Got to ride a Ducati 1098 R today...yup the R

So,
I made friends with a friend of a friend a while back, we have been riding buddies and sponsoring each other in our MotoGP 'addiction, haha. Well, he just so happens to own and ride a 2008 Ducati 1098 R with race kit and full Termignoni exhaust. 1198 cc's baby! I have never asked him if I could ride it in all of our rides together. Well, today we were doing some nice quick, but comfortable -pace riding on a back road and he pulls over, I pull over, he shuts off his bike and hands me the keys and says "she's all yours man"...Haha! Well, I figure he knows me well enough by now, knows I respect the hell out of a bike and can handle one and won't do anything stupid...especially to a $40 K one that ain't mine! Well...I rode "her"...and all I can say is...

OMFG$@$%&*$!!)#($*!$*THIS THING IS
F'ing FAST. And I mean...FAST! And ohhh, does she TURN! The power was so violent, so uncompromisingly BRUTAL.

My Lord...what beautiful machine. I have ridden GSX-R's of all sizes and my VFR...but GOSH...It was like having sex with an atomic bomb, NO JOKE! :thumbsup:

All I could do was laugh out loud like a blubbering fool in my helmet. :biggrin::biggrin::biggrin: Oh and those Termignonis...what SWEET music they made! I was reading about the bike on Wikipedia tonight...they say it has the highest "torque to weight" ratio of any current production bike.

It was my moment of zen for the week...maybe the month? I really hope he lets me get more than one ride...hehe...but maybe I shouldn't...wouldn't want to get to cocky riding that thing...really though...it's kind of depressing...it really didn't belong on the street...it really needed to be free...set free at Misano, or Imola, or Mugello...

 

I know the feeling. I have a friend with a 999R with the Termi's and its an amazing machine. Every time I ride it I tell him that the devil lives inside that bike and is trying to be unleashed. Anything over 1/4 throttle in first or second or 1/2 throttle in third brings the front up and it does it FAAAAAAST.

It is the only bike I've ridden that scares me to try and tame it somewhat. I just don't find the Duc's a practical bike for daily use. He constantly has to do repair work to it, it isn't comfortable, and the dry clutch drives me insane. I can totally reason with one for the track though... thats where these bikes are designed for and thats where they belong.

 

Dude, that's awesome!! I wish I had a friend with a bike like that. How did it feel going back to the VFR?

 

As it turns out a few days ago I got a chance to demo ride a 2009 1198 and I go to agree with you, holy sh*t what a sweet machine! The brakes are phenomenal I'm even scared of using 1 finger. I'm starting to seriously think of the 1198 as a second bike just for weekends/track days.

 

Jay Leno had a similar response.
Once he quit laffing outloud, he just kept saying.
"I am not worthy....I am not worthy........."

good for you!

 

Dude, my VFR felt like a VESPA afterward. I thrashed the living hell out of it on the rest of the ride, cause after the Duc' it felt like it had about 25 hp. :biggrin::biggrin::biggrin:

 

SERIOUSLY. I did not feel worthy. As it power-wheelied through second/third gear I realized I had EVEN MORE respect for MotoGP riders. The R had about 170 to the rear wheel I reckon...and a GP bike has, what, like 225? They are moto-gods for throwing those GP bikes around the way they do. SHEESH! Oh and yeah, the brakes were INSANE...330 mm Brembo Monoblocks...they really made my eyeballs bug out my head when I did a panic stop test with them. Gosh it was just yesterday morning...but I'm still dreaming of her...ahahaha

 

Nice. Cool write-up, too. I think we all need more friends like that. :thumbsup:

 

I had the chance to ride a friends Duc 1098, just the plain 1098, with full termignoni exhaust and a dry clutch conversion kit and it was remarkable. Would love to take a ride on the R version. With the after market exhaust and dry clutch she's loud and alot of people tend to look your way while your pulling into a gas station to feel up her tank.

