Bike owners - any Ducati 848 ownership experience please.

[Zed Five]

hi all,

I'm very soon to change my 'classic' :wink: Fireblade 929 for either a much, much newer Fireblade (the sensible choice) or a used Ducati 848 (heart choice?).

I know that Ducatis of old had terrible reliability, but I've been led to believe that's in the past. I always buy used very carefully on condition and always low miles/no apparent wet miles. (my 929 literally looks factory fresh).

Anyone had a 848 (or 1098/1198)? - views on overall experience/riding/reliability? (I know that it'll be less comfortable than a blade but my heart says do something unusual).

Are they not to be missed? - or are they crap?

thanks!

 

[Sae]

It's been while since I've been on a bike, but from what I remember any ride more than 30mins and a comfortable riding position is everything, but then the sound of the Dukes are so awesome ... can't help with experience but good luck, a nice position to be but tough decision.
...have you tried the duc diavel?

 

[Nictrix]

Im a Yamaha man but have always liked the look of Ducatis.
As far as I know all the problems of old are in the past.
What put me off buying any was the extremely small full tank (struggle to get 90 miles I have heard) and the noisy dry clutch.
Not sure if the 848 has a dry clutch though.
Panigale would be my choice of the Ducatis followed by the Diavel.

 

[Bottom]

Sorry not a biker, but have a close friend who bought a Duccatti (new) at the beginning of the year.

His comments on it aren't terribly favourable, think it's been in and out of the garage roughly weekly since he got it. Current problem seems to be a sticking valve in the exhaust somewhere, some kind of emissions sludge (?) which suddenly leaves him with no power at random intervals.

Not sure what model it is, sorry.

 

[Zed Five]

Thanks for the comments. No doubt i'll hmmm and haaa for a while as there is no rush. I love the look of Ducati and owning something a little special really appeals.

However, poor quality or issues really ruin anything. My Blade just never misses a beat, just like for example an R1 wouldn't. Ducatis seem to be hit and miss. Some people get a good one, others not.

When i ride 100 miles to the Welsh coast, I like to come back on the bike not an RAC truck.

If you watch the documentaries about the factories, the Japanese factories ooze build control. Ducati, not so. Why do they look so damn good? Grrr.

 

[mr.tourette]

have rode one on track that belonged to a friend and its a seriously impressive piece of kit, but then so is a new blade, if your primary reason for buying is road riding I would choose the blade all day long, unbelievably quick, civilised if you want it to be, all day comfy but then blistering around a track.... the duc is pretty focused and a lot of fun around a track and a very pretty thing, couldn't imagine spending a day out in the summer riding it all day though.. would be torture, pretty expensive servicing too.

boils down to your priorities i guess, want a bike that can do everything.. fireblade, Sunday scratcher and track toy... ducati, nice problem to have

edit... reliability wise my mate bought a 4k mile bike, stuck another 4k hard track miles on it with no real reliability issues

 

[Zed Five]

have rode one on track that belonged to a friend and its a seriously impressive piece of kit, but then so is a new blade, if your primary reason for buying is road riding I would choose the blade all day long, unbelievably quick, civilised if you want it to be, all day comfy but then blistering around a track.... the duc is pretty focused and a lot of fun around a track and a very pretty thing, couldn't imagine spending a day out in the summer riding it all day though.. would be torture, pretty expensive servicing too.

boils down to your priorities i guess, want a bike that can do everything.. fireblade, Sunday scratcher and track toy... ducati, nice problem to have

Thanks. This echos my own gut feel. I'll never regret buying another Blade, other than for thinking what the Duc 'might have been.' I'm a pretty sensible chap so the sensible choice usually wins out as the easy decision. Just thinking should i break character.

 

[mr.tourette]

have rode one on track that belonged to a friend and its a seriously impressive piece of kit, but then so is a new blade, if your primary reason for buying is road riding I would choose the blade all day long, unbelievably quick, civilised if you want it to be, all day comfy but then blistering around a track.... the duc is pretty focused and a lot of fun around a track and a very pretty thing, couldn't imagine spending a day out in the summer riding it all day though.. would be torture, pretty expensive servicing too.

boils down to your priorities i guess, want a bike that can do everything.. fireblade, Sunday scratcher and track toy... ducati, nice problem to have

Thanks. This echos my own gut feel. I'll never regret buying another Blade, other than for thinking what the Duc 'might have been.' I'm a pretty sensible chap so the sensible choice usually wins out as the easy decision. Just thinking should i break character.

Owning a v twin is a fun and very different experience from an IL4, had a Aprilia tuono factory once and to this day its the only bike I've really regretted selling, was an absolute hoot on the road a proper hooligan of a bike that encouraged you to wring its neck at all times which actually became the reason i sold it as i could actually see myself losing my licence..... bloody shame i really do miss that bike