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I had a fun time last weekend test riding a BMW S1000R, KTM Super Adventure and Ducati Multistrada DVT.

I'm in the market for a replacement for my excellent Yamaha Super Tenere - I no longer need to commute by bike so the sensible, reliable S10 can go and I can get something more fun. I'm after the spiritual successor to my KTM 950 Supermoto which was more fun than the most fun thing, but a bit of a pain for distance work (!). I want lots of power, a comfortable riding position, mile munching, and a serious dose of madness.

Obviously I can't ride the BMW S1000XR yet as nobody has any, but with it having the same engine as the S1000R naked streetbike, I rode that instead. I like the torque of twins and haven't had a 4 cylinder for a while, so I wanted to see if I'd like the engine. The S1000XR is going to be pretty much the same power unit.

P&H in Crawley had the KTM Super Adventure in, and just registered a 1200 DVT (non-S base model) on Friday evening so I was able to take it...

I dropped my bike in for it's MOT this morning at P&H and there was a nice new S in it's crate being unpacked. Rather than organising the loan bike I asked Marcus if they had their demo ready, and took it out for a quick hook around the local lanes.
They only have a base model available at the moment, the seat was in it's lowest position and I could get both feet on the floor easily (5' 9"). You feel like you are sitting 'in' the bike more, personally I would prefer it higher (they couldn't find the adjusters to change it)

First impressions?
Smoooooooooooooth, I mean really smooth, more like a triple than a twin, no lurching and clutch slipping at low revs, no chain lash. Very impressed with the engine, torque is fabulous, a little step in power at about 6,000 revs and then it revs up like a cat dipped in boiling oil.

Brakes, front's were fine, seem better than my originals, back brake actually works (for now), I even locked the back slightly. The caliper is odd, it is reversed...

The Ducati TriOptions Cup blasted into action at Brands Hatch this weekend (17-19 April) as the first two races of the year thrilled the Kent crowds.

As the UK’s premier one-make bike racing series the grid of Ducati 899 Panigales always draws plenty of attention over a British Superbike Championship weekend, and with a record 36-bike entry the action this year is set to be more exciting than ever.
Hobbs gets off to perfect title defence
Record Ducati grid lines up to race
Returning champions fight it out at the front
Local rider and race winner at Brands Hatch in 2014 Rob Guiver was the man setting the pace early on in the weekend. He flew out of the blocks in free practice to set the fastest time before securing pole position for Hyside Motorcycles by a tiny margin of 0.083s from the P&H/Carl Cox Motorsport machine of reigning champion Dennis Hobbs.

Guiver held his pole advantage in race one to cross the line first, however in post race scrutineering a technical infringement...

Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso increased his points tally by another 20 points following his third consecutive runner-up finish this season in the Argentina MotoGP.
“Dovi” gained a position to finish on the podium again after Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez came off on the penultimate lap of the race as he tried to regain the lead from eventual winner Valentino Rossi, underlining the consistency of the new GP15 this year.
Dovizioso is only six points adrift in the championship standings after the first three rounds and was especially pleased with his result at the Termas de Rio Hondo track on Sunday.
“I’m so happy. Especially to get this result here. Last year I struggled a lot and during practice this weekend I was quite fast but not like Qatar and Austin,” said Dovizioso.
“But we worked hard and arrived in the race with the right set-up for the chassis and electronics. It worked very well to go fast but also save the tyre.
“This was the key to be able to follow Valentino almost all the...

Jonathan Rea secured his sixth win from eight starts in the WSB Championship at Assen, winning race two by 0.439 seconds from Chaz Davies (Ducati) with local rider Michael van der Mark (Honda) in third place.
In front of Sunday’s portion of the total weekend attendance of 55,724 spectators – up on last year – the WSB riders left the best for last as five of them had a battle royal behind, the long time leader Tom Sykes for some of the race.
Davies, Rea, Haslam and van der Mark passed and re-passed, running as one unit within the same second around the Assen circuit, in marginally warmer track conditions than in race one. Track temperatures had gone up from 18 to 22°C. The action up front was incredible, with Sykes determined to stay ahead for as long as possible.
Rea, the early leader, passed Sykes shortly after half way, as did Davies, but the top five remained together for a time after.
The brilliant action on some of the fastest turns of the whole championship trail saw Sykes...

