1st Service and Demo Ride of 2 Ducati's

[duk too]

I took the day off yesterday to have 1st service completed on my 2010 m1100s ABS.
800 km on the odo.
Motul fully synth. oil and filter, full service check, replaced license plate light, adjusted throttle play and drive chain. ( $ 166.00 Can. )

While waiting I rode two Italian stallions.

1st up an 1198s -
Pros - power, power, power, brakes, looks, sound.
Cons - wrists very sore, seat hard, abolutely useless mirrors, high idle.
Poor comfort forced me to return it after 20 minutes.

2nd up a Super motard - (not sure if it was a 796 or an 1100)
Pros - upright seating position, comfort, smooth linear power, wheelie's, hooligan feel, people gawk at it and comment on how cool it looks.
Cons - seat height too high (for me), brakes seemed wooden, I'm not enamoured with its front beak.

Conclusion was I hopped back on my Monster and felt at home. Power and comfort is in between the other two machines. Monster engine sounds ultra cool and the DP "comfort" seat is awesome. Its a good feeling to know that for now I made the right choice, however there is no magic motorcycle that does everything in one. ( New Multistrada 1200 comes close, but its seat is too high for me and the sidestand sucks )

[strat10]

You didnt try the street fighter?

[Kopfjager]

Did they have the Hypermotard? 

[DukeDenver]

Did they have the Hypermotard? 

Wasn't enough sugar in the gas tank so they only had Supermotards

[duk too]

Did they have the Hypermotard? 

Oh hardy f'n hard.
Twas a Hypermotard. 

No Streetfighter demo at this time.

[muskrat]

just wait till you ride the streetfighter.

[DRKWNG]

[muskrat]

that KTM is fun too but the streetfighter was way more fun IMO

[Scotzman]

I just had 15k service done on my 695 and they gave me a loner....The Streetfigher. Talk about a 1098cc shot of pure excitement. It was a nice medium between the forward position of a typical sport bike and a standard bike. I luckily got it over night and put a couple of hundred miles on it during that time.

[muskrat]

lucky bastard.  If they gave me a loaner for service my bike would be there every week.

[Scotzman]

lucky bastard.  If they gave me a loaner for service my bike would be there every week.

When I asked them to keep it longer and go over everything again, they said, "you know you'll just be renting that bike for $90 an hour (labor)." So it went back...a few hours later.

[Duc796canada]

I had a 2008 SD lined up and the dealer was willing to drop a grand off it. It was used with 680km on the clock, I did some research and basically found out it is beast. Not a suggested first bike!! Ergonomics, better than the 796, very natural when you sit on it. I had to make the decision(too much bike for me at this stage), I went with the Duc, that being said I would have paid the same price!!

[jvax]

I went to the dealer's this weekend to visit my 796.  It is waiting to be registered and picked up by me next weekend.  I took the occasion to test ride a hypermotard 1100 and a superbike 848.  I too had about the same impressions as you duk too.  The 848 felt very powerful, felt even more powerful than the hypermotard 1100.  My wrists started hurting after 30 minutes, but I guess it is normal for people not used to riding a superbike.  The hypermotard was a more fun ride, but the seat is not comfortable in a different way than the 848.  Not a good seat for long rides.  Although I did like the upright position.  After these two test rides, the dealer let me take out a monster 796 for a spin too.  It had just got to the 500km mark and had been services (early I know) and was put out for test riders, so I had the privilege of test riding it.  Boy I was happy to have bought one.  The monster just felt right for me.
Enjoy your m1100s