Have you ridden the 899 Panigale? I found it severely lacking in mid range grunt compared to my 848 Evo and my SF848 bear in mind the SF and 899 were ridden back to back over a year.
I haven't dared ride one yet! If they did a sf899 you'd ex them to tune the engine for more midrange thought surely?
You would think they would, I expected a lot more from the 899 over the 848 Evo but alas it wasn't to be.
Ducati will say to themselves: Hmm. Can we screw any more cash out of the 899 market segment, who have probably chosen the bike because it is cheaper than a 1299? They will answer "yes, with some added trinkets and a couple of new sexier paint schemes". The trick is to add enough bling without cannibalising 1299 sales by making it too desirable or superb value for money. What they could do is just bring out an 899 Longevity where the chain doesn't rust and the fasteners fur up.
id love a 899s (colour screen, sssa, decent brakes, ohlins, mag engine bits, etc) as i keep saying. But i doubt it can happen as what would it be priced at....
I reckon it would come in at around 17k with all that added. New 1299 std is £16k so 899 will seem well over priced. Only time will tell.