 

Funny you mention it, we pulled into a BP toward the end of our ride and this family in a minivan kinda flinched at the sweet music from the Termi's when I pulled up to the pump next to them, modulating the clutch so as not to stall her at a slow roll...haha...they had a little boy in the back seat who half way crawled out the window to get a look and his little eyes were just BUGGED out of his head like he was looking at the coolest thing ever...well, it kinda was! Made my day. :thumbsup:

 

Nice huh? Now you know how I felt after I rode one, and in that lays my Dilemma. I just came across it's cousin a 1098S with some goodies and oh yes it's not far of the R's pace. and for only a mere $19K.. Woo Hoo you said it right. :wink::biggrin: and just to help this thread along

 

Good write-up. I understand how you feel. A mate has a 1098 & let me take it for a spin not so long ago. UNBELIEVABLE! Totally different to the VFR in so many ways. The power is amazing. Getting back onto the VFR after was like sitting down on a big sofa I could not, however, last too long on it due to comfort, hence buying the Honda. But talk about eye candy...........mmmmmm

 

Yeah, they are decent machines. I felt the same way when I first got my 1098. Now I'm kind of like "why didn't that tire spin coming out of that corner? I must need more power". Seriously. At first my official comment was that it's was 'too fast' now I'm wondering what I can do to make it faster (it's already got the race kit 70mm Termis).

And the handling? Well, that's another story. Mine's a base model but supposedly the Ohlins are no better. It sucks. The forks are pulled right now because I just could not take it anymore. The chassis is killer but the setup is absolutely insane. Lots of work to do but it will get there... in a big way.

There's just nothing quite like a thundering twin. A bike like that definitely forces you to become a better rider.

 

The motorbike racers, whether it be GP, SBK, AMA, etc., they are GODS
Race cars drivers are Kings.

All kings want to be GODS...

Any Ducati superbike is effin awesome. My 748 is a blast (when it runs) and the brakes are the business...

 

Jamie, I don't know how big a guy you are, but my friend who owns the R, he's about 160 lbs. He generally likes how the bike turns, but thinks the bike is damped for someone larger and that the Ohlins is too harsh over anything but perfect tarmac. Kind of confirming his theory, I am bigger, over 200 lbs. and I thought, at least for only having ridden it once, that the bike handled very well for me...perhaps it was my additional weight that settled the suspension? I noted this difference when comparing the 1098 R to my VFR:

-my VFR has a VERY VERY light turn in, call it telepathic if you will, you don't have to think at all about dipping it into a turn...but once leaned it can be a bit vague, with a tendency to run wide unless you stay committed to the turn
-whereas the Duc seemed to have a much heavier intial turn in...requiring more aggressive countersteering...BUT, once turned, it went where you wanted it quite willingly and stayed on that line with little to no effort and would tighten/loosen the line at a whim...I guess telepathic in a different way...not at turn in, but through the turn/apex...

I dunno just theorizing...hehe...:crazy:

:biggrin:

 

I'm 215lb and it's WAY overdamped. I mean like double what it should be. The spring rate in the forks is ok for my weight but the stock rear was a little soft. New valving setup in the forks should make the front work pretty well. The stock offset on the triples is 35mm but 30mm would be better. I'm working on a triple clamp design for that right now. The rear shock needed a new spring and new valving (it was way stiff too) which I've already done. Last thing will be to make a new adjustment link so that I can lower the rear ride height. That will help with it's problem with holding the line on corner exits. Right now you have to fight the bars to keep it leaned over when on the gas.

In all honesty it's not any worse than the Japanese bikes are in stock trim. The chassis of the Ducati is amazing, getting the suspension to work properly with it will transform it into the machine it was meant to be!

 

UH Oh, another "telepathic" bike,, thats gunna get ya in trouble around here.
And I'd look out for the term "leaning"& "dipping" too, or suffer the onslaught.

 

I love the looks, sound and ride of a sb twin. Prior to my current twin purchase I looked at all of them for months. Nothing beats the Duc in performance but the insurance, and maintenance was way off the mark in comparison to the others out there. In the end I decided to go with the reliability and reasonable operating costs of Honda's RC. I was able to keep the VFR for commuting and milder rides plus add a twin beast to the garage for about the same price as owning the Duc. Oh... and there's no shortage of laughing in my helmet when riding the RC.:biggrin:

 

^ Your kidding, when did you get that? Nice I've thought about em, but to me they are to much work in getting em set up right, but oh yes, pretty cool if they just didn't have a concrete bench for a seat. but LOL the price difference is enough to make one do a double/triple take and put up with em. Honda needed to make a street version of the Thought it should have been the engine in the super hawk in the first place, love that engine. You need to ride her on down here for me to check it out further..

 

Whoops! My bad, I didn't know those were dirty words 'round here, haha. Why is that? I'd love to hear the story about that. I dunno, I guess I have them in my vocab by reading one too many magazine article...those editors/writers out there love that kind of subjective terminology.