[seruzawa]

I know lots of people ride these bikes on the street, that's obvious I suppose.
I wasn't saying that people don't ride these bikes on the street just that there are also people, like myself for instance, who ride their bikes on the track. I think it's clear that a large # of people who own bikes such as these or the smaller engined 600's or pretty much any high capacity sportbike will track their bikes.
I am certainly not saying that track times should be the only consideration just that for this class of motorcycle it really can't be argued that "most" riders don't care at all about track times. If we were talking about cruisers, streetfighters or something of that ilk then of course that would be the case... but for a sportbike that is essentially a homologation model for suberbike racing it just seems like testers would at least fulfill the curiosity of readers who want to know the times, even if they don't put them into the final tally.

Sadly the % of race replica owners who ride their bikes on the track is quite tiny. There are hundreds of thousands of these things on the road, yet go to a track day and you won't see many people. My local track (Millers) canceled their bike track days this year due to lack of interest, for example. How many people show up at Willow Springs? A hundred? There are a million of these bikes in LA. Well, maybe not quite a million but there are a heck of a lot. They are all posing at the Rock Store or Newcombe's Ranch apparently.

However you are right about the lack of track times in this test. These bikes are essentially race machines and which is REALLY the fastest one should be determined objectively.

 

[seruzawa]

You know, what I find interesting is that I've never heard anyone talk about lap times because no one can relate. Motorcycle magazines -- at least, sportbike magazines -- are in Southern California. They typically do not reference anything outside the state, and typically all go to "Streets of Willow" to rave about the BOLD! NEW! GRAPHICS! and the incremental improvements for this year.

Again, this may be why I quit sport bikes and went to H-D products. That being said, the only motorcycle magazine I read with any regularity is PB from Britain, which isn't track or race focused; just performance focused.

I've never been to Streets of Willow, I probably can't find it on a map, so why should I base my riding decision on how fast a bike can go around it? For that matter, can a guy running at VIR in Virginia extrapolate an estimated lap time for his track from the Streets of Willow track?

Yeah. But if one isn't going to ride on the track why even buy one of these things? You can't even load the suspension without getting arrested.

 

[seruzawa]

So the Big Four don't want to play with the Duc. Did Ducati not have a standard 1198 available to use? There is not that much price disparity between the standard Duc and the Big Four.

Of course, they will would have whined.

Check your message box.

 

[seruzawa]

"In terms of street usability (ergos, mirrors, comfort, etc), the Duc is well behind the true liters."

Like that matters?

"It sure is wicked cool, though!"

Now THAT matters!

If you're looking for street usability why would you be looking at one of these things at all?

 

[seruzawa]

Cuz you can ride 'em on the street! They actually do quite well as a commuter or sport-tourer or whatever. This is one reason why we appreciate the adjustable pegs on the Gixxer and R1, and we hope to seeing adjustable clip-ons on some bikes in the future.

You can ride a TD1 on the street too. If you were nuts.

I got a ride on a buddy's Street Triple. Now THAT's a street machine.

 

[seruzawa]

I'm with satanali2 on this one. Not much point in owning one of these bikes unless you go to the track frequently. Frankly I'd rather have something like a 73 Ducati 750SS. I'd ride it just as much but it's waaay cooler and every bit as practical.

For that matter it'd be more fun to own one of those 400cc class sportbikes they sell in Europe than a literbike that would never get out of first gear without getting me arrested.

 

[seruzawa]

Miller has put the motorcycle track days back on the calendar. I might just pull it off. I've been wanting to for a long time. It's a matter of the several hundred bucks for the school, tires, set-up etc. Should do it before I get too old.

 

[seruzawa]

One reason I think everyone here should take a trackday, is proof that its not as safe as some here think.

I don't think that anyone says that trackdays are "safe". You just don't have the added risk of idiots in their cages to ruin your day.