One of the advantages of being young and poor, I suppose. For me it was Honda CD175 (which I never did drop) followed by Honda 400N. There was no way I could afford anything more flash. I'd been riding 4 years before I could afford my first Ducati - a second hand 500 Pantah. I say "afford". I could afford the payments on my personal loan. There are people who have jumped straight on a superbike with no hassles. There are others who have gone to hospital, directly to hospital, do not pass Go, do not collect £200.
I think this is down to the person more than the bike. I have two sons who are like chalk and cheese, my youngest is cautious and would take his time to learn the skills of riding and progress at his own pace and not be swayed by any sort of peer pressure. However my eldest is trigger happy and would jump right on and see what it could do straight away. I know this for a fact as I have tested my thoery by letting them loose on the farm quad!.:Woot:
The procedure with mine is you jump up and down on it several times like you're trying to kick start a Norton Dominator, nothing happens and then just as you've given up on the idea and decided you can make the turn-off without it, it locks up, you back into the side road/pub carpark/petrol station sideways and everyone is mighty impressed. I assume this is quite normal.
No but at that price there are 899's out there very close on price and mileage, and there was this too... Ducati 1199 PANIGALE,2012, **NOW SOLD, SORRY* | eBay
Indeed. A common misconception. There is a hinged big-toe rest on the right-hand side which is sometimes mistaken for this.
When I test rode my 996 in November I told him the bake brake did not work. The salesman put his hand on the disc and said "the disc is hot, it's working, it's a Ducati". When I got the bike I took the pads out and they look brand new.
Ive never test ridden anything in my life. I always feel "cheeky" and wasting their time...having said that ive never bought anything from a bike shop bar the hyper that I have now and that's only because I was desparate to offload the R6 which was forced upon me at the time! (it was and will be the last 600 sports bike ill ever own) even then the hyper was at the other end of the country and, id already owned one. If I love the look of it and its got a good write up then Ill have it and deal with anything bad afterwards, went to north eastern Scotland from Bristol to get the RSV4.....the ktm ive got now that im converting I didn't even start....just set about it with a socket set and spanners 10 mins after unloading it from the van...
The experienced guys I know can't do a uturn as well as me. MOD 1 test is 20 mins of doing just that type of exercise. Most guys I know passed years ago and never had to do them or haven't for years.
To add a bit from a car sales point of view. Many years ago 8-10 we had a young lad stack a fiesta into someone back garden on a test drive. The outcome to the business was an increased excess which still stands to this day (10k) and an increased premium for many years after. Small bumps by people on test drives are simply repaired at our cost. I imagine that bikes are even worse and the business take the view it's not worth the risk.
Agreed. The bike will go where you look. Look over your shoulder in the direction of travel, feather the back brake and you can go round in circles till you're dizzy. When I did the old part 1 training years ago we had to practice riding in a circle on full lock. Impossible if you're looking straight ahead down the tank as is natural, easy if you turn your head away from the handlebars a look where you want the bike to go. Easy also on a sit-up-and-beg 125. Don't know about trying it on a RocketIII or a Panigale.
You need a road as wide as motorway to do a U turn on a panigale! Easier and quicker to shuffle it round.
