Ducati 749S - A few thoughts

[fizzwheel]

Ducati 749s So whats it like…

As some of you will know, we have a Duke living in our garage. There was a spell of dry weather yesterday. So I got it out of hibernation and took it for a bit of a run. Only about 20 miles or so on roads I know well. A mixture of dual carriageway and B road twisties.

I thumbed the starter and the asthmatic starter whirrs away and I start the bike ( trust me a feet in itself after its been sat in the garage for weeks on end )

I wait for the bike to warm up, after a few minutes the temp guage stops flashing at me, but it still doesn’t like to idle. A few more minutes and its up to temp properly. That’s better its idling nicely now. Time to leave.

First impressions..

Oh boy is the seat hard, is like sitting on a plank. But once your underway its strange because once your sat on the bike and actually riding it, its surprising comfortable.

The mirrors, ah forget it, utterly useless. The only way I can actually see anything in them is to contort my body and elbows. I found that If I lift my elbow up and look underneath them, then I can see a little but its not brilliant, note to self plenty of lifesaver checks for me today.

I’m quite conscious that the battery doesn’t have a lot of charge in it. The dash on the duke has a myrad of functions. Its got a useful setting in that it shows you the current charging rate on the battery. 14.4 volts, which drops down with the headlights on and even the brake light has a noticeable drain on the charging level. Theres a fuel consumption setting as well, which I don’t bother with.

At slow speed around town its easy to catch your elbows on the tank at full lock, Also its easy to catch my bulky but warm winter gloves on the mirrors to. Just needs a little more care when manoeuvring, nothing to worry about really. I stop at the first set of lights. A gentle pull on the front brake lever activates the brembo callipers on the 320mm disk which seems to have good stopping power ( well it should really shouldn’t it ) however, I use the rear brake a lot at low speed, and the rear brake on the Duke has no feel whatsoever. Its pretty horrible and only really works when its used hard. That’s probably because the bikes been stood for so long without being ridden though.

Lights change off again, snick from 1st in to 2nd, the gearbox is a joy to use. But I need to positive with my changes otherwise it results in a missed gear. The Duke, likes rev’s its much more revy than the SV is, it thrives on revs, the more you give it, the happier the bike seems. I pottle round the first round about. It seems slow to steer, the bike also feels very long. To look at the idiot lights and the top half of the speedo involves looking down through the screen. Umh I wouldn’t be wanting to fit a dark tint screen on this bike it would really obstruct your vision of the instruments. Quick nip along a section of the A303, slide back in the seat, which is becoming more comfy and tuck in. The wind protection of he fairing and the screen is pretty good. Yes theres some wind blast, but its not to bad. I can stretch the legs of the bike some more as I suspected it is rev hungry. It pulls cleanly and crisply from about 4000 rpm all the way to the rev limiter, not a flat spot in sight, Silky smooth. I’m a bit disappointed though it just doesn’t feel fast. Compared to the GSXR there’s no sensation of speed. Its just a relaxed hard smooth acceleration, whereas the GSXR just goes bonkers when you open the throttle hard. The Duke’s much calmer, its not slow however I’m into 3 figure speed quite quickly, Its deceptive.

I hop off the A303, I hard pull on the lever again has me revelling in the bite and feel of the brembo’s they definitely better and nicer to use the the Tokico’s on the GSXR. Now its time for some twisty fun.

I’m not familiar with the bike and its not mine, I don’t want to be explaining to Liz when she gets back from the TA that I’ve binned her bike and theres some standing water about so I am not pushing the bike hard.

I accelerate away from the Junction, click 2nd, 3rd, 4th short shifting at about 8000rpm. Not bothering with the clutch, just a snick of the lever and your in the next gear, the gearbox is beautiful to use, but only if theres plenty of revs on. Its not so nice changing gear at low RPM. I approach the first set of bends.. umh not so nice. I’m surprised… Theres an initial vagueness to the turn in, its hard to describe, I’m finding its needing a little more input to get it to turn, umh OK have to watch that.

Contd below...

[fizzwheel]

Contd...

The bends are coming at me fast and thick now. Hard braking for hairpin corners, turn in, I’m greeted by more vaguness, apex, throttle on and the bike punches hard out of the corners, this is where the Duke scores, I can get on the power earlier and the power comes in more smoothly than the GSXR. I can use the power earlier than I would and wind on more power with more lean angle than I can on the GSXR. It just seems altogether more manageable.

More of the same, accelerate hard, brake hard twisty fun. I’m getting it now. To overcome that initial vagueness requires a little more steering input and a dash of countersteer and wallop I’m lent over. Once your lent over, boy is this bike stable. Its holds it line nicely and you can adjust your line very easily with no fuss. Its more stable than the GSXR is.

Pick up the route back home. I overtake a few cars, but get stuck behind one or two. Urgh.. the Dukes not happy. 30 – 40mph it doesn’t like it. On the GSXR I could just leave the bike in the higher gears, maybe 5th or 6th and it would quite happily ride all day like this. Whereas the Duke complains, the bikes juddering from the transmission and it doesn’t want to pull. I knock it down into 3rd, pick the revs up and it all smooths out again. Its that twin thing of being in the right gear at the right time.

