Hi Gang,
Its with a little sadness that I say goodbye to the board. The SuperHawk has found a new home with FastWilly, who will take good care of it. This is a great forum and I wish everyone well and safe riding. I'll probably pop in and lurk from time to time, just to see what everyone is up to!

Oh, I'm not leaving the land of sportbike twins...this is the replacement for the trusty SH... (new, leftover '08)!



Ride Safe!!!

 

Rock on!!! You'll love that 1098. My best friend has an 08 (also had an 07, soon to get an 09 1198) and I ride with him a lot. It pretty much stomps the VTR in every way. It's everything the SuperHawk is and more. I wish that I had the money - he's probably only going to get $10k for his 08 in trade. Now, where did I leave that $9,980.....

 

Congrats and farewell, she's a hottie!

 

If my motorcycle sounded like that at idle I couldn't sleep at night.

 

Beautiful bike, I hate you now!

 

Beautiful machine. Be sure to stop by and give us a your thoughts as to how it rides.

Enjoy.

 

Thanks for the kind words. This is really an awesome board.

nuhawk, wait until the Termignoni slip-ons go on next week! They were part of the deal and come with a new ECU and high flow air filter. I should get a couple of more ponies and even more low-end (). As for sound, if you haven't heard a 1098 with T's, it is pure sex!

I'm still in the break-in and they're pretty serious about that. I'm limited to <6000 rpm for the first 1000km, and <7000 rpm for the next 1500km, but even at that it pulls at least as strong as the SH does up higher. As for handling, its no contest. Still finding and scrubbing in the tire edges, but basically I've dropped 40 lbs and gained 50 hp, all at once. It doesn't go around corners on rails...it is the rails. Have I mentioned the brakes? Holy Crap! When I first saw them, I thought "Great, now I have to do some more steel braided lines." Wrong. The front Brembos are like ship anchors. I'm definitely in a re-learning mode here, so limiting the rpm for a few miles is a good thing. Can't wait to get it up into the mountains this summer!

Seating position is definitely more aggressive. Longer reach to the bars, pegs a little higher and more forward lean. I'm only 5'8" and I just fit. I don't know how someone with longer legs could ride it. Even compared to my wife's '09 CBR1000RR, the Duc is more aggressive. You ride it right up on the tank, knees against the tank and on the trailing top edges of the fairing. The first thing you buy is a tank pad (done and installed) and the second are knees pads for the tank and fairing edges (on order)! CRG levers are on the way and I'm going to replace the windscreen with dark.

Its not all pie. The seat is basically a piece of covered plywood. My 50+ year old butt is not on speaking terms with me. I told it to shut up and enjoy the ride. (I may have to compromise and see if I can come up with something that has at least a resemblence to a padded seat). I miss my SH Sargent seat...sigh. The sacrifices we must make...

The bike now has a name. I've christened it "DucZilla"...

All this and my wife decided I needed a new helmet to go with the bike, so she bought me a Shoei Strife (red/black, of course). I'm a happy guy!

You guys ride safe out there. ATGATT! If anyone ever needs anything in Tampa, all you have to do is yell! I'm keeping my login on the board and will be dropping in and checking out the SH chaos from time to time.

Be good and Thanks again!

Doug

 

DucZilla

 

WE're not worthy, we're not worthy...

she is a fine piece of ***!! Have fun and be safe!

 

Yeah, yeah, yeah .... we all know beauty is only skin deep.

About the brakes ... I was at a Ducati shop and the salesman told me about a new owner who didn't even make it out of the parking lot before dropping it due to the strength of the brakes. Yow!

Be careful out there, and have fun too.

 

I'm jealous, but not of the seat! I guess that's Duc's way of keeping you from wearing out the rest of the bike too soon or misusing it by riding on the freeway.

Real sportbikers don't sit on the seat anyways!

 

Have Fun and enjoy the ride

 

Very sweet bike!!! I would call that a upgrade?? Nothing against the Hawk but NICE!!!!!

 

Having spent a day in teh sadle of a 1098S, I can attest that the brakes are wicked, way more than anyone needs for the street in fact (be REAL careful if you ever ride on humid pavement!!!!!!!).

I loved the power and handling, didn`t care for the ***-warming exhaust though.

Enjoy the ride, she`s a sexy one!

P.S. I found the rattle of the dry clutch at idle made t sound a lot like a hopped-up Big Block