| Author | Message | ||
     Slinger |
Finally got a chance to see my brothers Ducati Hypermotard-S over the weekend when the family got together for Fathers Day. What a great lookin bike, first class fit and finish. What would you expect from Ducati right? Well of course my first question was "Wheres the keys?" He just smiled and tossed em to me. His bike is the S model and has the race chip and the Terminongi (spelling???) 2 into 1 full exhaust. He found the bike on Ebay and bought it from a guy in Arizona for $12,000. Sounds like he got a good deal cause the bike only had 800 miles on it and the guy he bought it from said he had about $19,000 in it. Anyway, I hopped on the bike and it definately has the whole motard feel. Wide bars, higher seat height. So I fire it up and take off...it has a nice sound, not like my D&D but pleasant enough. One of the first thing I noticed was the throttle response, very crisp and smooth. Much nicer than my 9s. The thing handles like a dream. You can definately feel the weight difference, and with those wide bars it is a very nimble and flickable machine. I don't know what the hp and tq numbers are on it but it feels very torquey and had great power delivery. The thing just plain pulls hard. Loved the 6 speed gearbox, 2ng gear power wheelies were not a problem. My only complaint was that it seemed to get a little unhappy at speeds over 110. But hell, this thing was so much fun under 100 who cares! I came around one corner and there was my brother on my XB, so we rode around a while then switched back. Dam that was weird gettin back on my bike, it felt so small and heavy. Any way I followed my brother through some nice twisties and just let me say this....the Hypermotard is one bike the XB won't smoke in the twisties! I was windin my bike out tryin to keep up, but man was it fun. I hadnt had that much fun on the XB in a while, even if I coulda used another gear and a few more revs! Well I just figured some of yall out there might enjoy hearing about my weekend adventures. I know I always like to hear how all the other bikes copare. I was plannin on giving my bike to my old lady and gettn something else and now I'm really scratchin my head and goin "HHHMMMMMM". If I am going to buy another Buell, the naked version of the 1125r better be one hell of a bike and have all the kinks worked out. To me Buell missed the mark in the looks department with the 1125r by a long shot...sorry, flame on. I really want to buy another Buell, but it wont be the 1125. | ||
| Tommy5144 |
No flaming here, i honestly agree with you the 1125 is not an attractive bike IN MY OPINION. Id love to have them for uniqueness and performance capabilities but argh ugly | ||
| Bigredwood |
The new Hyper is a badass bike. But 12k . . . lotta dough for Ducati and Ducati maintenance. How were those flip-out mirrors? What kind of shoes(tires) did she have? How were the brakes? I have the cheap-ass version in my garage. My CR500AF has a set of SM wheels and brakes. Mine also pulls REALLY hard. But won't go faster than 100mph. Loved the comparison and tell your bro to continue enjoying the ride. | ||
| Slinger |
Bigredwood, For tires it had Pirelli Corsa IIIs, which looked sweet mounted on that single sided swingarm. Plenty of stopping power with the Brembos and I dont really remember looking in the mirrors. However my brother did say they were pretty useless and was gonna look into other options. Great bike and alot of fun but with the sketchiness in triple didgets I'd rather have a 848. Or hold out for the new monster. | ||
| Jerseyguy |
I test rode the Hypermotard S and loved it. Coming from a dirt background, I liked the dirt bike ergos a lot. It handled like a dream and was a wheelie monster. I choked a bit on the $14K price and it seemed like a bike that had no purpose other than to screw around on. I may own one yet. I've got an 1125 and an XBSs. I prefer the XB for the street and the 1125 for the track. I agree that the 1125 is homely. I'll probably trade it for a naked version if and when it comes out. | ||
| Aj06bolt12r2 |
Bigredwood, how about some pics or maybe even a video of the cr500. I ve always wanted to do that. | ||
| Expatriate |
As far as styling goes Ducati has most everyone beat. Any Ducati looks better than anything else on the road. The only thing I have ever found distasteful about Ducatis was the single headlight looks kind of "Captain Nemo"-ish for my particular aesthetic taste. But as far as the 1125R goes, I'm not really impressed with the looks of it either. I HATE the looks of those radiator scoops hanging off the side of it, they look like they were some kind of after-thought rather than a comprehensive and coherent design feature. The rest of it is...eh, ok. But I had hoped after the XB series they would have come up with something that would have carried through with the breakthroughs the XB series started. I consider the XBS to be a masterpiece of minimalist design. the true marriage of form and function. 146 HP is a break-through for a V-twin, and it means they can actually compete with the IL-4s in a competition environment, but the styling is a GIANT step backward. | ||
