1199sl, 1299sl, Or D16rr

Yeah, I ordered an 1199S tricolore when they first came out, with the intention of part exing my 1098R. Managed to get a test ride of an 1199S before
my order arrived and cancelled the deal. I only ended up buying a Pani R a few years later when I had the cash to keep the 1098R too.
Pani is getting closer to the door every week these days. 1098R is still sitting there comfortably with its feet up and a wry smile on its face.

 

1098r is the last proper big twin imo and a treat to ride. Nothing like it in terms of torque so also keeping mine. However its different to the DD16 and not the same. The DD16 is just special. Dealer tried to sell the V4 SL to me and was nice but imho nothing really special about it. I can throw a lot of money at any of the panigale models and have 95% of the SL

 

It's true. You can't build a Desmosedici with a cheque book, whereas you can with any SPS/ R/ SL or what have you, as they're all based on lower spec models. Oddly enough I've never thought of it like that before..

 

I bought the 1098R in this vid. Off Martin Rees, MD of Ducati Glasgow at the time. Cracking bike!!

 

That desmo sounds mega!

 

If you want something special to look at then D16RR, if you want something special to ride then either of the SLs.

 

Desmo has 64 titanium valve collets at £64 each in 2009.

15000 mile service is engine out, heads off and barrels Decarbonised.

very fragile engines. Several cases of throttle bodies sticking open at WOT.

Mine had porous bores, twice.
otherwise, it’s awesome.

If I had any confidence in the D16, I
Would have one again, otherwise 1299SL

 

Looked to me like the Desmo backed off a few times when following. No doubt a 1098R is a more desirable bike, but when I asked on here if a heavier 1098R with less power, would be faster than a 1299 it went very quiet...

 

Did you listen to what Neeves said in the vid? Very little in it. Different gearing, different track… That 1098R retailed at £24k and I think the Desmo was around £40k. No doubt which one wins the wow factor but the Desmo isn’t earth shatteringly fast. I know this because I’ve followed a few on track.

 

Weren't they only quick once fitted with the race kit fitted ?

Like the Honda rcv think there only 160bhp in standard form. 15k fireblade is quicker.

 

I think the race system was ~£7k IIRC. Which was a Kings ransom back in 2008. Maybe @749er can enlighten us…
I remember some dude brought one out to Almeria around that time and binned it

 

I have never been to Almeria with a bike.
A mate of mine has the 2007 exhaust and I think it was 7k. I prefer the standard race system but each to their own.

i always found it to be quick. Only bike I ever owned that made my eyes water under acceleration.

 

I did, something about sprockets? Still looked like the Desmo nearly ran into the back of the R a couple of times. No dog in this fight though...

 

One the one hand the 1098R has traction control and on the other hand the D16 is a lot lighter, magnesium wheels

 

The 1098R TC was more of a sphincter twitcher than functional use. I turned it off. Nearly friggin crashed every time it kicked in….

 

I’m in the really fortunate position to have owned all these beauties and have tracked all of them right up until the V4R so I can give a reasonable account for them all. I helped set up a Desmo with a full Magenetti Marelli TC system around Jerez with a brainiac technician too, it was incredible!
Here’s my take on it for what it’s worth.
You’re not keen on the 1098R but I used to say that everyone should own or ride one if they possibly can at some point in their life. The raw and brutal torque 100plus lb ft coupled with 190ish bhp was a really brutal but sensational assault on the senses. When set up as a track bike with no road garb, it was light, fast, stopped amazingly and so stable. I loved it and nearly couldn’t sell it to Mary when it came to it!
The 1199SL was a celebration of light metals, titanium and magnesium etc. The attention to detail is still outstanding. I’m sure you know the spec. The engine was super quick but not as brutal as the 1098R. It was a move more from an analogue experience heading towards the digital more modern bikes we see today. (Like Mary says, 1098R TC was fine for the road but nothing like the same as todays offering. I switched it off) The handling and stopping on the SL was like the movie Firefox, think about it and it happens, really quite incredible.
The 1299SL took the brute of the 1098R and the finesse and modern tech of the 1199SL and combined them with even more power and stacks more torque. This time as a celebration of carbon fibre. The result was outstanding and without any shadow of a doubt the absolute pinnacle of V twin sports bikes in terms of outright performance; staggering fast, accurate, stable, sensationally light with brakes as good as anything today. I had the chance to ride Marco Melandrie’s WSBK bike around Mugello and the 1299SL was very similar in performance. It’s a pussy cat when ridden on the road too.
The Desmo is a very special bike that will go down in history. A GP bike for the road! Mental idea but what a thing. Fast with a mouth watering spec and from the analogue timeframe of the 1098R. Another truly special piece of history. The truth is, by comparison, it is the hardest to ride of all the bikes I’ve mentioned. I’ve done a lot of miles on track and instructed for years, like to consider myself pretty quick but the Desmo makes you use all of your experience to ride it meaningfully. It’s stable but super stiff at the same time, it only really talks to you when you’re firing into a corner with the thing on its side. It’s hard to ever feel like you’ve got it licked, I guess that’s the difference between GP riders and us! That being said, it’s like the R, a raw, visceral and impossible experience to describe accurately enough.
You’re in a lucky position to have the choice and I congratulate you. Every one of these machines feels like a special occasion when you ride them.
If I were choosing which to own again, I’d probably go for the 1299SL simply because the performance of it still makes the hairs on my neck stand up when I think about it.
Dunno if any of that helps but you’re going to have fun no matter what.

 

Nah, the bikes were really well matched. Like Neevesy says, the gearing wasn’t quite right for Almeria, it was labouring a touch in 3rd but we couldn’t use 2nd where we wanted. The 1098R just used its torque to blast out the bends so the gearing wasn’t so critical, plus I had sprockets with me for that bike so it was set up correctly.
The video footage wasn’t the fastest laps, Bruce Dunne (the other rider) was having fun with Neevesy for all those shots. The timed laps weren’t filmed and Neevesy rode both bikes to get the times, he was utterly blown away by both bikes.

 

I think the question has just been answered by the person in the best position to pass judgment!

I sooo freakin jealous right now!

 

I love the first world's problem sense of your question!! ;-)

Desmo seems like a good idea, but I would be very worried about maintenance and availability of parts. Everything is quite unique on the engine, nothing comes cheap and some French guy was reporting some very serious issues on his big service back in the days (that were then under warranty). Anything you need to change like rockers, valves, etc. is quite unique. It feels to me like a lot of potential headache if it goes wrong.
But true that a Desmo on open pipes is something really special to hear. When you look at it, everything screams special on it and to date this is truly the only road-going motogp bike, to the exclusion of a few Hondas that are pretty much all in collections or still in their crates.

For the Superleggeras, it would be six and two threes for me. The 1199SL was the first one. Love the look, love the racing-orangey red, but I would be a little worried about the magnesium frame in the distant future. So, 1299SL probably with the fact that the Aka exhausts are more of a match for the WSBK ones and being the last of the truly special twins.

For that sort of money, you could also look into very low production bikes further into the past as well. Not sure if that gets you a Supermono, you can probably start getting some decent racers.
Personally, I went for 888.