Well I have had beemer cars most of my working life and that tc used to be so annoying.Being old school in rwd cars I prefer no intrusion at all.As for bikes no other bike has made me want another yet.Yes they are faster when you wring their necks 10k plus but I prefer the lowdown grunt and way the blade spins up on exits.Standard the blade trounces anything up to 100mph as shown in most tests, without tc without qs or any other mod.Now if you add the mods on a blade like qs like Dave V's it would be even faster in a straight line.The only thing that lets the blade down is the suspension but again that can get sorted too.Shame they don't do a test on modded bikes.
For me it's all about that midrange grunt. I have had loads of bikes over the years. 2-strokes, muscle bikes, big singles, V-twins and middleweights. The thing that always evaded me was the combination of elements I found desirable in a bike. All the grunty bikes I had handled and stopped like poo or weighed a ton. All the handling bikes lacked oomph and needed to be thrashed. I always hankered after something that would give me mega low and midrange stomp and handle well. I thought I was going to have to build it myself....And then I test rode the blade. It was perfection for me. I don't want the power at 9000rpm+ Surely thats the wrong side of 150mph anyway. I love the way you can short shift and still feel it pull like a train. Again it's what individual want, but my blade is almost perfection to me.
One of my customers bike for you Barney, soon to be a GoldBet... Problem is mate so many great bikes and only one lifetime, is the object of the game not to own as many bikes as possible in one sitting... I think so.
I like the way the side fairings are designed to look like a Sharks Gills or whatever they're called!
Not sure what all the negative vibes are on the Ducati 1199 ..Let's put it this way who on here can argue with the following ....(1) Looks ? (2) specification? (3) Power? (4) goodies? (5) near exclusive? (6) Not massively dear to service? (7) Park one up next to any other bike at a meet and see the reaction .Would I have one YES can I afford one NO ? Yes the blade has grunt ! So has an SP2 . Things have or are moving on and the Ducati is a realistic benchmark for others to follow .Is it perfect NO ? But what bike is?
I know exactly what you mean Freedom, even more so now they have not got all the problems of the older ones. Whilst I love my Blade I never look at it in the same way as I did my Ducati's. I used to open up the garage just to look at them when the weather was bad. Plus of course the sound of the Termis and the grunt. Now the belts are gone I might just have to have one more before my sports bike days come to an end.
Spot on exfire, I have been telling Ling since I brought my last blade in 2011 "this will be my last super bike" then I bought the Panigale this year and who knows what will happen in 2015 and if my 52 year old body will keep taking the knocks I will give it another go if I can and see if I get away with it,if not it will be something a bit more comfortable and befitting my senior years. I hear the new BM 1000r naked is quite placid.
