@royalwithcream to be fair my local track is pretty tight (Knockhill) and is suited better to a smaller bike. All the drama from the BMW comes with the power and the need to keep closing the throttle, this is what makes it a bit of a handful. This is possibly due to the ECU reflash and the power restrictions being removed in the lower gears, I just need to learn to be smoother. The Ducati is sweet as a nut. On a larger track (Almeria / Catalunya / Parcmotor) the BMW's power problems disappear and it's much easier to manage. I have not had the Ducati on a larger track yet so I cannot offer a direct comparison but I think it may suffer slightly on a lack power but I cannot be sure. But as I said earlier.....get the Duc , an 1199
Ah that makes more sense. Knockhill is one of my favourite tracks. I love the gradient changes. Thats me in the gold car:
I hate knockhill, Scotland needs a proper racetrack and not in a location where it rains in the middle of summer even though everywhere else is sunny.
I think the point you make at the start about having other special bikes is an important one. I've ridden all three of your choices and each one has it's own merits as covered here. If you don't need something that gives you the horn when you open the garage door (as it sounds like you already have this) then order the new S1000rr or a second hand current one it's a stunning all round bike. Or if I was in your position I'd get the Prilla ;-) I keep my 848 for track and special occasions and use my Blade on the road as my all rounder. It's the same argument just at a much lower budget !! In fact there's a thought get an 848 track bike and an S1000rr. Perfect
If you had a choice of a 9 sec 1/4 mile neon or 10 sec Ferrari what would you rather have ? Is the fastest always the better ? Hell no
I think you should always buy a bike with you're heart. That way you'll love it no matter what it does to you, you're licence or bank balance.
I couldnt agree more, I loved opening up the front door on my garage and seeing this sat there, but There is just something about seeing this in its place when open it up now, The Panigale is such a better bike in my opinion.
An old thread however......Just back from Almeria so I can offer direct comparison between S1k & Panigale on a decent track. Here is a link to my fastest lap on my BMW S1000rr (2012 plenty mods) and my fastest lap on my Panigale R (pretty standard) side by side. As you will see there is very little difference in speed. On the plus side for the Panigale I have not had much track time with it but I have had about 2yrs worth with the BMW and the Panigale did a faster time, I barely hit an apex, it was not new tyres and it was a fair bit cooler. I still say that the Panigale feels slow but the fact is.......it's every bit as fast as the S1k.
Your three choices are all so very different that comparison is nearly possible. The small Pani is a much more sensible Ducati than the big one. The Beemer is as fast as the big Ducati but much more useable and smoother.... probably the better for longer distances. But............... well I got the 1199, I'm not far from my 60th birthday, cannot claim to be either a good or natural biker, neither have I many years of biking experience ( I'm a never-born-before biking convert ) , I am however utterly smitten by the big engined Pani. It accelerates like a fighter-plane, can be a real bugger at town speeds, drinks fuel, scares children and animals and needs the 'comfort seat' for my wrinkled old bottom ( misnomer as all they've done is add padding to a seat that had none ). I can still happily cross Britain and back in a day, visit the Colonies ( Scotland, Wales et al ) and get off completely banjaxed but equally happy at the end of the ride. I think you know where my advice is leading.
I've had 8 Ducati's in the last 10yrs In 2011 I bought the 848 Evo loved it, in 2013 bought the 899, I loved the bke it rides nice few trick bits QS, TC, but unfortunately it lacked something the 848 had plenty of and thats the feeling of mid range grunt and the fact that if you didn't pay it respect it would bite you in the arse. So I traded the 899 in a year later for the 1199, I picked it up Jan 3rd and have covered 1400 miles on it, yes its a beast, is it less useable than the 1199 "HELL NO", I have full system termi's on it, I did find it a little awkward low gear filtering 1st n 2nd was never really happy in either gear till I replaced std rear sprocket with 4 teeth bigger now its a lot easier going filtering, the bike is mental but that really depends on how much you twist that throttle you are in control not the other way round but it does dserve respect because if you don't it will not only bite but rip your head off and sh!t down your neck. IMHO it has to be the 1199 over the 899 and as for the BMW well it won't have nowhere near the same character as a Ducati.
I have not ridden the S1000RR, but I went through a similar dilemma. In the end I bought the 1199, I felt with the 899, I would always regret not having the 1199. My only regret was not pushing the budget and getting a more expensive version. I never rode the BMW as I had three others and needed a change. I now have a Pani, an MTS1200GT and a F800GS
Random tanget as you got me thinking: is there anyway to get the raw throttle, brake position, gear number, etc data out of the Panigale or is it all wrapped up in the Cann bus thing? I'd like to try and build my own data logger with something like a Raspberry Pi mini computer and a GPS receiver.
It all comes from the Can bus thing via the connection in the tail unit so not sure how you would go about getting the data. In fact if it didn't come from the can bus I still wouldn't know
