What's all this about Ducati bikes then?

But of course there are also many gorgeous bikes out there,no one is saying that for one reason or another Ducati are better than anything else. To many a rider who has never owned or experienced a bike from the Italian maker then it is easy to pour scorn based on past weak points. But go out and actually own one and I think your questions about reliability will be diminshed if not removed entirely.

There are many bikes that fulfill the perfect role for their happy riders. What one can never remove or change is the fact that a brand like Ducati just means that much more to people.It generates a brand loyalty that runs deeper than could ever be attained by the Japanese brands. And that is not to suggest that yes, many of the Jap bikes are equally as capable if not more, than many of those produced in Bologna.

It is not snobbery,as being a past Ducati owner I simply chose a 749 as a natural progression from what the SV had offered me. I never look down my nose at any other bike purely because I have a Ducati? But I can assure you this, I had more chats with strangers and admiring glances when out with the 749 than throughout my many years of riding. There is something about Ducati even to none biking people.

It could be a touch of the "being 1 in a million,rather than 1 of a million" but there is defintely something about them.

Yes dislike the look of them,or the price tag but dont simply dismiss them by using nonsensical comments.All that does is make one look rather foolish.

[Skip]

Originally Posted by Richie

I've been given permission to get a Ducati 996 like this one...


all I have to do is raise the cash and part ex mine.

So I've decided to sell my body...
Females only may start responding now.

How tall are you Richie? A guy here at work has one and at 6'3" he says he has never been comfortable on it...

[yorkie_chris]

All the Italian bikes seem to put form before function, which just makes me think TART. I'm not a fan of much of anything italian. (Beretta shotguns aside)

KTM RC8 is nice, but I'd still love a GSXR1100 spondon. Then again I'm the sort who finds a mk2 escort rally "special" far more interesting than say an evo or a ferrari.

Originally Posted by Defender

3 of my favourite bikes. Perhaps one day I'll have one of them

That Photoshop is better looking than the new blade!!! Why didn't Honda make this instead???

Guess its what your into really..... Like comparing a Toyota with an Alfa Romeo...

I'd rather have a Ford than an Alfa Romeo.

I hear the electrics on the Ducati bikes are not that reliable.

[fizzwheel]

Originally Posted by Defender

I hear the electrics on the Ducati bikes are not that reliable.

the same people that tell you that, also will tell you that the SV is a girls bike...

Originally Posted by Defender

I hear the electrics on the Ducati bikes are not that reliable.

They are much better on the later 748/998's and the 749/999's (shame they were so ugly in road trim) and the same jump in improvement has been made again with the 1098's.

I'd pick a 748/848 over a 998/1098 any day, but a well sorted TL would beat them all in my choice.

I'd like to have asked this question before Stoner won the 2007 Moto GP.

I wonder how many people would have wanted one.

[fizzwheel]

It would be the same, Carl Foggarty sealed their reputation on the race track since then those race wins have transformed the image on the Marque, what was it somebody once said.

Win on Sunday, sell on Monday...

Originally Posted by yorkie_chris

All the Italian bikes seem to put form before function, which just makes me think TART. I'm not a fan of much of anything italian. (Beretta shotguns aside)

KTM RC8 is nice, but I'd still love a GSXR1100 spondon. Then again I'm the sort who finds a mk2 escort rally "special" far more interesting than say an evo or a ferrari.

Young Chris you dissapoint me so! The Italians actually design their bikes with passion and deep love of motorcycles. The Japanese,(and I am not knocking them as most of my bikes have been made by them) merely produce a very good product to sell. It is about no more than market share with them.

Now "form over function?" I really cannot believe that you have really thought that out too much? Where do Aprilia's and Ducati fall down in their functionality as sports/race rep bikes? Benelli's and MV's?

Show me a better in your face naked/streetfighter than a Tuono or those produced by Benelli? They do it a little differently for sure just like BMW have always done and thankfully KTM are showing themselves not to be afraid of doing.

If you want a same old,look a like bike then absolutely anything European in your eyes and mind will be crap.

When looking to criticise move on from problems mentioned on a model launched over 10 years ago! The 749/999's set a new level of reliability and it has been part of Ducati's new strategy to ensure that trend continues and that servicing costs of the bikes will be reduced in the future. They dont seem a bad old bike to consider in my mind.

Finally Fizz is so right, Ducati's kudos was increased immeasurably by the succesful exploits of good old King Carl,Stoner's success last year had nothing to do with it, it simply reinforced it in minds that would maybe have perviously still doubted Ducati. The 848 and 1098 were already in pre production before Casey even signed for them. But good to see things from the Moto GP programme filter through to the road bikes so quickly......the digital dash is a straight result of that, so are the eliptical throttle bodies on the 848.