I ride a nice 900SS on the road and a 916 on the track and the 916 handles so much better that I'm considering to upgrade the SS to a 748 or 916 for street too. But - getting close to 50 and already getting pretty tired riding the SS for max. an hour I worry if I will be able to use the 748 for more than 10 minutes driving? I think the handlebars could be heightened a bit but the footrests are pretty high up compared to the SS. Any (personal) experiences? How are you doing on these bikes? Can you get lowered footrests too? regards Jim
Well I am close to 60 and can ride my 748 between fuel stops without a problem, that's 120 miles and around 2 hours. Just returned from the IOM and had no problems riding around with my son and his mates. Steve
I am 54 and can also manage to empty the tank without stops on my 998 . Mind you I have been thinking of eccentrically mounted footrests to drop them an inch,but its not a priority.
The 916 (the whole series) has a fairly extreme riding position. The most extreme of any of the Ducatis I have tried (plenty of them). I don't think it's really an age thing though. It's a fitness and practice thing. You just need to ride it a lot to build up the appropriate muscles. But the 999 series is considerably more comfortable. It's still a more extreme position than the 900SS, but less so than the 916 (bum less up in the air). Added to which the 999 is faster, handles at least as well and has better brakes. And it's smaller. I judge comfort on can I ride it all day? I've ridden my 999 700 miles in a day - and it wasn't all motorways either (included a trip to Andorra). But the 916 went from Switzerland to Valencia and a lot of other places (several times Switzerland to Gascony in the day - over 500 miles). I am 51 now.
Thank you all for replying. I went out today and measured both bikes and I was surpriced to find just about the same distance from the seat to the footpegs (both vertical and horisontal) on both bikes. I was sure that the 916 had higher footpegs! But the handlebars on the SS is a lot higher, about 10 cm higher on the SS, the 916 is about level with the seat. I couldn't find lowered footrests but I have seen a lot of raised clip-ons. How much can you raise the bars before you get into trouble with the fairing? Jim
The same footrest can be bought from Avanti. Support british companies rather than China, every little helps. Avanti Race Parts - Ducati Parts and Accessories for Road and Race Motorcycles. Services for Ducati Motorcycles. Race prep, Paintwork, ECU Repairs, Anodising and more!
Where do a avanti gets theirs from..... You can llooser the pegs and put bar raisers on if needed, or get an 848 which is more comfy to start with
I used to have a 916 many moons ago (sold back in 2002) and for a short while I had lifted the front fairing /headlamp and swapped the bars over. To do this you take the front frame to headlamp bracket off and re fit it upside down and swap left and right bars with each other, downside is you cant run the fairing side panels like this so it looks a bit streetfighter ish, I did it as I was having neck issues from an old injury but reverted back to std , and opted for neck back massages to help with the problem. PS its not just the seat/bars/peg height but the distance from seat to bars that affect comfort (significantly) as I have a 900ss and its like a comfy slipper (kindof) but a SS1000DS I used to own wasnt (very similar seat/bars/pegs hieght) but the distance from seat to bars is longer making it more stretched. A more extreme example are the sport classics, again not unreasonable seat/bars/pegs hieght but a bloodly long stretch to the bars (too far for me).
Have to say, I tried a late 800 ssie and found it very difficult to lift my head up, seemed worse than a 916, but I didn't ride it
It gets different people different ways needless to say. I find the stretch to the bars suits my back ,but the seat to pegs does give some discomfort to the knees.
