Bloody fantastic !! Bought my new 899 September 19th last year, so I've had the bike for 13 months now and I'm still over the moon with it !! I've used it quite a bit this year, 4 long weekends away, almost 1,000 miles each, plus the normal? weekend blasts and all the way from running it in I've never had one bit of bother with it. The finish is spot on and it just cleans up like brand new with very little effort. Its just had its 7,500 mile service ( £166 quid, bargain! ) and its going like stink, I ride it in race mode normally and only swap to road mode when it rains, I don't use the wet mode at all as it just dumbs the bike down too much. As I've said before, the bike seemed to get loads better after 5,000 miles, revs quicker and the suspension seems like it has finally bedded in One happy bunny! you can just see the chrome silencer of my mates BMW s1000XR poking out behind my bike. This pic was taken at St Mary's Loch on a 3 day weekend up to Dumfries in Scotland, the Ventura rack is a godsend for carrying your weekend gear, I use it with an old Gearsack tailpack that has never let a drop of water in and it looks like it was designed to sit on the Ventura rack especially as it has built in bungees for attachment. The whole setup prevents the bag from scratching any bodywork on the bike and is really secure and never moves. It ate another back tyre on its way up to Scotland so I had to go to Ducati Glasgow for a new one - Michelin Power Supersport evo's now I'd never considered these for the Pani, but they come in the correct size ( 180/60 ) and my God they grip like buggery, I put the front on to match it and they are really good, plus it has wear bar indicators near the centre, so they are easier to judge how worn they are getting compared to the Pirelli Corsa's, however your chicken strips look even bigger on these as the tread wraps around the tyre and up the sidewall, no chance of getting to the edge of them on the road! If I can get 2,500 miles out of the back one I'll be happy! Quick pint at hotel after ride back from Glasgow, not much chance to lean it over on the way back! Mich Supersport Evo's seem really good so far The bike has a voracious appetite for rear tyres, this new Mich is its 4th rear tyre, and went on at 7,300 miles, so far I've used 2 Rosso Corsa's, ( standard fit ) and 1- Diablo Rosso II, supposed to get better milage as its a sport-touring tyre but it actually did no better than the Corsa's, and now this Mich Supersport, If I can get 2,500 miles out of this one I'll be happy! Two things I really didn't expect from this bike :- Fuel economy - On the odd occasion that your not riding it about like your hairs on fire, it can be pretty good on juice, we had an overnighter in Lincolnshire a while back and we did the Helmsley TT on the way down, over the Humber bridge and filled up at Caister? and according to the trip meter the bike was doing over 51 mpg! Even on a weekend hoon, it'll still turn in high 40's which I think is really good for the performance on tap. The other thing I didn't expect was how easy it is to keep clean, a wet towel on the fairing nose to soak the dead flies off and 30 mins with the detergent and its like a new pin with very little effort. What would I change it for??...can't think of anything at the moment, Tuono 1100 v4 looks interesting but drinks petrol, 1299 Pani possibility, but total overkill on the road and apparently they kick out a fair bit more heat. New 959 ?? not different enough really, extra capacity is just to get over California emission regs, so I can't see it being any quicker than the 899, they should have given it electric adjustable suspension and single sided swinger to make the difference more pronounced and called it an "S" model. Providing it stays dry I'll be using it untill they start putting salt on the roads, then I'll put it away for the winter. Would I buy an 899 again? ..in a heartbeat, thank you Ducati, one of the best bikes I've had in over 30 years of biking. Poucher
Nice write up! Enjoyed reading this so thanks for posting. I have only had mine since Sept 28th and put 800 miles on it, and I am using it for commuting to work so it's been getting filthy in the rain! I agree with the comments about cleaning it up but do think that the chain will suffer as we go deeper into winter. That said all OEM chains seem to suffer, the one on the Triumph was really bad! We were up in Scotland in June, and go every year. I love the road by St Mary's, we stay in Bonchester Bridge near Jedburgh and do the Moffat/Peebles route a lot, among others. It's too early to tell with my bike, but I have already noticed the rear being barely any more durable than a 'Supercorsa' that I had on the 848 and so I am going to try something else next time. I loved the ruthless efficiency of my Daytona 675R, the perfect suspension and ridiculously smooth power but it lacked the soul of the older versions. The 899 is still suprising me every time I get on it and I genuinely think this may be a bike I keep for several years as long as I am lucky enough to be able to afford to.
Echo all your sentiments unfortunately mine is with serious fault and now gone. However had this not happened I would feel the same way. 959 has a couple of surprises not seen in spy photos
Think he was referring to the surprises on the new 959, unless I'm mistaken & the surprise is a non sticky throttle on the new one... Great write up @Poucher.
899 values will probably drop once the new 959 hits the showroom floor, if you worry about depreciation motorbikes are the wrong things to dabble with unfortunately epressed:
Not bothered about depreciation, I would just like to afford one before I get too old to ride it! I had a decent run on one earlier this year and was really impressed - suited me better than the 1199 which I had tried previously (I,m getting old and slow). Good to have my first impressions confirmed by someone who has really used one.
Yeah, I only did a short ride on the 1199 and I wasn't really prepared for it, the engine delivery seems to take some getting used too! The 899 is easier to click with, but that's just my opinion
I certainly have used it this year!, the guys I ride with all ride big sports bikes, Fireblades, BMW S1000rr's, stuff like that, so it's one of the smallest bikes in the group cc wise, but it doesn't struggle on the road in this company despite being 30 - 40 bhp down ( looses out slightly to them on track ) so it gets shown no mercy at all and to be honest, the harder you ride it, the better it feels!! Its one of the best bikes I've had and I've had a few, starting decades ago when I passed my bike test on a Kawasaki KMX 125, then followed.... Honda VF500 f2 - cute little V4 89 Honda CBR 600 - Jellymould 90 1000 exup Yamaha - big smooth rocket 91 Ducati 851 - have to say I hated this at the time, only lasted 10 months! 93 Honda Fireblade - original round headlamp jobbie 95? Triumph T595 Daytona - fell apart like a cheap watch!! 98? Honda VRF 800 - didn't like it, too bland 99 Honda 918 Fireblade 2000 BMW R1100r - still got this, will never sell it, vastly underrated ugly duckling! 2000 Aprilia RSV 1000 - absolutely massive accident on this one!! 2003 Honda 954 Fireblade - a gem, such a complete bike 2011 KTM 990 SMT - brilliant all rounder, but a pig to keep clean! 2014 Ducati 899 Panigale - my current fantastic riding experience I'm sure I've forgotten a couple as well?? Also used to ride off road Enduro competitions in the early 2000's totally knackering but good fun, m/cs used :- Suzuki DR350 - bit heavy Yamaha WR200 KTM EXC 250 - totally vicious!! Gas Gas 250 EXC So I'd like to think I've picked up some experience from my varied biking CV, my top 3 ranking out of all those :- 1st - 899 Panigale - natch! 2nd - 954 Fireblade 3rd - BMW R1100r - the only bike so far that I've never got bored with and been tempted to sell! I could retire tomorrow if I had the money back that I'd spent on that little lot!!
Couldn't agree more. Best bike I've ever owned/ridden. Only had mine for 5 weeks but absolutely loving it. JS
