am: |
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--Most of the manufacturers do a bit of special prep like a valve radius,--
I know with certainty that Buell does not and I am pretty sure Cycle World would be more than happy to let the world know if they got a "special" bike that was presented as stock.
Ducati simply not letting the press ride or dyno the base 1098. Makes me wonder why. There is a pretty large price difference between the base model and the S model but I gotta think the base model is pretty nice.
I also find it very odd that when you move from the base model to the S you get a special ECN BUT the HP numbers don't change. All the money you spend seems to be just for better suspension and an ignitions module that does nothing. Seems odd.
Same story holds for the Motarad.
Back in the muscle car days it was normal practice to supply prepped cars to the mags. some of these machines were fully race prepped and barely drivable on the street but the mags all wanted to set the fasted 1/4 mile times so they didn't care.
(Message edited by davegess on December 11, 2007) |
Bob_thompson
| | Posted on Tuesday, December 11, 2007 - 11:47 am: |
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I believe it will not be very long, spring for some of us, until people who are riding 1125's, Duc's and other sport bikes will have some "real world" comparisons for everyone to ponder. The dyno only tells us numbers in one controlled environment and in H.P. only. This summer will be some of the most fun I will ever have on a bike, riding my own new Buell 1125R. Patience must prevail for some "real numbers" Stay tuned in, Bob |
Blake
| | Posted on Tuesday, December 11, 2007 - 03:27 pm: |
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Dave, maybe the special "S" version ECM involves traction control or something like that? At least they aren't lying/exaggerating about the rev limit by some 1000 rpm. |
Jimidan
| | Posted on Tuesday, December 11, 2007 - 11:29 pm: |
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Reepicheep, great story and very well told! Reading it was "Another one of those "gem of a moment with remarkable people" brought to you by motorcycling."
Thanks for taking the time to tell it to us. |
Jimidan
| | Posted on Tuesday, December 11, 2007 - 11:38 pm: |
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Madduck says:
Jimi,
If you had read the Axtell article you would have noted that the first thing Ron did after building the engine was to put it on the engine dyno. All engine buiilders do about the same thing, run in their handywork on an engine dyno so that these problems get taken care of before they get to the customer.
I not only read the article, I have had personal instruction from Ron himself on how to properly break-in an engine. Setting a new engine in a dyno and running it is a far cry from doing 4th gear dyno pulls.
Ron is very conservative about the break-in process, with an emphasis on heat cycling that few have the patience to follow. I happen to be one of them, and I will always use his methods. He is a real guru in his field. |
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