| Badlionsfan |
Expatriate, have you seen one in person yet? I wan't much of a pod fan at first view online, but as soon as I saw it in person I liked it a lot. | ||
| Slinger |
Badlionsfan, That is what irks me so much about the new Buell. I don't want to have to "see one in person" or "have it grow on me". When the XBs came out it took all of about half a second for me to say, "That is one bad ass lookin bike, I have to have one of those!" The 1125 didn't do that for me. Don't get me wrong I am sure it is one hell of a ride. That is why I have my fingers crossed that the naked version will not be such a fugly duckling. | ||
| Eicas |
A buddy of mine bought a new '08 Ducati Motard at the same time as I bought my new '08 XB12Ss. We were both looking for the same "type" of bike, and we both considered all of the available brands. Both of us have been riding for well over 30 years and have owned many bikes. If you look at the specifications, they seem very similar. However, when you put the two bikes side by side, the Ducati is some very sexy eye candy while the Buell comes across as "industrial". No doubt about it, the Ducati is a work of art and has a performance edge on the Buell because of it's more sophisticated construction, equipment, etc. Down side is that his Ducati cost a lot lot more and his has needed more "attention", my Buell has had no issues at all and gets better gas mileage and has more range. Around town and as a street fighter the Ducati out shines my Buell, but he does not like to ride his bike on the freeway at all, even to work, while I enjoy my 80 mile round trip which is mostly freeway. I also like the basic sound of my Buell better, even with the too quiet stock exhaust installed. Time will tell which turns out to be the better bike, at this point in time, neither one of us would want to trade. | ||
| Bigredwood |
Aj06bolt12r2 - I did up my CR just recently. I don't have any pics of it with the SM gear and lighting. But I do have a pic of it before setup for the Tecate 250 at San Felipe in 2005. This was my old race bike and I made it a SM so my wife would let me keep it. I got old and moved down to a smaller bike.  | ||
| Bombero |
Around town and as a street fighter the Ducati out shines my Buell, but he does not like to ride his bike on the freeway at all, even to work, while I enjoy my 80 mile round trip which is mostly freeway. I had a Dual Sport before my Buell, and that is precisely why I sold it. I loved that bike, but I needed a commuter that I didn't have to get beat up on before I got to work. If I worked in town, I would've kept the DS, or sold it and bought the Duc. | ||
| Aj06bolt12r2 |
Bigred, That is a sweet scoot, I didnt know you stuck that 500 in a late model bike, thats awesome... Ive got an 05 450x and I love it but I do believe Id like it better with the cr500 engine, that things got to be a hand full in the tight stuff, but an awesome supermoto wheelie machine! | ||
| Bigredwood |
Aj06bolt12r2, I actually bought the bike from Service Honda in Indy. The frame is a CRF250x with the a custom 'race' CR500 built by Service Honda. They have a business relationship with Honda and are licensed to build HONDA motors! The bike is a dream. I raced it for two years before a brutale accident at Zaca Station. The warden (my wife) pulled my Pro card and now I am subject to riding parade laps with the elders. I went down to a CRF250R and wanted to keep my old sponsor ride. So I put on some Excels wrapped with Dunlops and terrorize my neighborhood. But similar to the Hypermotard S it is awesome on city streets. But the hard seat and the big power hit makes it more of a fun factor ride vs. a daily ride. The insurance is cheap and it takes up little space. If you have the money and time I suggest buying/building one. Use a CRF-X frame and licensing is easy even in Kali! | ||
| Aj06bolt12r2 |
Badass my friend, sorry about the wreck but it sounds like you still get to have alot of fun! Id love to build one if I had the know how and access to a cr500 engine. Mayb Ill try it when the 450 decides so spew the titanium valves out the exhaust. Do you know how much modification is necessary to fit it to the frame and make everything work? Or maybe a kit they use? | ||
| Corporatemonkey |
I makes me wonder what the Buell dirt bike would have been like. | ||
| Bigredwood |
It would have been Awesome! But Buell made the excuse that the future rules of AMA and other racing leagues won't allow the bike they were building. I would look into buying one if I continued open class racing. I can see it now . . . "Overall Winner of the Baja is no longer Honda, but the AMERICAN built Buell!" It is a complete crock of s*&t. In the late 90's they disbanded the 500cc class because two of the main four manufactures didn't offer a competitive 500cc bike. Welcome to folding over the money. Hmmmmm . . . . doesn't Aprilia offer a 550 v-twin dirtbike. Mr. Erik Buell, thanks for not trying, you probably would have just put a BRP in it anyway. |
