So when my friends are suggesting a ride out to Brighton are they actually suggesting something wholly different to what I am thinking??
I just watched a video, a review vid from MCN whereby the blade is only 600th's of a second slower lapping than an 1198. And the R1 is by far the quickest. Maybve I should have got one, but I didn't rate the comfort or the riding position. And the RC8 looks like a Robot. Still cheap ...
Phpbiker, I do not think anyone is saying the 1198 is a better bike necessarily, (although it might be, especially the 1198S which has loads of goodies stock). I think the point is that bikes such as Ducati's have more torque than a Blade and accelerate quicker up to about 150. Even though my modded RR6 has I think 83lb torque, it still will not out accelerate an 1198. My 998S had faster acceleration than my blade and so did my 999. The big difference for me though was the handling and ease of riding, Ducatis take a lot more rider input and are less forgiving plus the Blade will still accelerate hard above 150.
So how come the Duke doesn't seem to be able to catch the Blade in any of the road races if its got so much more power? I personally think that the Blade is just a better real day to day bike and with equal riders the blade will win.
Well .. I am surprised at the lack of support on this .. but ... My bike is not standard, but its also not a race bike either and how much power is that pipe worth? Not that much. Torque we are talking about ..I am certain at the top of my second gear .. I was going to pass him. He had not reason not to go flat out. He left me in first because I struggled to keep the front down, top of second I was catching him at a reasonable rate, third I would have passed him fairly easily. He had no reason not to be flat out. The road was completely open and he went for it proper fashion. And ... I've been burning up since I was 17 and that was 25 years ago. I'm not a liar, a total reckless twat or an inexperienced wannabe .. the rest .. go figure.
It has a lot of low down grunt and accelerates quicker.....up to about 150, but Blades etc will usually accelerate faster above 150 than the Duke. I agree with you,the Blade is a better real day to day bike. Part of this is why the Blade can overall beat an 1198 generally, because the Blade handles much better, it holds it's lines easier and is IMO more stable under directional changes and under harsh braking for example. I can ride faster on my Blade than I could on my Ducatis, partly because the Blade flatters my riding ability.it is easy to ride fast and the Blade forgives mistakes more. IMO, riding a Ducati fast and safely requires a bit more rider skill/input. Yep the Blade is a better all round bike, that is why I have one, but the 1198 is a great bike and looks far better than my Blade IMO. The Blade is also cheaper to buy and run than an 1198S.
I agree! The blade is better on the roads because its handling and overall user friendly package. Nothing to do with acceleration which is the one thing I think the duke will be better at
Well I'm please we all agree that the Blade is faster,starts every time, better looking. top build quality,handles better,has better pulling ability, can ride further on one,the ladies love em and if in Brighton we can make a fast exit once found pulling hard or easing in gently! But is your Blade an HRC? if so I imagine you could have done him in every gear one handed re-setting your trip meter! Enjoy the forum people - open ground for everyone's opinion
the dukes start everytime too, that reliability was a throw back from the early models that didnt like rain. the reason the blades win in road racing is because of the top speeds.go to the smaller road races and the dukes away up front, they can get the power down quicker and Im not sure about the 1198 but the 848 makes my blade feel like hgv when it comes to the twisty bits of road.
Don't know about the 848 but we were talking about the Blade and the 1198 and i'm just saying that it can't do what a blade does in road racing for some reason! I might be totally wrong but i don't think a Blade would be made to look like a lorry on the road with an avarage rider in control up against a 848, can't remember ever having a go with anything on the road and thinking afterwards "must sell this and get one of those" and i'm not saying i always win either!! What smaller road races are you refering to by the way? And when you say up front do you mean winning?
Also the Panigale has 195bhp to the blades 178bhp, 98.1ft/lb of torque to the blades 78ft/lb and 186mph to the blades 180mph so i don't think it's because the blades quicker that makes it win more!
yeah winning races and sometimes only missing out on wins. lee johnson was winning a hell of a lot more races since he slung his leg over the duke winning loads of the short circuits and narrowly missing out on the nw200 win to sealy who was on the suzuki. as for the lorry, go take a run on an 848 and you will see.My first run out on the blade I couldnt believe how much slower it was around the antrim coast road.
the blades in the road races are getting over 200mph, the duke isnt getting that unless its a really really long straight.
Oi Phantom mate. I think you got the wrong bike. LOL .. I was off my game today, and let some naked MV Brutale go past. I over cut my favorite bend at full lean..I let him pass me. I felt ill. But at one point passing 120 I was as clearly reeling him in at full chat as I was the 1198 the otherday. Due to the fact I am old c_nt with many years of being a complete toser behind me In all fairness, I was going to pass the Brutale pretty quickly at one point. But the 1198 was requiring distinct effort. But hey we all suffer from internet disease. The assumption that the guy at the other end doesn't have a fucking clue. When there is the distinct possibility he's spent a life time on two wheels, building them fixing them and behaving like a twat on them, and then thinking better of it.
But they are not doing very well in the GP, WSB, BSB, IOM TT, Skerries, Kells, Southern 100 and even at Suzuka they came 30th! I'm not saying they are slow but I think the others are more road useable. I had a SP1 before my Blade and at the time it seemed like a rocket but I have to admit that the Blade is quicker.
I know I am kind of going off topic here, but from my experience of racing this year at Anglesey circuit, in the senior open races, the Blades/ZX10s etc are generally left behind by a lad called Sea Neary on an 848 and Jamie Harris on an R6. The outright lap record has been broken by Sam Hornsey on a GSXR600. In a straight line, the thousands are quicker and as has been said, the 1198 is quicker up to about 140/150 due to the torque curve. The very nature of an inline 4 means it produces more power at the top end, whereas the twins have huge low and mid range torque. I am not saying anybody is right or wrong here and I am not taking sides, I am only fuelling the fire!
