New bike

I took the Supersport out for a test ride today, lovely machine. I had it out for about an hour and did both motorway and back roads, quite an easy bike to ride. I found the mirrors not too bad either vibration-wise or field of vision, certainly no worse than some bikes I have ridden in the past. The screen in the upper position certainly makes a difference, you may not think it would with the difference not being huge but I put it in the down position on the way back and there was a lot more wind blast. I found a fair bit of heat from the bike round my nether regions at times and on full lock my thumbs were against the tank.
I did really like the bike though, nice engine and feel to it. I have a plate in my left arm, from my wrist to my elbow, and was feeling it a bit leaning onto the bars.
Am I going to buy one?, I am at home thinking about this just now, especially will it effect my arm?, I know I'd happy to get on it BUT, will I be quite glad to get off it? Ok, I appreciate it's not an out and out sports bike but it was still giving me a wee bit of grief on the ride. If I am going to spend that amount of money on a bike I want to make sure I am going to be completely happy with it, riding and ownership. I said I would phone in the morning once I have done a bit of soul searching.
Ducati Glasgow, once again, were great in arranging the test-ride, full of knowledge and made sure I knew what I needed to know about the bike, it's now thinking time.
 
rbt1548 said:
I took the Supersport out for a test ride today, lovely machine. I had it out for about an hour and did both motorway and back roads, quite an easy bike to ride. I found the mirrors not too bad either vibration-wise or field of vision, certainly no worse than some bikes I have ridden in the past. The screen in the upper position certainly makes a difference, you may not think it would with the difference not being huge but I put it in the down position on the way back and there was a lot more wind blast. I found a fair bit of heat from the bike round my nether regions at times and on full lock my thumbs were against the tank.
I did really like the bike though, nice engine and feel to it. I have a plate in my left arm, from my wrist to my elbow, and was feeling it a bit leaning onto the bars.
Am I going to buy one?, I am at home thinking about this just now, especially will it effect my arm?, I know I'd happy to get on it BUT, will I be quite glad to get off it? Ok, I appreciate it's not an out and out sports bike but it was still giving me a wee bit of grief on the ride. If I am going to spend that amount of money on a bike I want to make sure I am going to be completely happy with it, riding and ownership. I said I would phone in the morning once I have done a bit of soul searching.
Ducati Glasgow, once again, were great in arranging the test-ride, full of knowledge and made sure I knew what I needed to know about the bike, it's now thinking time.
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I had a test ride the other week on one and really enjoyed it. It has plenty of power in the right places although I stayed mostly in the standard mode, economy far too low powered and the high performance mode not a big difference from the standard. It also wasn't easy to change modes but that would probably come in time.
Similar to yourself I really wanted to see if the 'sports touring ' position worked for me. The verdict is I'm not really sure, it works great when whizzing along but any traffic slowing the progress up or town work shows that the bars and my kneck angle are not quite right ! But that is an individual thing and will work ok for others. It sounded great on the standard pipes although I don't like the look of those silencers !
I would want heated grips and probably the panniers. I saw a picture of the fitting rails and they looked odd when no panniers on and quite like I had just welded them together in the garage !
I did enjoy the ride, handling and the mirrors were ok. If you have owned and ridden Ducatis you won't notice it too much.
 
I have been in 2 minds between M821 and a used Multi. Ideally, I would want a M821 for scratching but with a full fairing for some decent touring mileage to Italy and Spain once a year. On test rides, the Monster is more engaging with a comfortable lean to the bars but a bit drafty at 80+. The Multi is fast in a line, great for long distances but a bit of a barge. Is it worth looking at the Supersport?
 
Adi said:
I have been in 2 minds between M821 and a used Multi. Ideally, I would want a M821 for scratching but with a full fairing for some decent touring mileage to Italy and Spain once a year. On test rides, the Monster is more engaging with a comfortable lean to the bars but a bit drafty at 80+. The Multi is fast in a line, great for long distances but a bit of a barge. Is it worth looking at the Supersport?
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I moved from an MTS1200 to the Supersport. I was thinking of replacing the MTS with something newer and tried the MTS950 and the SS939 - there was no comparison. The 950 is just as big and heavy as the 1200 and I really wanted something smaller and lighter which the Supersport certainly is.
As I do a fair bit of travelling on the bike, both here and abroad, the Monsters were ruled out - no weather protection and no luggage capability. The Supersport has panniers as an option so I chose the base model rather than the 'S' and spent the difference on the panniers and heated grips.
So I'm intending to use it as a proper sports tourer which is something that hasn't been available from Ducati since the demise of the ST range.
 
I've seen one with the twin Akrapovic exhausts like the Panigale and thought it looked brilliant. I remember Robbie posting a picture way back and thought oh no, it looks like a Honda ! It's actually one of my favourites in the range at the moment.
Derek, some of the KTM guys have filled their bars with silicone and apparently it stops any vibes buzzing the mirrors and giving you tingly digits. Personally I don't notice it and haven't done it but I am curious and might do it anyway before we head to Italy in September.
 
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Adi said:
Is it worth looking at the Supersport?
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Most definitely!, I decided in the end not to go for it due to the reasons I mentioned in my post, BUT, I am having some second thoughts especially as I found that some manufacturers are making risers for the bars which should help. As Derek mentioned, it's smaller and lighter than a Multi, should manoeuvrability be an issue. Try a test ride, definitely a good bike.
 
I saw these bar risers but at £80 they are a bit pricey for what they are. I made a similar pair when I had the ST4s so I might make a pair for the SS myself.
 
Derek said:
I saw these bar risers but at

Yes they are a bit pricey and I probably could rattle up a pair myself but, 'I know a man that can' and he would make a lovely job of them. I wonder what would be the max rise without altering the cabling etc.
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