What do you guys ride? I almost bought another bike today.

snowpatrol123

New member
Was feeling energetic and went over to look at a bike that caught my eye at the local stealership. Currently riding a 996s for street, since I sold my race bike two years ago I'm looking for something with a passenger seat for the gf to ride on the road & convert the 996 to racemode.

Any-who, I told the saleskid I would give him $15k cash any day in the next week for this bike...he wasn't sure & has to consult his manager. Nothing's changed hands, so I thought I'd ask for a few opinions: https://tinyurl.com/kp85czk
 
I know nothing about cruisers.
I myself drive a gsxr-1000 k9.
If u have a passenger on the k9 it's a nightmare, still one million times better than the honda cbr.
 
I know nothing about cruisers.
I myself drive a gsxr-1000 k9.
If u have a passenger on the k9 it's a nightmare, still one million times better than the honda cbr.

I raced an '07 gixxer six for a season. Good bikes but they're all so similar, the hondas/kawis/yamaha & suzuki. Literally went through eight jap bikes before I fell in love with Ducatis. Downside is I fell in love with Ducatis
 
With all respect to Ducati(s) , beside the high price I saw nothing special on them but little better stability...
If you are rich, go for it :)
 
That's how I see it:
Power : Honda
Price : kawasaki
Reliability: Suzuki
Character: bmw
Ducati: I can't see I can't see :)
 
That's how I see it:
Power : Honda
Price : kawasaki
Reliability: Suzuki
Character: bmw
Ducati: I can't see I can't see :)

The big four jap bike manufacturers are all the same - the differences between their litrebikes are so small they might as well just make one and paint different logos on it to save costs.

BMW is expensive for the sake of being expensive, it's the german version of a jap bike. Ducatis / Aprillias & MotoGuzzi's bleed character and thoroughbred design. (and you pay through the nose for it)

My '01 996sps, for example, came from the factory with six piston brembos before they were cool, ohlins front, rear and steering dampner, marchesini mag wheels and over 120RWHP from a V twin before the I4s were even making that much power. It's old now but turns heads more frequently than a 2015 R1 would I promise you that.
 
My buddy got into the Italian bikes and loves them. I can't keep track of how many jap bikes and then Ducks he's had in mags. The only bad things about the Ducks it's a lot more expensive to customize them. Everyone that I know who has owned a Duck, 1) they held up very well 2) they did a lot better reselling em later then the any of us ever did with jap bikes. (My last jap bike was last year of the 954RR). I can't take the being bent over anymore not to mention seems like they are all being made for short people now ;).
A big fat tire on the back, upright riding position, legs extended is more my thing now.

But damn the sound of a Jap or Italian bike that's got a sweet tune to it, is still a sound I love.
 
My buddy got into the Italian bikes and loves them. I can't keep track of how many jap bikes and then Ducks he's had in mags. The only bad things about the Ducks it's a lot more expensive to customize them. Everyone that I know who has owned a Duck, 1) they held up very well 2) they did a lot better reselling em later then the any of us ever did with jap bikes. (My last jap bike was last year of the 954RR). I can't take the being bent over anymore not to mention seems like they are all being made for short people now ;).
A big fat tire on the back, upright riding position, legs extended is more my thing now.

But damn the sound of a Jap or Italian bike that's got a sweet tune to it, is still a sound I love.

Nice, I had a 929 'blade at one point.

Sound is a huge part of my love of ducati. The dry clutch rattle...the V twin through carbon exhaust...all of it.

They definitely hold their value more-so than their japanese counterparts, but of course you pay a lot up front for them too.

Customizing them has been similar for same-quality components as my jap race bikes, thus far...clipons, rearsets, levers, exhaust etc. I use higher quality rims on the ducati than I would've bothered with on the japanese bikes (magnesium vs alloy) so those are of course more expensive, and prefer the beautiful ohlins forks to showa, obviously costly though.
 
I don't know anything about their quality or performance or anything else, but I really like what Triumph is doing these days. I like their styling.
 
I'm not up on all the Duck models, my buddies last one was the same model as a one of race versions or similar too all I remember.
Yeah, it sounded really bad ass and ride was sweet on it. But damn, I know what he paid to customize all of his jap bikes and I though he went crazy on them, then overboard on a guzzi, but holy C was he going over the top on Duck for custom stuff. I couldn't believe what some of carbon fiber rims, race calipers and etc cost. Like you said earlier they already have some sweet upgrades to begin with. The last three times I saw the bike if I didn't know it was the same bike I wouldn't have even realized.
I know some of Duck's over seas race teams have custom stuff made for them from exhausts to whatever. He was able to order from some of those guys for things he wanted. (You may know more then I do about how that works). I never left any bike stock but I couldn't hold a candle to what He did. Him and I are both old enough to have done the old mail order for parts. I used to a race team mail order after market parts to get all my aftermarket but they carried standard brand aftermarket items from the big names in aftermarket. Not any one off things. I can't remember their name but they lost a rider in Daytona 92-93ish.

