is the 899 fast enough?? i have been uming and arring about upgrading to an 1199, but it will not be because of the 899s lack of speed, i know others say its not enough, but for me its fine, flat out in third or forth and you are well beyond legal limits, there simply isn't the roads in the uk that allow it, even if there was traffic is always an issue. so the only reason i can see is the looks and bragging rights that come with an 1199, as ill never be able to get it flat out in any gear first time i saw an 899 i knew it was the 'one', same as the 600 and GSX, and at the moment im looking for another 'one', is the 1199 it? not sure do i need something faster? definitely not.
Definitely fast enough if it’s road riding. Very competent and competitive on tighter tracks. Gets a bit breathless on super fast tracks but don’t they all (middleweights).
Coming from a Husqvarna Vitpilen 401 the 899 feels like a ballistic missile. As you say the 899 is fast enough, more than fast enough for UK roads. An 1199 must be a different beast altogether. I’m of the opinion that when someone has it in their head that they want to change bikes/cars/jobs it’s like a fuse has been lit, and it’s a case of ‘when’ they will change rather than ‘if’. Nothing wrong with changing for simply wanting to, or if you’ve reached the limit of what the 899 is capable of then an 1199 or 1299 is a logical next step. But rather than questioning is the 899 too slow, I would be asking which would be the easier to live with.
Actually I should quantify that remark… I bought my 899 new in September 2014, I don’t do tick, loans or PCP’s, I’m old school, if I can’t afford it I don’t buy it, so. I had enough money for a new 899 or a slightly used 1199 ( 1299 wasn’t out at that time ) Now I’ll fess up straight away here and admit that I’ve never ridden a 11/1299 , but after my test ride on the 899 it just blew me away how good it was, I’d trawled over every Panigale test on YouTube before I hit the buy button and the general consensus was that the smaller bikes were the “ sweeter” ride, most testers got them 0 - 60 quicker than the bigger bikes and there was loads of comments about more heat, more vibes, more fuel used on the bigger bikes etc Someone a short while ago posted a performance chart on here comparing 0-60 and 0-100 times of all Panigale’s and up to 100 mph there was sod all in it. You only need big horsepower to push you beyond 120’s ..140’s etc and on the road that’s jail time don’t forget, potentially 1 year in jail for over 100 mph, ..that doesn’t apply to me however as the Wife would have me out of jail before the first week was over , how??....well, I’ve known her for decades and she’s never let me finish a sentence yet !…anyhow, I digress.. I’ll also add that 95% of my riding is on the road, so you don’t really need masses of horsepower, my bike is de- flappered, has the BST carbon wheels on ( this in itself is like an instant 15 bhp gain! ) and has the gearing lowered by + 2 teeth on the back sprocket, for basically a 900 cc twin, it flies Every sunny ride on it is a joy, I ride with mates who have Fireblades, BMW S1000rr’s, XR 1000’s..actually, when I come to think about it, I ride the smallest bike in our group??..does that put me at a disadvantage??….does it f*#k ! To me, the biggest advantage the 899 has is it’s finesse on the road, probably my wheels and shock helps, but I always feel that I have the utmost control over it and can place it to the inch on the road, when I’m concentrating that is ! I would love a 1299 Superleggera, but that’s only because it’s more special and exclusive, I’d probably be slower on it cos I’d be sh1ting myself in case I dropped it Watch this video and you can see that “ Chod” can’t quite believe how good the 899 is and is struggling to justify the extra expense of the bigger bike. You only want an 1199 cos it’s a new to you bike and that’s fine, we all fancy a change now and again, if that’s what you want, go for it I hope what I’ve said makes sense cos I’ve just been to the pub with my mate and had two pints of Wife beater,…and that’s a lot for me
I can’t work out what was the most exciting bit of that, the masking tape incident or the sausage roll stop.
yep watched that, in fact watched just about every single ducati video there is, even thai and japanese ones you're right the fuse is lit, so ill go with it a few years ago i just woke up and thought 'sell the GTI', drove my van for about 5 months, which was nice not paying insurance fuel etc etc, wasn't really looking much at a new car and then one day a Daytona grey audi TT pulled up next to me and that was it, bought one with full spec, grey with gunmetal wheels in a week, on a TTS now the light bulb moment was last years may day bike run, loved loved loved my 600rr, but it was dime a dozen and frankly no-one gave it a second look, it was gone in a week and bought the pani 3 days later. i guess it will similar thing, see it, want it, buy it all in a week or so. this year at the may day bike run i bumped into two mates who both had 899s, lined all 3 up, an 1199 turned up and TBH they attracted a fair bit of attention, which is not why i bought one, but it is nice to get compliments and people asking about it. revving the bollox out of all 4 was hilarious
Finally TMF has sold it so it can be actually used! 899 plenty fast enough for road riding, I have 35k miles on mine.
Great effort @Zeus I thought that I was the only one that actually used their bike as I’ve got 30k on mine, it’s booked in with Nelly at the end of the month for it’s Desmo service, well done on knocking those miles up,….Ride em don’t hide em !
Have you needed to do much shock/fork servicing in those 30k miles or have they more or less held up?
Well I put the Ktech shock on the rear a couple of years ago now, that was an immense improvement over the standard shock which had a tendency to compression lock over sharp bumps and kick you out of the seat, apparently MCT do a revalve mod on them that makes them a lot better. The forks have had nothing more than the sag set up on them and standard servicing oil changes, no problems with seals, I have changed the settings to the comfort settings described in the owners manual, for me, on the choppy roads around here this gives a bit more compliance, the original settings used to blur my vision on a series of bumps. I keep thinking about getting the Ktech internals in the forks , but I’m pretty happy how it rides now, it’s not stiff as a board anymore, it has a bit of compliance about it now, the Ktech shock helped a lot because it has separate high speed compression damping, you can dial it back to take the sting out of big bumps so it doesn’t fire you out of the saddle anymore, normal compression and rebound are the silver and black adjusters on the top of the shock and the high speed compression damping adjuster is the big red one on the side.
Yeah I read that in the shock handbook, probably a little ott for road use I think but it’s another job for this winters lay off.
I’ve been out on this at every opportunity, what an absolute peach of a bike. My first Ducati and I think I’m truly converted. Last Saturday I spent a few hours giving it a good thorough clean and polish to get most of the swirls out of the paint and PPF, followed by a ceramic coating. Please excuse the grubby tyres and exhaust - it was getting late and I wanted to make the most of the remaining daylight.
looking good, and the weather is on our side, enjoy every minute cleaning is just an bit of an excuse to enjoy it even more i think took a couple of months to 'get it' about ducatis coming from hondas, when i did it was like a revelation the 899 is wonderful bike, mines a keeper, unless the body starts packing up not been out on it since monday, and honestly, probably like most people, i think about it all the time, itching to get out i mentioned earlier i was thinking of an 1199, last weekend hit the rev limiter a few times and just cant see me needing any more speed
Good to hear! I think if I recall right your mind was made up about getting an 1199, I think that says a lot about the 899 if it has been able to change your mind.
And don’t forget the 899 has a proper swing arm and not that half finished looking thing that’s on the 1199 .