Well today I have spent a few hours out and about on the twisties of West Yorkshire (even meeting with swmbo for lunch in a nice country pub).

In short the bike is a hoot and just loves being thrown around corners! It's not as ferocious or as manic as my panigale as you would expect, nor is it as comfortable for long periods in the saddle, but it's a lot of fun.

Brakes are ok. Not as pin point sharp as a sports bike but as you're not going anywhere near as fast they are more than adequate in pulling you to a standstill in plenty of time.

I didn't feel much head buffeting till I was getting over the 85mph mark. But again as its a more sedate ride I'd be amazed at anyone having to suffer that over any long periods of time.

The 75 horses are more than enough for very brisk road riding, and the handling is superb. I haven't taken it off road yet but I would think that it'll cope with some unspectacular dirt tracks no problem. I'll probably try that later in the summer.

All in all...

After losing the first race by the finest of margins, Chaz Davies romped to his first World Superbike win for Ducati ahead of Jonathan Rea and Leon Haslam while Tom Sykes spectacularly crashed out
Chaz Davies capped his best weekend to date with Ducati by comfortably winning the second World Superbike race at Aragon while Tom Sykes spectacularly crashed out of a top-four spot.
At the circuit which saw him claim his maiden double victory in the class, Davies was never headed after assuming control at the first corner. In the end he coasted home a full four seconds clear of Jonathan Rea, who narrowly held off Leon Haslam for his sixth straight top-two finish.
As the top three staked their respective claims for the championship it was a nightmare end to the weekend for Sykes, who suffered a massive high-side while holding fourth and closing in on Haslam.
The 2013 world champion had started poorly and lost early ground to Rea and the number one Aprilia as they tried in vain to stay...

hi guys heres my my 748/853 track bike nearly finished but it quite useable as it is, it started life as a 748 biposto and i turned it into a track bike, it was fine but then thought id change a few things and as usual it all get out of control.

gtec built engine with titanium rods and 853 pistal pistons,
sps cams
gas flowed heads
lightened and balanced crank

carbon/mag wheels

alloy front and rear sub frame

ohlins fork internals/serviced ohlins shock

carbon under tray, air tubes, battery box, air box, front mud guard, rear chain guard.

brembo master cylinder

renthal chain and sprockets

repainted in yellow with white number boards

ngr slipper clutch

oil cooler fitted

alloy termi's (45-50mm)

916 throttle bodies

hyper pro steering damper

gb moto rear sets

After a lot of elbow grease and pound notes my Superlight is almost there, just a few cosmetic bits to do now.
Big thanks to @Arquebus for all the advice when I first got her much appreciated, now she goes like stink, stops on a sixpence and sounds wonderful
Hope you Likey.

Just received this, the subject line says it all really, some quite remarkable photos. Heavily US orientated.

The 65 Most Perfectly Timed Military Photos You’ll Ever See | The Roosevelts

heres a few pics of my 1198 which i picked up saurday hope you like it.

Not sure whether this thread belongs here, in Other Bikes or the SF section. But a shootout with another make might be of general interest so here goes.

Test rode a KTM 1290 SDR today. KTM are having an open weekend so I thought I'd fill my boots. I rode in on the SF then took the 1290 out along the same route for a direct comparison. I was a bit nervous of doing this after the money I've spent tweaking the SF in case it got shot down. But not a bit of it. I'm happy to say that the Streetfighter more than held its own. And I'm not just saying that, it really did.

My SF is now making very similar power and torque to the 1290 SDR so to get as fair a comparison as possible I rode the KTM in Sport mode (the most aggressive throttle response) with the TC turned off. This engine feels exactly like a 990 that's had a lot more weetabix. You can tell its got the same DNA. All the usual KTM adjectives apply: revvy, loose, urgent, vibey, involving. Just more of all of it. KTMs rev more like...

