Well just over 2 weeks and 1000 miles and I thought some of you may be interested in my thoughts on the bike ! Its NOT a blade or even close, so I had to stop comparing it to one ! As such it has taken a short time to adapt to the whole package but I am very happy. The riding position is excellent, no more aches or pains at all, good view of the road and despite reading a lot of bad comments about the standard screen I have found it does a great job, although at 5ft 7 its plenty tall enough for me also the mirrors are excellent, unlike the 1098S I had where I could only see my elbows. The engine is typical Ducati, and coming from the 1198 obviously not lacking in the grunt department! It is mentally quick but easy to manage with big dollops of torque, you just bang through the gears effortlessly, the gearbox is agricultural in comparison to the blades silky smooth change and finding neutral can be a PITA at times but nothing too bad, you can live with it. It is a pain below 3k rpm as are most twins but you soon get used to it, I have spoken to a couple of owners and apparently CJS in Bristol can map the bike to make it much more usable, I am not to bothered at the moment but may look into it in the future. The bike has a 20 litre tank and I am getting a daily average MPG of 45 with a combination of A road and motorway mileage over 120 miles, it has been wet since the day I got the bike so can see that reducing a lot once it drys out ! I miss having a Quickshifter and will be attempting to fit one soon, HM have been very helpful in letting me know about loom fitment etc so should get one sorted out, it’s one of those toys you get so used to, when its gone you miss it loads. I went to MH Racing to discuss the suspension, it is a Sports/Touring bike but even in sports mode I found the rear compressing under acceleration and the front diving under braking, coming from the Blade with its sublime handling with full Ohlins it felt terrible, so Mark suggested a 100 rear spring instead of the std 85 (he reckons they are undersprung as std) and some adjustment on the front preload and the bike was transformed! In Sport mode it is much stiffer with hardly any squat under acceleration and minimal dive under hard braking while it still retains a comfortable ride in Touring and Urban modes .. much better, I have also ordered the Ohlins SCU which was an upgrade developed by Ohlins for the 2010 -12 Ohlins suspended Multistradas which allows the suspension to become semi-active, monitoring certain parameters of the bike then altering the comp and rebound on the move to give you the best configuration possible.... will be interesting to see once its like once I get it fitted. The Brembo brakes are great even with the ABS, which I haven’t had before the feel is very good, not far off the 19 RCS and HPK setup I had on the blade but with less bite and overall power. I put Michelin PR4s on the day I collected the bike, they are fantastic and so far have made the traction control redundant, even in the rain with it turned right up I couldn’t get the tyres to budge ! The finish isnt as good as Honda, but that is not a surprise to me or anyone else I bet, but I think with a bit of TLC it will stand the test of time and the milage I do. Other points that I will point out… the hands free key is a novel idea but you need to take it out your pocket if you want to get into any of the luggage or refuel, which means digging through every pocket to find the bloody thing ! The center stand is positioned so when you get moving and adjust your feet on the pegs like you would on the blade your left heel hits the stand ! But so far that’s the worst of it and you can take the stand off the bike if you like, but it does make life easier doing the chain etc so I will live with it. Hope I have not bored you all to death but someone may be interested lol
Cheers Jamie. Nice write up. It's got to be a pig trying to find a like for like comparison with what you had before as they're chalk and cheese. I did grin at the mods....already.... And found it interesting that your few gripes with the bike are down to its ergonomics. Again! I reckon they design the engine and the wheels then realise they have to then fit everything else on. Including the geezer. It's the same with everything they do. Keep us up to date with your progress, mate.
cracking right up. Now how many bikes have you had since I got my blade in 2011 Enjoy mate and the multi was on my list if my ops had not gone so well.
He's had loads of bikes Remal! Lol Nice write up J. Glad u are gelling with it. Get some more mods purchased.
Pleased for you Jamie, you have found peace with Ducati Slap on a HM QS and a full Termi and she's good to go lol Oh they look great with BST wheels too
Glad you're moving on ok, took the Repsol leathers for a spin yesterday, felt good and hope the cash gets you some nice mods
