Exactly Dave, your whole post hit the nail on the head for me, I enjoy a spirited ride for a few miles but find myself pottering a lot of the time, but like you I know I'm the Daddy because I'm on the shiny red Italian bike with 2 thumping pistons and open pipes .
Well........... Me and my mates were always biking enthusiasts and had owned and tried so many different bikes from British to early and later Jap bikes, plus a few other 'things'; we always steered clear of Ducrapis, although one or two of us had barked their shins on the left side kickstarter....... ......our opinion didn't change a great deal when we started on Italian bikes and bought mainly Guzzis......only two of us ever bought a Ducrapi and they had so much trouble with them, most of us still stayed clear of them.... So after having owned a few Jap rocketships and then stopped road riding for a while; when I returned to the road because I was short of cash I ended up with a Ducrapi SS...........apart from the ride being pretty comfortable, and having ridden a few others, my overall opinion remains the same......... .......expensive because they are low in production numbers compared with the Jap stuff; nothing spectacular in production and engineering quality compared with the Jap stuff; overall quality nothing special; and reliability is suspect..........'fragile' is the best word I can use..... But..................I admit there is something about them which visually sets them apart from the run of the mill stuff and they attract a lot of attention even when they are quite old..........but is that because of the low numbers?
In an idle moment you can lie in the bath and imagine what sort of a bike you would want, if you had unlimited cash and could have a bike specially designed and built for you to any layout you wanted. Consider all the options: 1, 2, 3, 4, 6 cylinders. Consider the specifications. What would be best? Answer: a 90 degree V-twin with desmodromic valves, of course. With high-end suspension and brakes, and Italian styling. It just happens that Ducati is the firm that actually turns dream bikes into flesh and blood (actually steel and alloy, they just seem to be flesh and blood).
As usual, everybody has forgotten the subject of the thread and are now digressing about god knows what.
Wouldn't say everyone... I have met only a handful of Ducati riders I don't like or have t really got along with. The rest i tolerate
Ok. sorry Brad I'm guilty of generalising a bit....... but this wasn't meant to be a "Why I Love Ducati" Thread.
Sorry....didn't read the title properly............... So, disregard my incorrect post (even though my view still stands) As to what my opinion of Ducatisti might be; I have no opinion other than 'generally helpful'............but I'm bl**dy sure they can't be any worse than BMW or Harley owners....
The only bloke I knew who had a Ducati was Bob Tunaley, my mates dad. It was a Superlight and absolutely spotless, to be fair I didn't buy my ducati because of anything other than spending a week in Sardinia and seeing loads of really nice monsters hooning about. Came home, did my direct access and went and bought a S2R I don't get any elitist thing with any bike, they're just a bike. A bikes only as good as you are to an extent. You can have the 'bestest everer' bike on the planet but if you can't ride for shit then what's the point other than to make you feel good, and if it does then that's all that matters. It's been a while since I've owned a Ducati before the Multi and to be fair my next bike after the multi could be from any manufacturer as it's the bike I buy, not the badge.
I had no opinion of Ducatisti before I bought a Ducati because I didn't know any. I have noticed that many of friends are motorcyclists but only some of those ride Ducatis. My deduction is that I probably have something in common with other bikers but that there is nothing special, one way or the other, about Ducati owners.
I'm afraid my view of Ducati owners is not very good at all. It wasn't before I bought a duke, and it isn't much better now. Of course the vast majority of Ducati owners are lovely people, but there is a strong thread of elitist twats that you just don't get with other brands. I've been looked down upon by Ducati owners, and I don't like that at all. A few of these berks actually believe that owning a red bike makes them more important somehow. I don't get that. They make some great bikes, there's no mistake, but they've also made some real shonkers, and paying more for a bike doesn't make you a better rider, just so you know. Perhaps I'm better off sticking with Guzzis, and their dirty-fingernail'd cogniscenti...
That's my take, I love all bikes. I scared myself shitless after buying a Beamish Suzuki outfit, never went over 30mph but I was sweating with fear by the time I got it home. Some people can't see that though, and they're poorer people for it. They see BHP and price tags; when the 899 came out with a double-sided swingarm I've never come across so many disappointed people! It's sad, that's what it is. There really is more to life.
Nah thats opinions Whats sad is when you pitch up to a DOC meeting on a 748, first Dook you've ever owned, to me sneered at coz you just ride the fecking thing, who cares how it works?! Needles to sayI didnt go back...
before i bought the 851, i was completely new to the biking fraternity. So as i did not know any bikers, i sure did not know any ducatisti... i did find that it had to be crap to be a true HD - rough/tough guy having to stand amongst those overweight byond middleaged all the bling and lookalike gear weekend-warrior - tough-guy-posers that you find by the thousands on the HOG meets.. the only bikers circles where you can say you're a biker without ever riding one beyond moped speed.. once i got into the fraternity, i ve met a wide mix of people from all and all backgrounds. what i absolutely like is that very rarely you go into the 'this is my job' - part of social intercourse.. and you see a lot of commitment to the bike the owner owns. And to riding well.. i really have to look hard to find the first upstuck "look at me" - type yet. Or perhaps i'm blind to them...
@figaro And there it is, DOC snobbery Yeah the best made ever 916SPS Scared the shit out of me and rotted to crap in the garage over a cold winter
[QUOTE="bradders, post: 341353, member: 589]Whats sad is when you pitch up to a DOC meeting on a 748, first Dook you've ever owned, to me sneered at coz you just ride the fecking thing, who cares how it works?! Needles to say I didnt go back...[/QUOTE] I've been lucky then. I've never found Ducati people to be jerks. Perhaps one, but I like to think he's just trying to provoke a response, so I largely ignore him. @bradders, like I said earlier, when you met the doc people, you might have known little about your bike then, but now you know more than most and could easily teach them. I'm going to withdraw from this thread now. I don't think people are going to change their opinions based on some thread on a forum.
