I totally agree. I’ve only done a half dozen track days, and I’m very much in the plod around at my own modest pace school, but the day which was the best experience for me was the one time I took my bike there and back by van. Knowing that I didn’t have to ride the bike home that evening allowed me to relax into it. I got so much more from that one day, and enjoyed it a lot more, than all the others put together.
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It’s not as if I’m stopping Sue - she has ridden a bike and doesn’t enjoy it - whereas she really likes being pillion. I do have two motorcycles - plus one for our daughter (well a scooter but it’s a start).
I know, it was said with tongue in cheek, as much as I dislike pillions I’ve seen it works well for you and the Jets.
Two mo’cycles? Did you get the 1250?
Yeah the 1250 is a fantastic bike for us, even if it is as heavy as the moon.
We got it last May - but a car pushed it off its stand while parked in January and we’ve only just got it back with the repairs done. Still waiting for one part but that could take forever so I’m happy that we can finally take it for a spin again.
I hardly ever get out on it without a pillion. On the old one, I just kept locking the back wheel without Sue to keep it grounded. The front does always want to come up though.
Not us mate, we walk side by side now, enjoying the views 
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Happy Days
@Ben_Sir_Amos you won’t be locking the rear wheel on the 1250, I’m assuming its got ABS
@Jetstream Side by side and hand in hand them’s the rules 
Test rode the Ducati Diavel 1260 S yesterday…
I was so excited to ride this bike I actually had some excite/nerves going into it. Unfortunately the experience just did not live up to the potential.
Loved:
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Ergonomics. The low ride, the relaxed but still slightly canted forward position meant you could cruise most of the time but get your weight forward for fast riding or showing off at the traffic light grand prix.
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Top end power. It kinda warps your mind when you’re On It, it just seems so incredible that a bike like this can be hustled at speed into corners. You just do not expect that you can wrangle this bike away at speed the way you can.
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Dash. High tech, high quality, great position and easily readable.
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Overall fit and finish. Exceptionally high quality finish and parts selection.
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Looks - it just looks totally badass to me.
Did not love:
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Jerky throttle. I know, I know, Ducati’s are renown for it historically, but in 2020? Come on man! Unless you were in the top third of the rev range the throttle was basically on or off, regardless of the riding mode you were in. It’s hugely annoying and confidence-damaging, especially in corners/roundabouts. I researched this and people just make excuses for it - “it’s a big twin what do you expect?”. I don’t buy that, I had a 1300cc KTM v-twin and that was buttery smooth. Ducati just have this wrong. Fitting the Akrapovic full system exhaust that removes some exhaust valves and getting a custom map made for a PowerCommander might help. Maybe.
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Suspension - it’s fixed, not electronically adjustable on the fly and is hard as hell. Absolutely a sports setup, which is great, but that’s for the minority of riding, most of the time this would be for touring. I think when you look at what the competition have been doing for years, that for £20k where you get no electronically adjustable suspension to soften the ride up when touring and to stiffen it up for sports riding is bonkers. Go ride a BMW with electronic suspension and see what I mean. I had a 2012 GS with electronic suspension and it was a dream to go from soft riding to stiff for sports riding.
Those two points were deal-breakers for me. Such a shame, I was totally ready to buy it in my head ahead of riding it.
Oh, also, I was expecting it to have more torque down low than it did. I think I’m spoilt here as coming from the KTM Superduke 1290 R with a 1300cc V-Twin but in a chassis that’s a good 50KG lighter I was expecting a bit more of a muscle-bike experience. I think Ducati need to put the bike on a diet or increase the engine to 1400cc+ to overcome that weight (~240KG).
You know, I haven’t actually. I dismissed it as being perhaps a bit too laid back, but after my Diavel experience I might have to re-evaluate that. Looking over their site now 
Cheers.
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I’d really love a go on one but I’m worried I’ll want one
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Ha that’s the same with me. Especially after reading some reviews and also a mate has ridden one and was surprised by how well it rode.
It’s the fly-by-wire. It’s the aspect of my Supersport I like least.
Ducati could do smooth throttles, and did. My 1999 748’s (conventional cable) throttle was telepathically smooth. Slight modulations of speed didn’t actually require movement of the hand grip but a slight increase or relaxation of pressure against the spring movement. Upchanges felt like they happened by magic: a little bit of pressure on the gear change, a slight lessening of the pressure on the hand grip, and the next gear was snicked in. Modulating speed on a fast A-road seemed to happen between brain and bike, there wasn’t a conscious effort in telling your wrist to move.
The Supersport, and I presume the Diavel too, is fly-by-wire and I find the throttle to be springy. Trying to keep it at a constant opening on a bumpy road taxes your ability to bend the arms and absorb the bumps before they bounce the throttle spring. Trying to find the right pressure to hold it against that springiness is a challenge.
I queried this on the Ducati forum and they all told me I was mad and didn’t know how to ride a bike.
The fact that it’s ride by wire gives them the opportunity to smooth it out where a mechanical cable can’t, it’s pretty easy to write a smoothing algorithm in code, god knows why it is the way it is. Most top end bikes now have ride by wire so Ducati don’t have anywhere to hide on this, other manufacturers manage smooth throttles with ride by wire just fine.
I’m quite bummed about it. It’s such a deal breaker and I really wanted to like the Diavel.
In my experience it’s not the mapping, not the code which causes the problem, it’s the bounce in the mechanical spring.
There is no mechanical resistance you get with a conventional cable, there is just the spring and your wrist. I know that sounds like any other twist grip, it’s hard to describe in words, but on a conventional cable you can use the stiction in the cable to hold the twist grip in one position, on this you can’t, you are always ‘fighting’ against the spring.
It can’t be hard to get right, it probably just needs a bit of dampening to smooth it out.
Michael, you’re talking about Ducati’s Ride by Wire system like it’s the only one of it’s kind, that all other bikes use mechanical throttles. Ride by wire is super common across many, if not most new bikes. Other manufacturers’ ride by wire throttles work just fine without any cable resistance. Ducati just have a jerky throttle implementation.
Noticeable experiences I have of Ride by wire on previous bikes:
- 2017 KTM 190 Superduke R - 1300cc V-Twin. Smooth as butter
- 2012 & 2014 BMW R1200 GS - 1200cc boxer twin. Smooth as silk
- 2013 Aprilia RSV4 Factory - 999cc V4. Smooth as silk
You can write dampening algorithms into the software that control input devices like a throttle. Ducati have done this as in Urban mode the throttle is noticeably smoother but just not smooth enough. Really odd why it’s a thing, like they made the decision for it to be like that. I wonder if the people involved have ridden competitor bikes.
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it’s a feature not a bug
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Must be the case, can’t see any other explanation for it. Really baffles me why though. Maybe they think it’s essential for their sports leader image.
Possibly done to give it a aggressive feel