THE TEST - Ducati UpNorth

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TEST ROUTE TM Weather Groundhog day, part four Traffic No caravans, thank God Time taken 7 hours 45 minutes Average speed 58mph Fuel used 55 litres Average mpg 37 Motorway Not much to do but try to tuck in and play ‘Guess what the blurred image behind is’. 39mpg Top-gear cruising 70mph = 3750rpm 100mph = 5500rpm Speedo accuracy 70mph = real 65 100mph = real 92 Town Narrow bars, steering damper, weight-forward seating all see you yearning for the open road. Fast A roads Loves ’em. Doesn’t feel as fast as the others but it is.Top feels like an overdrive. 37mpg Twisty B roads Bumpy but not twitchy. No better or worse than the others and torque means you’re not constantly changing gear. 36mpg Summary A very good road bike if you get used to the discomfort and don’t leave it in top. Precise on the flowing roads but jarry on the bumpy stuff.Avoid motorways. Ducati 999 £11,250 The 998 had it all: the looks, the power, the glory.What’s the 999 inherited? TAKING THE DUCATI 999 to Cadwell Park was like the first day of school for the youngest in a family that has always excelled there. I’ve ridden all the Nines round this beautiful track: 916, 996, 998. All good. Good at rewarding you with an apparent lack of effort. The way these bikes carried their speed, kept their manners when braking and their composure when overtaking sticks in my mind. But that means nothing if the young kid can’t cut it. There’s less of a buzz surrounding the 999 (see page 81). Rolling up on one of the earlier bikes would have had you levering admirers out of the way when your group was called. Not so today at the track. Or yesterday on the Bike Test Route. Despite the yellow paintwork being louder than your granddad’s telly, the interest in this Ducati is quite a few levels below fever pitch. More like cricket pitch. Buy a 999 to impress people and you might end up on your own. Or hanging out with some very weird mates. It’s not that it’s not cool. It’s just not as achingly beautiful as the previous bikes. Being yellow won’t help Mr Average to recognise it. But then, who really wants to be gawped at by scruffy passers-by? Truth is, the first one I saw looked like two different bikes stitched together. The front half was all colour and plastic while the back looked like a half-finished Mechano toy. That’s all I’m saying. And no, I didn’t have to circle it three times before jumping aboard. It turns over like a diesel desperate for a 250,000-mile service, but then purrs into that slightly metallic desmodromic melody. Digga, digga, braaaapp, brrraaaaappp, digga, digga. Two days earlier, the 999 had offered the best ride at the Bruntingthorpe Proving Ground in the rain (well, best of three, as the 749S is a fair-weather bike). So even though Cadwell was dry, the 999 was still my steed of choice. Looping round the track, it was clear the bike had a front that wanted to run wide as standard. This didn’t really show itself on the road but on the track I had to knock the power off on the apex to keep the front tight. Maybe that was a result of all the extra low-down torque? I knew it LIVING WITH IT 14 days of real life with a 999 + Pillions suffer exactly the same fate as those on the 749S.There are no differences. + There’s no underseat space, either. + It must be no surprise that your group NU17 insurance premium is equal to the GDP of a small African country. + The two-year warranty could come in really useful if you get a bad ‘un. + There are three different levels of 999 ownership.This basic model costs would have made more sense to be on the 749S. Extra power only ever hinders if you can’t lay it down. The difference in lap times would only be slight but there was a much wider gulf in confidence levels. It would sometimes feel as though the 999 was in charge – and that’s never a good situation. Whether it was the extra power and speed or something else is unclear, but my extra use of the brakes started to show early. The whizz and hissing pads started to grab on the discs and ruled out any really hard braking while banked over – there was too much