When the 1198 was introduced, I wandered into the local Ducati dealer and asked: "now that you have the 1198, what are you going to do with the 1098's no one will want?" (no response). So then I said: "tell you what - I'll take the 1098S you have sitting over there (For $16.5K) for $12,500 out the door".
They didn't take me up on my offer. They did say that I would 'enhance my prestige' by getting the 'S' model - I told them that "you obviously have me confused with someone who cares about prestige... I'm interested in thrashing the thing." Conversation kinda died after that.....
(H-D did take me up on my "I'll give you $8K out the door for that 1125 you got sitting over there"). I still want a 1098/1198 too. Like Leno said - you get supercar performance at 1/10 of supercar price.
Higbees time was awesome. I was also thinking about the 1125's low 9 sec times on the Drag strip when the Ducati was running high 10's in the vid. Doesn't change the fact that the 1198 is a beautiful bike though. I'd love to have one.
Oh I know you weren't knocking them. I feel the same way. I can't see myself being happy for long on an inline 4 regardless of where they're from. And I think it might be a while before Erik Buell Racing releases something that I can afford. So I'm sure it will be European for me too.
The BMW video is from www.vb2r.com No idea what the story is, the website is all in French.
The video doesn't really go into any detail about the performance differences. I just like seeing the Porche under full acceleration get passed by the Bimmer on 1 wheel.