Wot's the Ducati difference?

[longwayfromhome]

When the ST4S first came out I went and tried one out at Fast by Ferracci in Philly. I had ridden an ST4 before and I was rather partial to Ducati's in a hypothetical way. The ST4S was modded from new, it had a chip and a pretty flash pipe on it. 127hp they said. Well, as I was putting my ride on the centerstand, he wheeled out the bike with a particularly smug look...then started it and stood there revving the engine.

Now, I was about 48 yo, rode a touring BMW that I loved for its stealth nature (and still do), absolutely hated loud bikes...but for Christ's sake, that Ducati made a monumentally intoxicating sound with the side benefit that it was pretty good to ride above about 50mph. I felt I would have bought it on the spot if I'd had the 14k or whatever it cost. It completely overcome all sane and reasonable objections to buying a bike for such a nebulous, stupid, crass and unsustainable reason...."you spent how much because it sounded good?"

I snigger today when someone says their straight 4 sounds good...yeah good for a farting sound. Oh, that Duc and the throttle which was the mechanical equivalent of Jimi Hendrix's wa-wa pedal.

[Dooly]

They sound great with an open clutch cover too.
People ask me if my bike's fucked.
Naa, not the bike, just me.

[imdying]

Yes.
Much as I love v-fours, I still reckon a 90-degree v-twin is more betterer.

Ironic that the most awesome of all road goings Dukes is a V4 then in'it

[Oscar]

Time for some reality..

[helenoftroy]

Not quite the answer one would expect given your question, I just couldn't resist

So wot's the Ducati difference?
Well, aside from it's italian background, it's racing heritage, and it's looks....it's because it's exclusive. I'll tell you how.

People who choose to ride Italian choose them for PASSION.
These are the most uneconomical, overly engineered, at times horrible electronics, and worst "bang for the buck" in motorcycles.

You ride it because you have a passion for riding it. You don't care about "I reached 280 yesterday..." or "my bike is the most comfy out of everybodies..." or "I get more HP for the dollar...".

You ride it because of it's history, it's uniqueness, and it's soul.

Jap bikes don't have a soul or character. It's the little things, the details, and the timeless design.

The 851/888/916/996/998 is reveled as a timeless design. You can still ride a 90 Ducati 851 into a group of motorcycles, and everybody will look in awe, if not in awe, for the simple fact you don't see them all over the place. Ride up to the group with a 90 Yamaha, Suzuki, or Kwak and nobody will pay any attention to you cause it's "dated". There is are exceptions, granted... such as the classics, Katana 1100 and so on.

Ducati is not for everyone (I'm not reffering to the price) but to the feeling a rider gets out of it. The torque curve is flatter, It handles nicely but it feels different. the engine sound is unique.
After riding a ducati you still dont get it or dont like it, then a ducati is not for you.

So Wot's the Ducati difference?
Take one for a ride and find out!


Ducati's

Absolutely!!

Don't own and never ridden any ST's before.... perhaps somone who owns one might one day want to swap for a ride of my beast?

Pick me!!pick me!!
No seriously... take the ST4 for a blat,I'll just stand guard over your bike & drool

[johan]

Time for some reality..

I've been giving my desmodromic tube skeleton the full throttle for about a year now at the tracks.

I have become a great mechanic.

I hate it, I love it, in a meth kind of way.

That's my reality.

[helenoftroy]

Now, I was about 48 yo, rode a touring BMW that I loved for its stealth nature (and still do), absolutely hated loud bikes...but for Christ's sake, that Ducati made a monumentally intoxicating sound with the side benefit that it was pretty good to ride above about 50mph. I felt I would have bought it on the spot if I'd had the 14k or whatever it cost. It completely overcome all sane and reasonable objections to buying a bike for such a nebulous, stupid, crass and unsustainable reason...."you spent how much because it sounded good?"

ditto!!

I was 50,female,& had never owned a road bike before(trail bikes when young,17yrs bikeless,then 2 BMWs,a R80GSP/D,& a R1OOGS)

By 3rd gear I was a walkover!!

[davejenknz]

ones a 2 valve,a 3 valve ,both aircooled and a 4 valve desmoquattro watercooled

On the ST they're all watercooled.

The two value engine also comes as an aircooled but not in the ST range.

[BMWST?]

ahh yes the sound...my 900 s2 was one of the last to be delivered with contis and 40 mm carbs and was the last of the big twins....a lot of S2,s after that had 32 mm carbs and the big quiet ugly mufflers....when you started it it only just seemed to have enough jiuce to crank the engine three times and it always rumbled into life at the last second..the suspension was rock hard and didnt move until you were doing 140 km hr....it was only as fast in a straight line as a gsx r 400,but no matter how fast you went round a corner the frame always gave absolutely rock solid feedback/ feeling

[johan]

The Ducatis I've owned, I'm on my fourth now, they have all just been able to crank over to start, struggling to idle at cold, rough idle when warm, popping and spitting because of poor air/fuel mix and very odd suspension setup from the factory.

Of course, when you have managed to tune them properly, that's when that special awesomeness begins! Very addictive!

Has anyone else seen this or have I been picking lemons all along?

[BMWST?]

I was actually at the shop when they uncrated mine and i helped mike dobson put it together...
When it was all done we threw the partially charged battery in and i was off....the battery was always borderline...mine always idled and ran well even when cold on the choke...

[hayd3n]

they are hott!!!!!!!

[Eddieb]

The 851/888/916/996/998 is reveled as a timeless design. You can still ride a 90 Ducati 851 into a group of motorcycles, and everybody will look in awe, if not in awe, for the simple fact you don't see them all over the place.

Gotta agree to that. The 888 gets loads of looks whenever I take it out. The only times I've been somewhere and seen another triple 8 was Hamilton Toy Run about 2 years ago and Cold Kiwi about 4 years ago.

[mikeey01]

for Christ's sake, that Ducati made a monumentally intoxicating sound with the side benefit that it was pretty good to ride above about 50mph.

I like it!

[AllanB]

Thumbs up chaps for some pretty honest descriptions of the brand and its ownership here.

I had to check I was still on KB


One thing I've always found interesting is the description of 'character' relating to basically anything other than a Jap bike - the interesting thing is that is the little ideosyncricies that add the character to the Italian, American and to a lesser extent modern Triumph would simply not be tolerated on a Honda, Suzuki, Yamaha etc.

Is that wrong? Stuffed if I know, it's just interesting.

Can you build in character???? Could Honda buy a computer script for this?

Personally I think HD has lost some of its character.