As a few may be aware ive gone from a 1199 to a 899. Thought you may appreciate a few thoughts comparing both bikes to each other so far... In 2010 i purchased a 848 , which i kept for 4 years and loved to bits. It was modified quite a bit which made a perfect road bike. However i found it tiring after say 100 miles of riding and it was crap as slow speed stuff. It scared me a bit that i had nearly enough money in mods on that bike to buy a panigale so decided to look to swap to either a 1199 or 899 by selling my 848 and all the mods I rode a 1199 and 899 in July last year and liked how easy they were to ride. Neither bike felt perfect but i liked tehm for sure. The 899 lacked mid range grunt compared to my 848 , and its brakes seemed wooden and crap compared to my 848 monoblocks with Hel lines. The 1199 had too much grunt i felt but i thought i could live with it if i needed to. I purchased a 1199abs as the deal i got meant id be silly to go for a 899. So from July last year to June this year i had a 1199. I kept the mods simple with just a set of termi's, bruudt tail tidy and a comfort seat. I covered 1493 miles in total before being T-boned by a 83 year old bloke. (no i dont have the salvage to sell) . I found the 1199 hard to ride quickly as its power at 7k was too sudden and made it hard to get the most of it. The term over-biked is too true in this case. I like to feel like im pushing a bike a bit and this was impossible on a 1199 and i felt like a coffee shop wobbler a bit as i barely scraped the surface of its capabilities. Any way now i have a 899 (since friday) and i think its great. The brakes don't seem as wooden as i remember but they aren't as good as the M50's on the 1199. The power is ok, but it still lacks midrange, but i like being able to take it through all the gears and feel like a hero a bit more. Ive covered 450 miles since friday already and its a cool little bike. Im definitely quicker on it for sure and i reckon alot of 1199 riders would be quicker on one too as few can push a 200hp bike on the road even if they wont admit it. I still hate the dual swingarm, but for the money i saved i can live with it. Once its run in ill get my termi's fitted and lets see how much fun it is then. The 1199 had a decent sized chicken strip on the right (1cm) and the 899 is pretty much gone even taking it "easy". Probably down to the smaller tyre but it certainly feels more flick able but not quite as stable at speed. The build quality/finish is certainly not as good as a 1199 but same again its built to a price. All in all im quite happy with it. If id paid £13k id not be as i feel that's far too much but nearer to £10k its a great bike. Will i keep it long term? Probably not more than 2 years as it doesn't stir my soul like a trellis framed bike. But as a tool to ride and have fun then its all good. I wouldnt of swapped unless the accident had happened as id of kept the 1199 and probably changed it next year for something else. I can certaily see why lots of people have lots of miles on their899's as they just beg to be ridden.
Glad you are enjoying it. I can't remember the 848 Evo engine i rode. I do wonder why when everyone mentions the 899 has no midrange by comparison, Ducati published this on their site. I'm not doubting what people feel at all, like i say i didn't ride an 848 enough to compare.
Surely the 10K you paid is all relative to age/mileage/depreciation. So you've been mugged off as much as us chaps who bought new
Fair play 10K seems a steal... Maybe a new bike is around the corner! After sitting on the Japs and the S1000RR the 899 seemed fair value to me.