It is a lot of fun tricking out a ride. My current ride my wife, gf at time bought/ordered a totally tricked out bike. She did the, going to make sure you can't spend a ton on aftermarket since it's all been done. My 954 had been stolen, I was 3/4 through a bitter divorce that ex was dragging out to bleed me dry so there. I didn't have any hope of anything in my future let alone what I wanted. I got to spend some time on a road king for a few weeks (first cruiser experience ever). I went from anti cruiser to well if I could find a cruiser with more HP, big fat tire on back yeah, more drastic look, I could do this in a heart beat. Plus it doesn't hurt to ride long periods of time. Being 603 on the current jap as short and compact as they've gotten isn't fun. My first CBR 600 fit me better then any of my 1000's or 954rr's ever did.

I think your right there about differences being small now.

What really impressed me about Duck is, let's say if you wanted some super high end race proprietary only let say gsxr or jap whatever yeah good luck getting it as an average Joe. Not saying there isn't a hundred whatever you can get from various manufactures that would perform as well as it is.
But I've seen the exhausts, brakes, rims, computers etc and just amazed at how outgoing some of the over seas Duck racing teams were. He's buying plural, trying this, that and then on to something else because he didn't like the way it performed. Even getting things from the USA Duck importer. I was amazed at who he had access to at the company. He had an issue with a dealer not being honest about something they did. One of big names from Duck importing personally told him the dealer wasn't being upfront and gave him the scoop so he could confront the Dealer. (I'm intentionally trying to be vague)
Just seems like a really tight knit family to me.

I've toyed with buying an older Duck racing style as a garage queen at some point. The racing styles just have an amazing lines to me. If I remember correctly (my brain is mush from lack of sleep and pain) that mail order catalog I used raced Ducks. I loved the looked back then just not the price. Too rich for my blood. In some ways when I see the new ones I still seek their heritage. I don't see that with the japs bikes. I'm a big honda fan too. I rode mine hard.
 
Had an rc-51 and a zx6r. Liked the ninja better. Not so much leaving the gym on leg days. Looking at m-109r's now.
 
That's beautiful bike. I got to take the Desmosedici RR out as a friend of mine works at the stealership. Beautiful bikes but you're paying a lot for the name as mentioned lol. Goo luck and safe riding regardless Snowpatrol
 
A friend at work actually let me take his Ducati around the block. It was cool just felt really skinny compared to my R1. I do like that dry clutch sound on Ducati's. I've always heard with jap bikes it comes down to what brand you are particular to and what you can get a better deal on. I never really rode anything other than yamaha's so I really don't know. Now I ride an 09 R1 and it gets the job done, except for when I did a track day that thing did wear me out. I need to look for a light track bike.
 
A friend at work actually let me take his Ducati around the block. It was cool just felt really skinny compared to my R1. I do like that dry clutch sound on Ducati's. I've always heard with jap bikes it comes down to what brand you are particular to and what you can get a better deal on. I never really rode anything other than yamaha's so I really don't know. Now I ride an 09 R1 and it gets the job done, except for when I did a track day that thing did wear me out. I need to look for a light track bike.

Depending on where you live, the jap 600s are amazing track bikes. I set my PR lap time on my gsx 750 five years ago, and came within a 10th of a second on a triumph 675 two summers ago. On my ducati 996 (LOVE IT, btw) I can't come within a second (1 min 0.8 sec vs 59.5 sec) of the small jap bikes. You have to work twice as hard to get 95% the performance out of a ducati haha, but I don't mind.

I never bothered tracking my R1 but I doubt it would've been faster on that track than the gsxr 750 (straight isn't long enough for fourth even on the 600s)
 
Depending on where you live, the jap 600s are amazing track bikes. I set my PR lap time on my gsx 750 five years ago, and came within a 10th of a second on a triumph 675 two summers ago. On my ducati 996 (LOVE IT, btw) I can't come within a second (1 min 0.8 sec vs 59.5 sec) of the small jap bikes. You have to work twice as hard to get 95% the performance out of a ducati haha, but I don't mind.

I never bothered tracking my R1 but I doubt it would've been faster on that track than the gsxr 750 (straight isn't long enough for fourth even on the 600s)

Yea I have had alot of people tell me to get a 600 for a track bike and now I know why. The last track I went to was midohio and that has 15 turns and one long stretch. I could get my R1 to top 5th in the back straight, but I could have been just as fast on a 600 coming out of the turn faster and going into the next turn faster. I know I need a 600 for a track bike but now I can't decide if I want to get another bike for the track or get a new dirtbike lol
 
Yea I have had alot of people tell me to get a 600 for a track bike and now I know why. The last track I went to was midohio and that has 15 turns and one long stretch. I could get my R1 to top 5th in the back straight, but I could have been just as fast on a 600 coming out of the turn faster and going into the next turn faster. I know I need a 600 for a track bike but now I can't decide if I want to get another bike for the track or get a new dirtbike lol

I haven't had a race bike for two seasons now, but bought a dirbike last summer and love it. Whole different world, it's tonnes of fun especially for an avid mountain biker. Watch out for the killer arm pumps though!!!

I can't wait to get back onto the asphalt with some severe lean angles this summer though. Race fairings are already on order for my 996, now it's just a question of what I replace it with for the street :D

Haven't heard back from saleskid doug yet...
 
I was considering a ktm 570 super MOTO for the streets. As fun as that would be ripping on the streets, I don't know how stupid I would look! Lol
 
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