First spring ride, finally!!!
#1
04-12-2011, 10:01 PM
First spring ride, finally!!!
So after staring at the damn bike since November, I finally got to take it out! A nice 400km shakedown, just to make sure everything was fine afeter winter farkling and maintenance.
Met the local 5-0 within the first hour ... thankfully he'd only misread my plate. No vehicular debauchery involved.
As you can see from the pics, it still is early spring around here. The roads were covered in sand and potholes, but we managed to find a few nice-ish spots.
Obviously, we HAD to stop at the local ski resort ...
Some straight but scenic roads were found.
And proof we did find some curves too.
A crappy GoPro vid (straight off the GoPro). Promise, next time I'll work on setting up something for the audio. This is nowhere near what it actually sounds like IRL. Much meaner.
YouTube - Ducati 1098 onboard GoPro HD
Impressions of the bike so far, much more comfy than I anticipated. It's a bit rough on the neck, but everything else is fine. I could've gone on for a while.
It is a beast. You don't really realize it, but it's quite brisk. Doesn't take much to hit 100mph coming out of a slow corner. And I didn't open it up at any point all day. Just putting around.
Corners ... the coming into a corner takes a lot of work and accurate input. Once in the corner and leaned over it's on rails, begs you to go faster while wishing for the bend to never end!
Not friendly though, which is not bad. You're always reminded of what you have beneath you.
I can't wait to put more miles on it as I'm still 20% familiar with it so far. It's not official, I HAVE to hit the Tail of the Dragon and do track days! That thing is just begging for clean road to play on!
Met the local 5-0 within the first hour ... thankfully he'd only misread my plate. No vehicular debauchery involved.
As you can see from the pics, it still is early spring around here. The roads were covered in sand and potholes, but we managed to find a few nice-ish spots.
Obviously, we HAD to stop at the local ski resort ...
Some straight but scenic roads were found.
And proof we did find some curves too.
A crappy GoPro vid (straight off the GoPro). Promise, next time I'll work on setting up something for the audio. This is nowhere near what it actually sounds like IRL. Much meaner.
YouTube - Ducati 1098 onboard GoPro HD
Impressions of the bike so far, much more comfy than I anticipated. It's a bit rough on the neck, but everything else is fine. I could've gone on for a while.
It is a beast. You don't really realize it, but it's quite brisk. Doesn't take much to hit 100mph coming out of a slow corner. And I didn't open it up at any point all day. Just putting around.
Corners ... the coming into a corner takes a lot of work and accurate input. Once in the corner and leaned over it's on rails, begs you to go faster while wishing for the bend to never end!
Not friendly though, which is not bad. You're always reminded of what you have beneath you.
I can't wait to put more miles on it as I'm still 20% familiar with it so far. It's not official, I HAVE to hit the Tail of the Dragon and do track days! That thing is just begging for clean road to play on!
#7
04-13-2011, 08:58 PM
Haven't touched the suspension other than setting it close to softest everywhere.
As soon as I get more familiar with the bike, I'll have a pro dial it in properly.
The front forks have a sticky feel that I don't like much, I have to say. Might change the oil see if that improves anything.
As soon as I get more familiar with the bike, I'll have a pro dial it in properly.
The front forks have a sticky feel that I don't like much, I have to say. Might change the oil see if that improves anything.
Last edited by Zorro; 04-13-2011 at 09:04 PM.
