Originally Posted by Dames

Hey guys,
so this is my track heaven year. I finally get to play with my lifelong dream toys!
I've had the pleasure of riding both 1098R and Desmo at 4 track days.
I thought i would share some of the things i noticed.
let me begin with, im no expert rider nor mechanic. PLENTY OF GUYS ARE WAYYYY FASTER than me. I watch them outbrake, out throttle and out balls me constantly, especially my buddy ilya, the russian ER Doctor with no fear...something about his being able to sit calmly as his patient's eye literally POPS and dribbles down his face has helped this rider's fear management system...i doubt any of the GP riders have that over ilya.

The blue and red bike is my desmo. I put painters tape on it to keep small rocks and bugs from damaging this insanely expensive (for me) bodywork. feel free to ridicule, i know it looks like dookie, but i will say this...it REALLY works to keep the bike pristine...when i peel it off, the bike looks perfectly mint. Also, its temporary, i have race skinz coming from Belgium, Colyn Composites...all black...im looking forward to not worrying about the paint and focusing more on the rubber/pavement connection http://www.ducatispot.com/forums/ima...ilies/wink.gif

1) Power Delivery: the 1098R was powerful like what i had imagined. The torque would literally have the rear cowl leap forward entering a straight and smack me in the ass...as if I were in the way! it took me a while to learn to "really hold on" before pinning it. The Desmo was much smoother however it seemed from my inappropriate downward glances that I was able to achieve higher mph on the straights with the desmo...on the back straight at beaver run about 120mph on the R and 125mph on the desmo...again...this is not cold hard fact, but just what I think i saw. for your reference, the racers and really fast guys are probably going about 130-140 in that same section on any given liter bike. to me the power delivery duration on the desmo was smoother and LONGER. The R was more brute like and of course hit the rev limiter much quicker. I believe the desmo was red lining at around 13-14k and the R at around 10k ish.

2) rider position- the desmo felt taller than the R and the stock suspension felt harder out of the box..Im 5'10" and 165lbs without gear. I would say that the position difference betwen the two bikes is minimal for my size and really not an issue.

3) Handling - well this part was pretty interesting...Both bikes felt extremely nimble! very easy to throw these into turns...very un-ducati-esque. However, with full tanks of gas...the R was a little harder than when empty (expected) but the desmo was a lot harder to turn with the full tank.
I put both on the scale with full tanks. The R, which has eracing skins and no lights but otherwise stock, came in at 407lbs. the Desmo witha full tank of gas totally stock came in at 430lbs...i was pretty surprised..i cant imagine that the desmo lights weigh 23lbs. also the desmo has the mag wheels, the R has aluminum...hmmmmm

4) Best lap time - well...this one is hard to rate coming from me...I imagine an expert racer would kill the R on the Desmo..however, perhaps a combination of fear of how long desmo parts take and how much they cost kept me a little heavier handed on the R. On average, I was about 2-3 seconds slower on the DESMO at Beaver Run. Also, The gearing difference was not what I was used to. I came from a 998 with a 1036 big bore kit...so the R was more of the same. The desmo belongs to a different family...I have to learn to ride it. I know now it does have a slipper...but its not the smoothest to tell you the truth. the R slipper was more familiar to me and dropping 2 gears on it was just fine...on the desmo, when i dropped two gears...made horrible sounds....like a rock inside gears...not good...

5) Sound - haha...this has nothing to do with performance, but the desmo is sooo much louder to the rider than the R is. you know EXACTLY when you F&^*^ed up and by how much on the desmo...It made me feel like satan was chasing me...i loved the sound...honestly even on slow laps..it was just so much fun to be able to make that sound with my wrist...

6) Brakes- this is the surprising part....I may not be fast, but I know SLOW...and I know how to be slow....thats the brakes part...Ive eased on the brakes...grabbed brakes like they were free....and dissappointingly, these bikes BOTH have.................... good brakes. Not Awesome, not super, not stupendous, but good to very good brakes. The radial master on both bikes are the same but slightly different colors and NEITHER is the top of the line radial master offered by Brembo.
I have the top of the line 18mm radial master and 4 piston calipers (regular mounts) on my old 998 (now 1036)....and those are the sickest brakes I have ever tried in my life. Those brakes should have come on these bikes...monobloc, machined, whatever, the stock brakes on these bikes are only rated at good in my book. i think it all depends on what you have tried before, but trust me...upgrade them you will feel a large difference.

conclusion.........they both ROCK...although i dont know how to ride the Desmo properly yet...im sure in time it will be like a different creature at speed compared to the R. I can tell i'm not tapping either bike's potential. I feel like I have used about 30% of their capacities (not including the brakes)....

again...if you can or even if you cant...GET BOTH....


ps-oh yeah...traction control ha!
I turned it off because i put on slicks with a 180 rear....the traction control was cuttin the engine coming out of turns at around 6k rpm...so no thanks...
but before i wore out the stock tires i used them for about 2.5 days....and the traction control was very very smooth...but...it does slow you down at level 4. I ran out of tires before changing it to 2 or 1...with the slicks it was rendered useless.