Met a Desmosedici today..........oh, and a 696 too

[herm]

today i went to my local shops spring open house, where they were having the debut for the 696.
but i was there to see the owners desmosedici, # 180 of whatever.
he started it up, and man what a sweat sound

they also had a few sport classics here and there, a couple 1098's, and a hypermotard (which i still love)
oh, and of course, there was a 696. problem is, at first i thought it was a kawasaki z1000.

just kidding, sort of. it really looks a lot like the kow. anyway, i sat on it, and the first thing i noticed was that the seating position is designed to keep you closer into the tank. the second thing i noticed was that they have put a bunch of little plastic bits up front, under the tank, to hide all of the "ugliness" down there. cant comment on the pipes, as it already had a set of termi's bolted on. also unsure if the signals were stock or not.

however, i was informed that one cannot simply remove the gas tank (or the fake tank cowl..) without first unbolting it in a bunch of different ways. i guess ducati was tired of people griping about tanks leaking at the hinge. but it is going to make it a pain to get at the battery, or under there for any reason.

on a plus note, it appears that the tail will be easy to remove, very likely without chopping the frame. also, the space under the seat looks a lot cleaner than any monster i have seen.

lastly, the emissions can is still there, of course. its located up front. it's one of those "ugly" bits hidden by a plastic cover.

but that desmosedici sure was beautiful!  [moto]

[stopintime]

I don't understand how you were able to concentrate on the Jap bike (with a Ducati sticker) after seeing AND hearing the D16
I was stunned for hours.

[herm]

I don't understand how you were able to concentrate on the Jap bike (with a Ducati sticker) after seeing AND hearing the D16
I was stunned for hours.

i did all the investigation of the 696 with my back to the desmo, and before he  fired it up.

but yer right.....it was like there was a little  on my shoulder that kept telling me "look over there......behind you"

[stopintime]

I made sure nobody was looking and then I sat on one today. It felt really nice to sit on, but I think the reach for the handle bars is too short and it looks like a 50cc in front of me. It looks better "live" than on pictures, but the front is small, narrow and short and not good looking IMO.
I hope the larger bikes will be different - a lot different