August?? It'll be fekin hot! Nowt like a nice pair of heavy soggy leathers in the morning.... You'll love it, enjoy.
Still amazes me posts like this, price is aligned to brand aligned to performance, its not aligned to the market, its what the market will support, its not a mass produced bike like theh Yamaha are not Ducati, you can buy an equivalent performance car from Nissan as a 911 GTSbut the 911 will be sunstantially more money. It doesn't need to be 5k better than its rivals ..... the world doesn't work like that, if all you want is the most performance for your buck, then thats the only measure you need, a £ per HP conversion and you are job jobbed. I'm awaiting the V4R, and don't care less that it may or may not be a few BHP dpwn or a few quid up over a ZX10R / R1 or anything else. I shall acquire, paint it so as to offent the purists and use it on track as its a pointless road bike.
I think that's part of my thinking... I bought my KTM SDR this time last year when I could have bought an SFV4S but it's a lot of extra coin on a road bike, there's a few holidays/euro TD's with that difference. I've never ridden an SFV4 and I don't have any real desire to as the Katoom is such a good road bike, I'd go as far as to say the best bike I've ever owned in terms of smiles for miles. I don't think anyone makes a bad superbike now, but there is something about Ducati's, they're so visceral by comparison but if you just want speed/handling you could buy anything. Like I said I think I'd buy a 2nd hand base model and tart it up for TD's at some point, just to stay on a more modern bike, better electronics... but there's absolutely nothing wrong with my "ageing" 1299 that makes me desperate to swap at this point.
Sorry Dibs, but I wont scramble to the drums of the marketing men. It is a bike. If the market supports it, then fine. That doesnt make it good value. Ive owned enough new ducati's to know. Youre paying a premium on their say so, not because thats what it is worth. I dont think theyre good value for the price. My opinion. Besides, I want a bike for corner speed rather than in out. I think the rim suits my needs better. (once ive replaced the brakes that is)
Thats fine, but thats a choice, the choice is there to either buy Gucci or GAP, they both make perfectly good T shirts, but its not over priced, its priced for its market, and you have taken yourself out of that market. With any brand there is a cost of entry, watches are probably the most perfect example, my £50 G Shock tells the time as well / if not better than other watches I have that cost many many times more, but the joy of ownership comes into play, these aren't just inanimate objects. I'd buy the V4 just not be be bored sh**less by an S1000RR for example, regardles how capable it is, in fact I'd rather keep my money and my 1199 !
And you think you have the skills to find the difference in cornerspeed between a V4S and an R1M ? Brakes shouldn't need anything if you are looking at carrying all that corner speed surely ? Enjoy Almeria and try not to melt ....
My issue is when a company forces or attempts to force the market to say this is great. When the customer does that, thats fine. But when a company tries to tel the world it is cool, that instantly makes me think, not so fast sunshine. Porsche doesnt need to do that. Theyre just friggin cool. Because the customer says so, not because Porsche said so. They just were and are. The 916 was cool, because the bike just was. Ducati, currently are attempting to force the market to say so in order to drive up prices and increase profit. Thats not cool. Let the product do the talking, if its cool, then yay. If it is a turkey then meh.
Of course not, but I just have always enjoyed carrying more speed rather than hard brake turn and fire out. Its just more fun for me that way.
^^ Pays yer money and takes your choice... Is there a hot poop V4R coming out?? I'm more than happy with my V4S tbh... It's bonkers fast....
I love Almeria. You get to do 170 odd mph 50 times in one day. And other stuff. Like drinking too much...
Whats cool got to do with anything, its about desirability not coolness and Ducati have desirability by the bucket load because they are not Yam /Honda / Suzuki, they have always been an aspirational brand. When I bought my 996 back in 2001 (still have it) it was used with 1200 miles on it but cost e a grand more than a brand new Honda SP2, thats because I wanted a Ducati, not a Honda, the scenario we are seeing now is exactly the same. As for Porsche, they build so much tat, Cayennes, Macans etc with big wheels and blacked out windoes there is absolutely nothing cool about them.... and I'm not anti Porsche, I have a 911 !!! I could also have bought the same performance my 911 has for a tens of thousands less for an equivalent year / mileage car from other manufacturers. No one os telling you its cool, they are tealling you its an absolute weapon, which it is .. and in all hinestly completely wasted on 99% of us, these are all vanity purchaes ....
Marketing has done a number on yer Dibs. I am not immune either. I bought a 1299S when I shouldve bought the R1M then. But I didnt. Becuase I too am a sucker. But I am more determined this time, esp after the shite quality of the bits on the pani's. Besides, I want to try something different for a change. I dont doubt either that its a weapon. I love Ducati's but I hate Ducati if that makes sense?
I agree a little with the 'what a market will support' in terms of if you have high brand confidence, and you stay within a 'natural increase' curve you can get away with it, as people will be looking to spend £xk and spending 2% more at that point with a brand you can hook them on often is an easy upsell. The bike I don't necessarily agree with is that Ducati is not a 'mass manufacture' nowadays, that's slight rose tinted glasses, it's steered and strategised by the VW board, it's target is volume growth especially in america and asian markets where equally the prices don't matter as much. Ducati are selling more sports bikes in the UK by a massively long way over any Jap manufacturer and so it's only brand perception that keeps people thinking they are these lovingly hand assembled by valentino as long as he hasn't had too longer sleep on a friday afternoon.
Just to quickly say that I quite like this new V4S, I don’t think the V4’s are the prettiest bikes by a long shot but I bet it’s a great ride, ..would I buy one?…..no, I just wouldn’t know what to do with it. Total overkill for the road, I think you’d end up being frustrated pootling around using 10 or 12% of its potential, and for me, just too bloody expensive to put on the track in case I lob it! So it’s an ornament to put in the garage and polish ?
I think affordability plays a big part here. We just don’t admit it openly as we are British. For some people nearly £30k for a bike is a shit tonne of money. Others, £30k could be 2-10 weeks salary. It’s all relative. I know millionaires who drive cars worth £10k, and I know people who are in debt who still rent, that have cars on finance for £1,000 a month because they want to look “rich/cool”. It’s what importance you put on having basically a toy. Hell, I know one guy who lives in a shitty flat on his own, his ex-wife and 3 kids live in their old house and he’s paying 3x school fees costing an average of £4,500 a month. Either way, from 1998 when an R1 cost £9,999 roughly, to 2021 where an R1 now costs around £17k. I’d say that’s good value for money.
£5k down and roughly £250-£280 a month for a top spec Ducati on PCP. Comparing that to cars/performance and general cost, I personally think that’s ok.
It's no wonder everybody has new bikes over there, but that's also why the prices can keep going up all the time. The base price doesn't matter. Here in Ireland our Ducati dealer does PCP at 11% and it's a maximum of 30% GMFV and a minimum of 30% deposit. So a V4s here is an 10k deposit and 500 quid a month, which for me anyway is a no go for something that is a very occasional use yoke that takes a back seat to more enjoyable road bikes
Yeah, we’re lucky really. I’ve a mate in Drogheda and from what he tells me the insurance and tax is a bit eye watering too…
There's certainly a new V4R in 2023, so I would expect they'll be a refresh on the lower bikes. Seamless gearbox seems to be the big talking point which would get me interested, but I don't know you can improve much on the V4 QS from my brief experience.
