Cars R OK, but what kind of motorcycle do you have

Update: Traded the '98 1400 Intruder on a '98 Yamaha Royal Star with 3000 miles and lots of chrome!

Hatari and others

This thread is overdue for an update, but on the subject of Ducatis, I finally gave up.

My yellow 1098, as gorgeous as it was, spent most of its life in the shop, and I spent most of that time wanting to kill both the dealers and Ducati North America.

It seems that DNA doesnt make it so easy for them to get reimbursed for warrantee work.

But rather than fight to change the system, suck it up, or disclose that to their customers, the dealers just spew a lot of BS about what is covered, or whether or not your bike is really broken, because its better to focus on ripping off their presumably rich customers for $1000 oil changes, under the guise of a "12,000 mile service"

To be fair, lets not forget they have to make sure the headstock is secure and the headlight is pointing down the road or whatever.

So having believed that like the latest generation of Ferraris, it was finally possible to own a Ducati as a daily driver, I now feel like an idiot who was taken to the cleaners by a high maintenance mistress before getting dumped and losing half his net worth.

So as of May, I am commuting on a BMW S1000RR, Motorrad Edition.

This bike is so smooth and easy to ride around town that I worried for the first few weeks that it was a bit too boring, and had no personality.

Now that I am comfortable revving it to 14K, however, I must say there is absolutely nothing like it that I have ever ridden - an unbelievable bike.

So far, in about 6500 miles, I have had one significant problem and the dealer fixed it, no questions asked.

Highly recommended.

because its better to focus on ripping off their presumably rich customers for $1000 oil changes, under the guise of a "12,000 mile service"

Never seen a Duke with 12k on the clock, well not working anyways,lol. Dukes have got that premature whizzbang factor.

Gawdbless,

A good point re mileage - yes one of the criticisms of Ducati owners is that they are poseurs who never actually ride motorbikes.

I suffered through more than 25,000 miles on my 1098, although tough to say how many actually, because the odometer broke too!

On the exceptional day when it was running perfectly, I must say it was wonderful and sounds like no other bike.

In the meantime, I am enjoying the BMW, and may get a Honda Repsol or Yamaha R1 for a hopefully reliable back up.

1980 BMW R100T with an S fairing. Not the fastest or best stopping bike in the world but I love the simplicity. Being able to remove the exhaust, head, cylinder and detach the wrist pin in under 45 minutes with little more than a couple of sockets and wrenches is what makes the airheads an ideal "everyday" machine. Road side repairs aren't nearly as worrisome as they are on modern bikes. It's nice to hear of other riders out there on the 'gon. I assume all of you wear ear plugs while riding? ; )