Ducati and pretty blonde pictures - Page 2

Sport Rider · 06-27-2016, 01:36 PM

but it's frickin fast!

I had mine at 140 in 4th gear before I backed off. that included top case and side bags with shield in the down position. it had LOTS more to give.

but yeah....they have gotten too big.

I would have been happy if they had just upgraded the C10 with new motor, efi, front and rear similar to mine, and some body improvements to make it modern.

The FJR is my next best bet, although I like the Suzuki Bandit with tour stuff attached. problem with that one is only a lack of seating for the passenger. otherwise, it felt much like an improved C10 in size and handling.

FastDoc · 06-27-2016, 02:39 PM

All good bikes, each with pluses and minuses.

The FJR lacks a six speed. Not a deal breaker but no reason it should not be a six speed.

The C14 is reported to have some handling issues, but I have never ridden it.

The Bandit is a ridiculously good bike, especially for the money.

To your list I add the VFR1200. Awesome Honda tehnology, but the size of an Orca whale.

This was the same array I was faced with before buying the Ducati.

Since I have Gold Wing also I was looking for a SPORT touring bike, 90% of the way over to the sport end of the spectrum.

And yes, the C14 is awesomely fast. I'm sure it can warp the time-space continuim if you stayed on the gas long enough.

FastDoc · 06-27-2016, 02:40 PM

I forgot the GT class of BMW's

Fast, smooth, heavy, and the break often and expensively.

Also add the Multidtrada. It checks all the right boxes except it lacks Italian beauty, and you need to carry a stepladder to get on and off of it.

SeerAtlas · 06-27-2016, 03:00 PM

I am going to chime in here because assuming FastDoc reached the same conclusions, I tried an awful lot of roadbikes/Dual P bikes, Touring Bikes, and Std. Bikes -Lots of em good, some not so good, but once you fire up a Ducati and take a little spin, it immediately hits you that there is something different. The initial impression of mine was quite startling.
There are faster, simpler, longer legged, or cheaper/more expensive bikes out there, but darned if the Duc's don't seem so "right" from the get go.

For myself, I attribute it to the Italian's "soul" as it were. Engineering-function-form,beauty and passion, equals ART. If you've never ridden one, try one at least once in your life.
And not just the road bikes, I recently read a comparo piece on the new range of scrambler type bikes. The editors were sooo surprised that the Ducati entry was clearly the best, even over the spectacular Triumph entry, and They pretty much invented the genre

FastDoc · 06-27-2016, 03:13 PM

That mirrors my experience exactly.

I've driven all sorts of wonderful sports cars. Porsche, BMW, Lotus, MB, Corvettes (I've driven at least one in every generation, including Z06's and ZR-1's) but none compare to the Ferrari or Maserati I've driven. Nothing even close. Even if the Italian was not the best or fastest it is still the one that pulls on my heart strings.

I don't want to spend the $$$ on a Ferrari (although there is a Maserati I'd be tempted by...) but the Ducati fills the same emotional niche cheaply. That is until the Desmo gets serviced :-0

SeerAtlas · 06-28-2016, 08:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FastDoc

That mirrors my experience exactly.

I've driven all sorts of wonderful sports cars. Porsche, BMW, Lotus, MB, Corvettes (I've driven at least one in every generation, including Z06's and ZR-1's) but none compare to the Ferrari or Maserati I've driven. Nothing even close. Even if the Italian was not the best or fastest it is still the one that pulls on my heart strings.

I don't want to spend the $$$ on a Ferrari (although there is a Maserati I'd be tempted by...) but the Ducati fills the same emotional niche cheaply. That is until the Desmo gets serviced :-0

LOL, always been a Maserati man myself also..

True story guys.....
Once took a "short" weekend drive to Reno from LA w a corp exec female friend for a PBR event in my then new Maserati convertible. Had sooo much fun on the drive, when the event ended, we looked at each other, reached the proverbial "foo kit" moment and randomly chose a line on the map heading NE and we simply "took off", canceling business obligations,clearing schedules, etc. along the way. It was literally a "wonder where this goes?" spur of the moment thing.

Hell, we finally turned to head back up in Glacier National Park, did Yellowstone, and a ton of lesser places hitting the Redwood forest, and the BIG Sur on the way back down about two weeks later

Gotta tell you, looking up at those mountains, those trees, that massive, and curious, bull buffalo scratching his nose on the other side of her window, an off season but good weather trip down a deserted Big Sur in an Italian convertible w a co-pilot who speaks cleverly in complete sentences is as close to Motoring Heaven as I've ever reached in a car

Was the best car road trip EVER

FastDoc,

"SALUTE!"

FastDoc · 06-28-2016, 10:59 AM