Getting Slower & Slower ! wrote:
> Please dont hold us silent posters in suspense, how about writing your ride
> report so the multitude of lurkers can read over Christmas?
> The 848 has not released in my area of Australia (Qld),to the best of my
> knowledge.
> Also what are the colour's?. Red and is the white really a silver shade?
> Rob.
Heh, sounds good. Get ready for a long winded review
I tested a pearl white one, that had about 250 miles on it by the time I
got to it. I prefer the red and black one, but such is life. (These are
the only 2 colors in the US currently.)
For context, I'm an expert racer and I also own a 996 and MV Agusta F4S 750.
The reason I'm interested in the 848 and not as much the 1098 is because
the 848 is legal to race in more classes at my club than the 1098 is.
There's nothing worse than sitting around all day to race the 3 out of
12 or 15 races in a day that you're legal for...
I kind of wanted to dislike this bike before I even got on it. White
didn't look good on a Ducati in photos to me at all. Then there's the
"cheapening" of it by not having coated forks, forged brakes, wet
clutch, non adjustable ride height, no steering damper, etc. In the
shop, the setup felt all wrong too. They wouldn't let me change it
either, so I knew there were going to be some small issues if I was able
to ride it fast enough to find them.
After about a mile, all that turned out to be not important.
I was on the street, so I couldn't REALLY push it, but I did do some
things I'm not proud of. I'm a big proponent of not riding fast on the
street, take it to the track. This bike needs to be on the track anyway.
It is faster than one might think before getting on, and the power is
stacked way up high. It's not that it's slow around town at lower RPM,
it just has a hit to it at maybe 7500 to 8000 rpm and it really lunges.
It starts to gently lift the front in 1st when the hit comes in, then
before it comes up too much the limiter comes in (well, for me, I'm 210
pounds, about 16 stone for those "other" people
. It definitely does
not have the big midrange bump of the 996 and 999. Ducati claims that
this bike has a better power to weight ratio than the 999. This could
be, but you'd never know it until you had it way up near redline.
Going side to side is probably quicker than any other Ducati superbike
ever, it feels really light and darty. This tends to be a good thing.
There isn't quite as much feel for front end traction than on my 996 or
MV, but I think setup and these tires are part of it. I'm not a fan of
these street compound "race" tires Pirelli are putting out. I'll give up
a little feel for so much less weight though.
One second gear corner in particular I had it pretty far on it's side,
then on the way out I rolled onto the power pretty hard as I was
straightening it up, and the front came up about 3 feet due to a
combination of power and leverage (you change effective gearing when
going from the side of the tire to the middle). Wow. Fun! The only
downside is I set the tire back down when the bike wasn't completely
straight and I got some wags out of the bars. The lack of a steering
damper is probably the reason. I'm sure the aftermarket will solve that
one soon. In another bumpy corner, the bike had the "wet noodle"
syndrome common of improperly set up bikes, but I'm sure this could be
fixed. Bumps just upset it and made it wiggly.
The brakes have all the power and feel you could want. I've heard a few
testers say they have better feeling than the forged brakes on the 1098.
They apparently have less initial bite. This could be. My opinion is,
with brakes like this, you don't need to worry about upgrades. That is,
unless they fade on the track or something...
As far as comfort, it's still thoroughly a sport bike, but not as
painful as the 996 or MV. It feels a lot more like a 749/999 from the
seat than it does the earlier bikes. Although I'm guessing there is a
shorter distance from seat to bars than the 749/999 (It's been a while
since I've ridden one of those). And the back of the seat curves upwards
like a 996, it doesn't have the flat seat like the 749/999. For pure
comfort, the 749/999 is better. Slightly.
I loved it. I was ready to buy it until I found out about a possible
career change so it's wait and see for a few weeks. I would not hesitate
to recommend the 848 to anyone in the sportbike market. It was one of
the better 30 minutes I've ever spent on a bike
The only negatives to
me are the lack of some of the features of the 1098, and it's geared a
little tall, but I think the aftermarket will solve that. And some of
the features probably aren't needed anyway.
Andy
>> Stay informed about: Anyone still posting here? New 848... 
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