Hi,

All systems are go with the first consignment from California arriving this morning.

Funnily enough the first enquiry came from Italy for a throttle sensor

Forum Discount for 'Forum Subscribers' is 15% with free 1st Class Recorded delivery as an opening offer as I'm happy to be up and running

I will have the Ebay shop up and running over Easter.

Thanks to all for your support and wishes - and thanks to my first customers on here who's belts are on their way

Stu

Bank Holiday Monday 25th May, UKBEG 12th Emma Radford Memorial Buell & Italian Motorcycle Festival

Ducati owners are once again invited to our main event.

UKBEG’s main event runs from 10.00 am until late afternoon and the admission price for motorcyclists and pillion passengers is £8.00 per adult.

The normal admission price for members of the general public will be: Adult- £12.00, Senior- £12.00, Child (10-15yrs) - £4.00, Under 10's free.

Unfortunately Erik Buell Racing won’t be able to attend this year but we do have the Vincent Owners Club as our special guests.

Location:
Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre (LAHC)
East Kirkby
Spilsby
Lincolnshire
PE23 4DE

LAHC web site showing their location plus details of their Bank Holiday Monday event: http://www.lincsaviation.co.uk/events/Special-Events/lanc-tank-and-military-machines.htm

Provisional timetable:
11am- Avro Lancaster taxi-run
12.00- M36 Jackson tank destroyer - LIVE TANK FIRING
1.30pm- Avro Lancaster...

Notice a little country flag by your username?

The forum had users from 144 countries in the last month. Over 11,000 new visits from outside the UK in the last 28 days - The following are our top 30 international friends:

Welcome to:

I am now in the first stages of my Ducati track bike build.

Already having some hurdles to leap over as it is a bit of a mix and match, and already running late so going to miss the Donnington Ducati day :-(

But I am not going to let the negatives bother me because....... building bikes is fun!

I just need to remind myself of this when the tricky moments (apply any or all of the following three: time consuming / re-work / expensive) come up

So, what am I up to:

1098 frame to be painted white
848 rear hub / wheel / caliper hanger etc
Suzuki GSXR front end (with the steerer tube extended 1.5cm)

One std Suzuki wheel
One Dymag B quality carbon wheel
9.0 linear springs and heavier oil
Brembo 19x18 master cylinder

1100 Hypermotard engine

Balanced lightened crank (Louigi Moto)
Bottom end build (Rosso Corse)
Heads and dyno (Louigi Moto and CJS)
Lightened primaries and alloy belt wheels (MADSL)
DP Cams
Exhaust TBC......

750 F1 fairing, to be painted Black (Two Wheeled...

Just got a message from my dealer. First bikes arrive 1.4.2015 to Finland. I will be driving my new Mutley next week. Can t wait.
I will tell my first impressions next week.

Finished the web site and it now has all the products I have on my first shipment from California Cycle Works
Depending on customs it should be here within a week.

I welcome any typo checkers as the site doesn't have a spell check and it was late when I finished it, whiskey in hand

Just the Ebay Shop to sort now, I'm sure that won't be straight forward, nothing ever is with Ebay and PayPal :Wideyed:

www.exactUK.com

So it finally arrived. A fitting garage mate for my 1098R Bayliss.
First impression (unridden as yet). By eck its loud, even with road legal cans. Neighbours will love me on my daily commute at 06.15.
Niggles - they cover the whole bike in satin finish carbon, then put gloss carbon on the ends of the pipes. Annoying
Swing arm pivot is set to -4 on arrival, yet handbook says it should be at zero position (yet as per usual ducati manual quality, then shows a pic of the pivot in pos 4 ). Would be grateful if any new owners can chime in with how their's arrives.

Pleased to say I have just bought my first Ducati after years of riding Japanese in line fours. Really impressed with the bike and the way it pulls is amazing. It's got a couple of bits added already, Superleggera graphics, DP rearsets, DP Carbon heel guards, DP Race seat and DP tailtidy. I've got a few plans for it myself, termi / carbon etc but really can't see what else I would want to do with it. Well chuffed to have an Italian bike tucked up in the garage