chance of them locking the front and having me off. You’d have to try extremely hard to pass a 749S on this bike. So the smaller yellow bike beats the bigger yellow bike round the track (hell the 999 can’t consistently beat the 998 in World Superbikes). But come back into the real world and the tables are turned. That doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a better bike. Just faster over distance. There are no headshakes from the 999, but show it a bumpy back road and you’ll regret it. With everything going well it flows, but misjudge a bump at speed and it’ll have you working-out harder than a bodybuilder with a bruised ego. And don’t expect any more comfort than you find on the 749S. Just when I was thinking that the 999 was going to perform the whole of this 1000-mile test without a hiccup, the digital dash display failed and I was left with no speedo or warning lights. The exact same thing happened last time out (May 2003) so the fault must go under the ‘Common problems’ section. The bike also lost a spring from the exhaust pipe, making it sound just like a race system but without the £1500 bill. Result. And the awkward-looking sidelight mounted in the screen went out. But that was more of a blessing as it can shine into your eyes at night. It’s easy to be cynical about Ducatis after experiences like this and the breakdown on the 749S. For such an expensive machine, surely better reliability isn’t too much to ask? > £11,250; the 999S (with more power and Öhlins suspension) is £13,950; the 999R comes in at £19K.That’s as close to a factory ride as we’re ever gonna get. + Best get an alarm and carry a lock to keep your obviously expensive Ducati out of the reach of thieving scum. Or just ride it and lock it up back at home. + Expect everybody to want a piece of you at every trackday: ‘I’ll show him...’ IN A NUTSHELL It must be the 999 because... Ducati’s win everything. It’s one of the coolest brands worldwide. You like the yellow of this bike.And AA patrol vans. ‘Misjudge a bump at speed and it’ll have you workingout harder than a bodybuilder with a bruised ego’ THE TEST 126
THE TEST HISTORY OF EXOTICA 1885 There was only one way to travel in this year. The Gottlieb Daimler Einspur ripped up a storm. There was only one, so that has to make it the rarest of exotica. 1971 Ducati build their first V-twin by sticking two pushrod singles together. The 750 Sport gave birth to the trademark 90° V-twin engine. 1972 Benelli create a stir with the 750Sei and the later 900Sei. Six-piped, six-cylinder madness with a 120mph top end. 1988 Ducati give us the 851 superbike and an era of Italian exotica starts. 1998 Aprilia join the fray with the RSV Mille. It makes its WSB debut in 1999. SPECIFICATIONS Engine Bore x stroke Compression Fuel system Transmission Frame Front suspension Adjustment Rear suspension Adjustment Brakes front; rear Tyres front; rear Wheelbase Rake/trail Dry weight (claimed) Seat height Fuel capacity Fuel consumption (average) Warranty/mileage Service intervals NU insurance group Price (otr) State of the art: Exotica Buy with your heart.And a large credit-card SUSPENSION Normally Italian exotica is bathed in Öhlins or suspension of that level. But, except for the 749S, these ‘base’ models make do with suspension that’s more road biased than track proven. For the flashier kit, you have to spend your way up the model ranges. TORNADO * 898cc, 12v, dohc, in-line triple 88 x 49.2mm 11:1 fuel injection 6-speed, chain tubular steel perimeter 43mm usd telescopic forks preload, compression, rebound rising-rate monoshock preload, compression, rebound 2 x 320mm discs/4-piston caliper; 240mm disc/2-piston caliper Dunlop D207RR 120/70 ZR17; 190/50 ZR17 1419mm 23.5º/94.5mm 198kg 810mm 19 litres 34mpg two years/unlimited mileage 5000km/12 months NU17 £9999 ENGINE Think Italian.Think sportsbikes.Think twins. Think again. Benelli use a 900cc triple to gain more flexibility over a twin. But it’s down on power, so the 1000cc twins stomp through. * 749S 748cc, 8v, dohc, 90º V-twin 90 x 58.8mm 12.3:1 fuel injection 6-speed, chain steel trellis 43mm usd telescopic forks preload, compression, rebound