It's interesting reading this back nearly 12 months on. Im still of the opinion that both bikes are great and there is no clean cut winner. It's clear from the comments that people's opinions vary. A few people have commented that the panigale is a turning point and shift away from what is a true Ducati, no trellis frame, dry clutch or underseat exhausts etc. whether this is just evolution or abandonment from fresh owners remains to be seen. I wrote this review before the 959 was launched and we're all aware of the controversy that stirred. To me the 959 regardless of the exhaust situation signals the signs of things to come. It's true to say that non of us have ever sat in the design room at Ducati when they are designing a new bike but we can all imagine the design brief being along the lines of 'design the most beautiful bike in the world without compromise' and we all know the designers have historically always taken this quite literally when we get a bike that's gorgeous to look at but has practical niggles such as mirrors that are only any good for making sure your arms are still connected to the rest of you or an exhaust system that cooks you. But we forgive it all because the end result far outweighs the quirky bits. However since the release of the 959 I think there's a new word being used in the design room, and that word is 'compliance' and it's a word that is going to be used more and more in the future to deal with legislation. To me the word compliance is another word for compromise and compromise is when you wanted to do something but had to settle for less than what you wanted. This goes against the original brief of 'design a beautiful bike without compromise' and the whole Ducati ethos that attracts so many fans to the marque. I don't want to offend any 959 owners as the bike is great but it is a compromise of what it should be visually. I've read many 959 exhaust related treads and heard comments such as 'I've grown to like them', 'they're not too bad', 'I can live with them'.... And so on. No one has said they look great and that's because they don't!. It shouldn't be like that, and you shouldn't have to spend another 3k on top of the cost of the bike to make it look pretty again. I think theres sad times ahead as legislation gets tighter and more and more compromises are made. I'll definitely be keeping hold of all my old bikes as in years to come we might end up riding round on a soulless collection of environmentally friendly components.
Roll on article 50, repeal all of the Euro 4, 5, 6 or whatever we are on now and Ducati can produce no compromise models for the UK market. I've always hated the reflectors you see on the sides of USA model bikes (legislation), I'm sure I saw a new Scrambler in my local dealer a while back with these on, or did I dream that? :Wideyed:
I never had a problem with the stock 959 pipes, I have always said that I don't get this obsession with underbelly pipes. I don't know much about bikes, I don't need to, but I do know what I like and don't like, which is very little. I could have picked a bike with an underbelly, but why, the 959 is fantastic bike, and I knew the feeling of the so called Ducati community trashing the bike, they still do. I fell into that trap by slagging the scrambler, I jumped on the bandwagon, but I ate my words, because I now think its a great bike. I also admit the same about the Enduro, I'd buy one but I'm too short for it. Anyway, I shouldn't keep reacting to people slagging the 959, but I do. It's my bike and I love it, so I shouldn't care.
I don't think that the UK market would be considered to be large enough for Ducati to release a UK variant of any model.
