Hello forum folks! I've just bought a 2008 1098R here in Dubai and trying to get the hang of the *ridiculous* torque! It's a beautiful piece of kit though. It's got 13,000km and has been very well looked after by its previous fanatic owner. I love just having it in my garage. I've ordered a superpole seat (the original is pretty worn and I'm 6'4" so I hear this is the way to go) and am thinking about possible crash protection for the track. Any advice on what fits/works on these? Cheers James
Hello & welcome. Congrats on the bike... That superpole seat helps the taller rider a lot and because it's so grippy, it'll stop you crushing your luv nuts... I had some speedymoto sliders on my 848 and I'm sure they would have stood up to the test. They are well made, light enough and tuck away nicely out of sight, under the fairing. Ian
Hmmmph not another R, getting common as muck these things, not jealous at all, not me not one little bit no more photos please particularly as it's bound to be sunny :Grumpy: Welcome JT (ya lucky bugger)
Yes, welcome. You have just beaten me to the post . Arrived home with my new 1098R not 10 minutes ago. I have ordered the GB Racing engine kit and have a pair of crash bungs dehind the fairing already fitted. If you look for pictures of a naked lady, you should see them in the pictures. Going to upset Tobytyke now and post some pictures of my own. Andy
+1 on the Superpole seat. +1 on being common as muck too. I thought I had bought something special, I might as well have bought a Honda C90 Cub, everybody's got one. :Meh:
Gawd....ANOTHER one! Anybody want to swap their Scrambler for my 1098R, genuine reason....every Tom, Dick or Harry (Rob, Chris or Andy...) has one and I want to join the exclusive club and get a beard. Welcome by the way! Great bike!
Happy New Bike. Very nice it is too. I'm just along the road in Abu Dhabi, so maybe meet up for a ride one day. There is a group that meet every Friday morning and ride over the hills to Kalba. Great fun, but they ride very fast. Ride safe.
Should've perhaps answered you questions...! Check if the suspension has been tweaked in any way, such as changes in pre-load or the like. I'd think most probably not, but I doubt Ducati either here or in Italy would have set them to the factory settings. My 1198SP wasn't, nor was the Desmo!! They're set up very very soft and I'd think for your height, it's going to feel a tad mushy. If you're going to track it, think suspension parts and perhaps lowering the front end by one ring on the fork tubes. The bike has more than enough power and as you've noticed, plenty plenty grunt. Crash protection wise, sato racing, Ducabike, Woodcraft, GB Racing all do some nice stuff. Plenty options out there - personally I'd avoid anything that sticks out from the frame, heard of many a frame being twisted after a simple slide. Ducati UAE, Skull Motorcycles and MRG Garage can probably sort you out with most things. Ciao
Thanks everyone for the welcome! Bullitt, I think I need to play with my suspension settings as it feels like it's wallowing a bit when cranked over in a corner (I'm running Supercorsas at pressures recommended in the manual). Amazingly, when I registered it, I was given Dubai plate 10982 (no asking, no checking what was available!). A little accidental slip with a black marker pen and it basically says 1098R! Pleased with that!! I'll go and check out some of the shops for crash protection - I'll probably need another mortgage if I go anywhere near Ducati UAE mind! James
May well have been played with. Best put back to what's in the manual and start from there. I did that with the SP when I lived in Qatar and the difference was instant, didn't wash out or under steer. Loads of set-up info on various site on the interweb. Nice plate too - maybe the person doing the registration is a closet Ducati fan. Guys at Ducati Dubai are ok with ordering spare parts and generally prices are a little cheaper than shipping from UK (that's for available, stock items in Italy). Get the spare parts manual from the Ducati website and e-mail them part numbers, better than confused English!! They've lost some great staff over that last year or so and will loose more I fear. Their hands are tied too - I'm sure you know how it works out here!! You can always import stuff. Generally not an issue, but you will pay duty on items over 1000aed (5% I think, plus a Govt. Admin fee, 70aed or so) Generally, use only DHL and FedEx and takes 2/3 days from Europe with shipping costs seem to match the VAT savings from Euroland...
"Wallowing" sounds f'cked to me they don't like those silly temperatures you have over there, better get shut of it sharpish, might just know of someone who's looking for an old duffer like that at a knockdown price currently enjoying the far more agreeable Arctic conditions :Sour:
Oh wow! Thanks for the heads up!! Tell you what, you arrange shipping and you can just have it for free, save me from hurting myself!! Thank god you came along when you did! If you could just wire £30k to this shipping company, you know, for admin and stuff, I'll get it packed up tonight. (BTW, it's pissing it down here tonight. Bloody glad I looked at it this morning and thought "nah, I'll take the car today"!) Thanks
Hi James, welcome to the 1098R club. You'll love it. Top Tip:- Get some track days booked.... It's where you need to be with it. I'm coming out there with the Mrs. for a week of loafing on the 2nd March. PM me if you need any items carrying out there (not a fridge freezer mind. Thinking along the lines of crash bobbins, brake pads etc.) and you can collect from the hotel. Cheers, Paul.
Cheers Paul, very kind of you to offer to mule some bobbins! I've been a bit unlucky on the track day front so far - they've all fallen on days I've had to be traveling - but am hoping to hit up both the Dubai Autodrome and Abu Dhabi Yas Marina very soon!