There is plenty of grunt for over takes, its not intimidating at all. But it needs concentration to ride and ride it well. You need to ride it hard to get the best from it, but when you do its very rewarding to ride.

The more I ride this bike the more I am beginning to like it. Sadly for me but perhaps not for Liz, I’m not being seduced by its Italian charms. I prefer the GSXR, let me tell you why.

The GSXR is more responsive to throttle input, at times perhaps to responsive. Its more challenging to ride. The Duke just feels to easy its almost to good its taken the fun out of it.

I prefer the steering response of the GSXR, its much sharper in its steering characteristics, which once you’ve got accustomed to it, I find again its more challenging to ride. You can really exploit it. I’m sure with more time on the Duke I would be able to do the same.


I think though its also partly due to the power differences. The GSXR is 144bhp at the crank. Where the 749 I think is around the 110 - 115bhp mark.


Also I left the GSXR in the garage for nearly 2 months without riding it. It started first thumb of the starter. After being stood for two weeks the battery was flat as a pancake on the Duke. It did start, but only after spending most of the day on an Optimate. I’m sure with everyday use though this wouldn’t be a problem, also theres a knack to starting it when its cold it needs faffing with and personally its annoying that you have to faff with half a cold start lever and then some throttle but not to much.


Also the sidestand is tricky to get down. Liz has been struggling with it since she bought the bike. Its recessed into the fairing and theres no lug on it to catch with your heel to get the stand down. I'm OK with it because I've got long legs I can lean the bike over the other way and hook it with my heel, but Liz can't do that. Shes got the knack for it now and catches the end of the stand with her toe and then she can swing the stand down. Also the stand bows and flexes when you first put the bike on it. Its not confidence inspiring. But like alot of things on this bike its the little foables that after a while become part of the owning and riding experience. You just have to keep telling yourself that its all part of owning a Ducati.


I think what I like is the nutter throttle response, the super fast turn in the twitchy chassis on the GSXR, it needs total concentration to ride it fast. But you can ride it slowly and it’ll do that to and be relaxing when ridden like that. I personally don’t feel that the Duke would cope with dawdling around. It feels like you need to be on it all the time to get the best from it.

The mirrors are better on the GSXR to. Also the screen is better and I get less wind blast on it than I do the Duke.

However there are a couple of things that are better. The seating position encourages you to look up and forward. On the GSXR your butt is so far up in the air you can without realising it spend to much time looking at that 3ft patch of tarmac in front of you. The Duke’s better in this respect, it helps you to keep your head up and look forward do the road. Which means your forward observation is easier to maintain.

The brakes are superior, good initial bite, and the feel through the lever is better to and to be honest when its in the right rev range, the gearbox is nicer to use to.

For me I’m glad I bought the GSXR, but If I had hoped from the SV to the Duke would I be happy. Well yes I would ecstatically so. If you like twins, you’ll love a Ducati. The steering is sharper, the brakes are better, the gearbox is nicer, its just as comfortable once you get used to seat. Its also got that thing that when people who don’t ride bikes as you what you ride, if you say a “Ducati” they instantly know what it is. Its like the Ferrari of motorbikes.

It is beautiful to look at. I hated the 749 / 999 shape when it first came out. Photos however dont do it justice. It looks slabby and flat in pictures. But when you look at it in real life. Theres all sorts of curves going on with the body work. The frame and engine the welds are beautifully done and it all looks as there is nothing there that shoudlnt be. It all serves a purpose.

I got appreciative nods from car drivers and passengers yesterday, how many times does that happen. But I got ignored by other bikers, if I’d been on the SV or the GSXR I’m convinced I’ve got a nod back.

I’d like to ride a 998, a 999 or a 1098 just to see what the bigger brother is like to ride.

Nice write up Fizz, getting a knack for this it seems

What you described about the Ducatti is pretty much what I expected though you do expect it being a twin to be quite grunty but the track going ducatti's are quite the opposite.

Don't think ill be chopping in my gsxr for ducatti anytime soon also.

[Rich]

Great write up Fizz, sounds like you had some fun getting the hang of the Duke. . Gives us a great insight into the bike, seems the good points out weigh the bad

Originally Posted by fizzwheel

Also I left the GSXR in the garage for nearly 2 months without riding it. It started first thumb of the starter. After being stood for two weeks the battery was flat as a pancake on the Duke. It did start, but only after spending most of the day on an Optimate.

This may need ammending, he's just gone out to get his gixxer out of the garage and it wont start.
I think i'll stick with my duke

nice write up, well written.

[fizzwheel]

Originally Posted by e.d.

he's just gone out to get his gixxer out of the garage and it wont start.

Serves me right really doesnt it.

I'll tell you what Fizz, you hit the nail right on the head when you described how it likes to be revved. I was astonished at both how quickly it revs and how much it wants for a V2.

The one item you didn't mention was how warm your bum gets if you're caught in traffic

Nice write up.... (Now, you'd better go and fix the Gixxer )

.

[fizzwheel]

Its fixed already 10 minutes on the optimate started right as rain. I guess the battery is low and I did alot of short journeys on it last week which wont have helped either.

[Stu]

Very timeous write up thanks. Since you posted in bikes other than SV I was wondering what was the best 750 out of them.
So is it the Gixer's better, but the Ducati is individual and can appeal more? what about price? purchase and running?
Cheers