rising-rate monoshock preload, compression, rebound 2 x 320mm discs/4-piston caliper; 240mm disc/2-piston caliper Pirellia Diablo 120/70 ZR17; 180/55 ZR17 1420mm 23.5-24.5º/91-97mm 199kg 780mm 15.5 litres 36mpg two years/unlimited mileage 6000 miles/12 months NU16 £9795 RSV-R 998cc, 8v, dohc, 60º V-twin 97 x 67.5mm 11.8:1 fuel injection 6-speed, chain aluminium twin-spar 43mm usd telescopic forks preload, compression, rebound rising-rate monoshock preload, compression, rebound 2 x 320mm discs/4-piston caliper; 220mm disc/2-piston caliper Michelin Pilot Sport 120/70 ZR17; 190/50 ZR17 1415mm 24.8º/101.7mm 189kg 810mm 18 litres 39mpg two years/unlimited mileage 6000 miles/12 months NU17 £8572 THE BIG IDEA: CHASSIS Aprilia have the most familiar approach, using an alloy beam frame. Ducati use steel trellis (just like all the race bikes) for both models. Benelli are entirely off the beaten track with this screwed-and-glued number. Steel headstock and side rails are bolted and stuck into the cast swingarm pivots. 999 BUILD You pay for exotica so expect something different beneath the clothes.The Benelli is the most radical here. The radiators sit under the seat, fed by fans that cool from the back. The frame (see above) is a mixture of steel, glue and alloy and the panels are wafer thin. 998cc, 8v, dohc, 90º V-twin 100 x 63.5mm 11.4:1 fuel injection 6-speed, chain steel trellis 43mm usd telescopic forks preload, compression, rebound rising-rate monoshock preload, compression, rebound 2 x 320mm discs/4-piston caliper; 240mm disc/2-piston caliper Michelin Pilot Sport 120/70 ZR17; 190/50 ZR17 1420mm 23.5-24.5º/91-97mm 199kg 780mm 15.5 litres 37mpg two year/unlimited mileage 6000 miles/12 months NU17 £11,250 Clocks When your mirrors are as usless as the ones on these bikes, an easy-to-read clock is essential. Luckily, all of these bikes have large, clear LCD readouts of speed and distance. The Aprilia’s is neatest (about time) and the easiest to Headlights Benelli’s ‘nose’ of light throws a tall, narrow beam onto the road ahead. Works well, leant over. The 749’s projector headlights tunnel into the night sky Tank range All fuelled-up with nowhere to go? Taking you the shortest distance is the 749S. All that revving gets you down to an average of 36mpg and the small, Start Full Tank TORNADO 749S 999 use with a gloved digit. The Ducatis’ are informative until they go blank while the Benelli goes all colourful on us and, most usefully of all, has a remote switch beneath the clutch to change the display. though the small screen-mounted side light gave up the ghost on the route. Aprilia breaks with tradition and has both sides of the headlights on all the time. 15.5 litre tank sucks dry by 122 miles. Worst economy is the noisy Benelli that returns 34mpg. However, its 18 litre tank means 134 is possible RSVR 154 94 98 102 110 122 Left (l-r):Tall and thin slit for the lights gives the Benelli the face of a grasshopper; Staked circle beams for the Duke keeps the frontal aspect slim.This one is the… 999.We think.Almost certainly; More foxy than a 1994 Blade, the cool-fronted RSV-R throws most light on the subject Right You again? Oh, no.This time it’s the 749. Same lights 134 126 Left Ducati clock in still-working shock Middle Neat and well laid-out RSV-R clock Right Another working Ducati display and analogue rev counter Main image Designed in a McDonalds? Red and yellow lighten up the dash on the Tornado Very effective at night. The blue glare of the 999’s lights mean that even the dopeyest of car drivers thinks you’re the rozzers and moves over. Great. between pumps. Best economy (and breaking the 150 mile barrier) is the Aprilia which does 39mpg with an 18 litre tank. The 999’s good for 126 miles. Theoretical tank range Tornado 134 miles 749S 122 miles RSV-R 154 miles 999 126 miles Figures based on motorway mpg on the Test Route.
Page 1 and 2: THE TEST Affordable exotica Why run
Page 3 and 4: TEST ROUTE TM Ducati 749S £9795 Th
Page 5: THE TEST ‘The RSV-R has morphed i
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THE TEST - Ducati UpNorth

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