"TheOnelectronic" (theoneelectronic)
04/21/2015 at 22:38 • Filed to: two wheels good
3
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"TheOnelectronic" (theoneelectronic)
04/21/2015 at 22:38 • Filed to: two wheels good | 3
| 16 |
We’ve seen plenty of impressions from Ducati’s brand-heavy press events, but at least for my local Dealer, the first one (the demo) came in on friday.
So hopefully this can be helpful for anyone curious about this bike: Real person, real test ride on real streets.
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The Good:
The bike I rode was an Icon, like above, but with the Termi exhaust. It sounds AMAZING. Just the right amount of growl, with a wonderful “snarl-pop” on downshifts.
It’s hard to say, because I was stepping right off a bike with a 21” front wheel, but it seemed very nimble and flickable.
Super low seat. This is wonderful for people like me with short little legs.
Power isn’t revelatory (see my review of the Monster 1200 for that), but it’s plenty enough, and it has enough torque that you don’t need to downshift much.
Fit and Finish was standard Ducati excellence. It really felt like a high-quality bike, especially for the price range.
Highway behavior (~80mph) was excellent. Plenty of torque, smooth airflow, felt stable.
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The Bad:
The suspension. Oh god, ow. I don’t know if it was specific to the bike I rode, or its newness, but the suspension was very harsh. Bumps that I didn’t even notice on my Tiger or the Monster rattled my helmet on the Scrambler.
The seat. Despite how it appears, it feels like a plank of wood. Extremely hard. That said, I can’t say it was uncomfortable or not given the short nature of my test ride.
The Tachometer is tiny, and runs clockwise. I assume you could get use to both of these things in time, but I kept finding myself bouncing off of the
Very Low Rev Limit. Granted, I’m used to my Tiger’s somewhat-high 10k limit and tall 1st gear, but this thing routinely would hit the limiter way, way before I was expecting it.
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The Rest:
It’s a very small motorcycle. that doesn’t necessarily come through in pictures. I felt like I was riding on an old honda 50 or something. Again, I came off a very large Adv. bike, so anything was going to feel small, but this was something else entirely.
On that note, given the smallish fuel tank, I’m skeptical about fuel range. I get that this isn’t marketed towards people riding long distances, but given how sparse gas stations are in my area, it’s a concern. There have been back roads where I’ve had to make full use of my Tiger’s 240+ mile range.
Why is it so hard to find a motorcycle outside the touring/adv segments that has a fuel gauge? I really get paranoid riding without one.
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If anyone has any questions, shoot! Also, I don’t know if there’s some sort of 2-wheels-good-specific version of Oppo, but if there is, feel free to share this there.
jariten1781
> TheOnelectronic
04/21/2015 at 22:55 |
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Wait...don’t like 99% of tachs run clockwise? I’m totally confused why that would bug you.
Can’t lie, I’ll be checking one out even though I swore off bikes a few years ago...kind of hoping I hate it so I don’t get sucked back in......
DasWauto
> TheOnelectronic
04/21/2015 at 23:00 |
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Re: the small motorcycle comment, is it too small for someone who is 6’5”? This bike is the one that interests me most right now and I’d hate it to be so small that I look [even more] gangly on it. It looks like Urban Enduro has a slightly taller and more padded seat, which would probably address the hardness of the one you rode and increase standover height, which would be fine for me.
Sam
> TheOnelectronic
04/21/2015 at 23:00 |
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I want to check out both the Urban Enduro and the Classic. The brown seat looks awesome in photos.
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TheOnelectronic
> Sam
04/21/2015 at 23:10 |
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I don’t think there’s anything different beyond aesthetics, except that the Full Throttle has the Termi exhaust and lower bars.
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TheOnelectronic
> DasWauto
04/21/2015 at 23:12 |
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I think you’d find your legs VERY cramped regardless.
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TheOnelectronic
> jariten1781
04/21/2015 at 23:14 |
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Yes, but I should have clarified: The tach is on the bottom ~35% of the circle, so it’s always moving to the left with increasing revs. I’m used to cruising RPM being roughly 8:00 and redline at 12:00 or so. Not 0 rpm at 4:30 and redline at 6:30
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Sam
> TheOnelectronic
04/21/2015 at 23:14 |
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Oh yeah, I was referring to the aesthetics. The Urban Enduro also has some skid plates and mud guards, which is really cool.
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TheOnelectronic
> Sam
04/21/2015 at 23:16 |
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Yeah. I like the Enduro except for the high front fender. I dunno, I just prefer the wheel-mounted fender.
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Sam
> TheOnelectronic
04/21/2015 at 23:18 |
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If it’s actually going off road, it wouldn’t be a bad thing. So it’s pretty much like a lifted truck - it’s okay if you use it for what it was meant to do.
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jariten1781
> TheOnelectronic
04/21/2015 at 23:18 |
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Ahhh, weird. Is something else taking up the top of the arc or were they just being different to be different?
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DasWauto
> TheOnelectronic
04/21/2015 at 23:20 |
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Dangit. I’ll probably still go sit on one at least when they arrive in Canada in the summer but that is a bit disappointing. It might be for the best anyway since I should prioritize spending my money differently but I still want it. :/
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TheOnelectronic
> jariten1781
04/21/2015 at 23:38 |
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I can’t remember for sure, but the speedo is pretty prominent.
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TheOnelectronic
> Sam
04/21/2015 at 23:39 |
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Yeah, wheel-mounted fenders don’t play well with knobby tires or rocks.
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TheOnelectronic
> jariten1781
04/22/2015 at 00:33 |
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I misremembered a bit. Here’s a picture of the gauge.
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jariten1781
> TheOnelectronic
04/22/2015 at 01:08 |
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Yeah, that’s bizarre...they could have stuck the tach at the top or on the left side easy. Wonder what their reasoning was...not a deal breaker by any stretch, just odd.
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TheOnelectronic
> jariten1781
04/22/2015 at 01:09 |
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Or just done dual gauges... maybe they felt that was a bit too far in the retro direction.