Oh yes the imfamous Contract Turning calendar - proper old school. Not that we condone considering women as objects.
Nearly finished now. Pretty pleased with this second phase of mods. Took the bike out for a longer ride on Sunday. Going a tooth down on the front sprocket has really woken the bike up. Pulls loverly second gear wheelies on the throttle now. The M50s feel fantastic......nice and progressive and very strong. Tiny bit more initial lever travel than I'd like but otherwise a superb upgrade. Biggest job left is to fit the bodywork and put on the tank decals which I never got round to doing last time. I hate doing decals.....but it will finish the look off nicely...got some carbon/Kevlar tank guards to go on too.
Bought these: 330mm Brembo Supersport discs. Perfect match for the M50s.....and you've got to have gold discs on a Ducati haven't you....?
Don't take it personally, but a lot of owners seem to buy an 899 and then spend so much extra on it that they could have bought a 1299 in the first place. Doesn't make much sense to me but then i guess we are all different.
Makes perfect sense to me! You make it sound like every 899/959 owner aspires to be a 1199/1299 owner, but I don't think that's the case. The 899 isn't just a poor mans version of the bigger bike, it's an excellent bike in its own right. So some people make the choice to own a 899 instead of a 1199/1299 which has nothing to do with their budget.
I disagree..... How many people out there actually can use a 1299 to its full potential? I rather a 899 made much better then a standard 1299 all day.
Please sir, when I'm a big boy can I have an adults bike? Haha I think there is some snobbery at play here... Sorry but 3 replies from a mix of people (one who just sold his 1199 for a 899) suggests it simply isn't a valid argument.
It's true on face value - I could've bought a nearly new 1299S by now.....And I could've if I had chosen to do so.....however: 1) I like tinkering with bikes. I like the technical challenge and the creativity..... 2) I would've tinkered with the 1299 the same way. Exhaust, map, wheels, suspension tweaks, rear-sets, bodywork, carbon, crash protection, track tyres etc etc. then I would be looking at £25k plus spent...which is getting to be too much to take near the track 3) I personally don't like bikes that you can't near the limits of. I like riding my bikes on track and I like to feel reasonably "in charge". My previous bike was a Triumph 675R which was fantastic and you felt like you were riding it, not vice versa....previous to that I had a lightly tuned Gixer Thou which we nicknamed the devil bike because you had to have some balls to give that thing what for.....very fast people can make use of all the power - the rest of us can't if we are honest.... 4) point number 3 is even more relevant on the road. What is the point of having a bike that does nearly 100mph in first gear.....no one can safely utilise that... All that said its horses for courses and it's all down to what makes people happy right. My mate Bugles got a S1000R, it's stupidly fast, and he can't ride it anywhere near its potential but he loves it.....and we have to love him for that!
If I wanted a 1299 I would have bought one and probably would have had it sooner than my 959! It didn't come down to cost for me - I wanted what I thought would be the best for my needs as a useable sportsbike for the road.
When I occasionally get this out, I realise this is more than enough for the road......and a real event.... No 200hp, no ABS, no TC.....
I had an 899 and i loved it. Through major malfunction i ended up in the market for a new bike. I tried the 1299S first it was great. Outstanding. I then tried the 1299 base over about a month. I used it everyday and put it through all the uses i have for a bike. I loved it even more so than the 1299S so i bought the base. Sure I'll add bits here and there that might put the overall cost up near S territiry, but I'll never think I wish i bought an S. I could have ordered and waited for a 959 but an urgent need for a bike, a much shorter wait, the auto blipper and what I feel as a smoother bottom end, something i liked for commuting, swayed me to the 1299. There are many, many factors in buying a bike not just performance and financial. It seems daft to think that everyone who buys an 899/959 wants a 1299. Surely then everyone who buys a 1299 wants a 1299S or an R and so on. Shameless plug but I'm in the process of editing a video where i talk about the 1299 v 1299S buying debate.
a la early 1199's... They're only there to help reduce the heat the rider feels, the bikes look great without them and if I had a Panigale I only took on track I'd definitely take them off.
