Making the move from Harley to Ducati - what to expect?

[HotIce]

Right, what I'm describing is better than what you'd get in Italy... at least that's what I remember from the last time I went.

You clearly have never eaten good pizza.
And no, good pizza is not the Lasagna Pizza, the Oreo Pizza, or the heart attack deep dish one 
Good pizza is made with good flour, "dark as used Motul" extra virgin olive oil, fresh tomato and basil, and fresh mozzarella (buffalo one, or cow one).

[DM426]

I just came back from Rome a few months ago, and I used to live in Germany. So on this latest trip, I wanted to see how the pizza in Rome compares to what I was accustomed to in Germany.

In truth, it's very similar, but thinner. There are some small differences here and there, but there are differences from pizza shop to pizza shop, so that's to be expected. The good news is, the pizza in Rome is excellent. I lived for a year in Philadelphia and I wish I could lie and say the pizza there was just as good, but make no mistake, that would be a lie. Capricciosa is my favorite, I think.

We have a couple really good pizza places near where I live, but there nothing like the pizza over there. On the plus side, I learned to cook Bucatini Carbonara while I was there, and I can get it very, very close to what they make in Rome.

I really wish we had those Umbrella Pines here in the states. What a cool tree.

Saw a ton of bikes in Italy, though most of them were pretty boring. A lot of Ducatis, but perhaps not as many as you might think. A fair number of BMW's as well, and quite a few Harley sportsters of various models. And vast quantities of scooters of every description, including some that straddle the fence between motorcycle and scooter, and some that are just downright bizarre.

[HotIce]

Different parts of Italy, have different styles.
In the Naples area, where "modern" (the one with mozzarella, just to be clear) pizza born, they do a thicker crust. Which I kind of prefer.
But really, the secret is all about the flavor of the base ingredients.
Myself, especially when I go in places where pizza really kicks arse, I get a simple Margherita. Also, if you speak with professional pizzaioli, for them Margherita is "the" pizza too.

[Kev M]

You clearly have never eaten good pizza.
And no, good pizza is not the Lasagna Pizza, the Oreo Pizza, or the heart attack deep dish one 
Good pizza is made with good flour, "dark as used Motul" extra virgin olive oil, fresh tomato and basil, and fresh mozzarella (buffalo one, or cow one).

Nah, you assume too much, I'm a second generation NY Italian who is also a foodie. I'm relatively well traveled to boot and have had the pleasure of touring the motherland with my grandfather when I was younger.

The best majority of pizza I chime across doesn't cut the mustard. But I've found some truly excellent examples in the US almost always from small first generation Italian family run places (the type that make most or all of their ingredients from scratch, not just their dough and sauce, but even sausages).

That doesn't keep me from making my own interpretation using some fresh dough with my family on a Friday night.

Variety is good!

[Speeddog]

Is this a Harley/RnineT/Duc thread or a pizza thread?

[DM426]

I've lived all over, including Asia and Europe, and I've spent a significant amount of time in various parts of the Middle East. Lots of different types of food. And I always say I don't give a damn about authentic. What is "authentic" anyway? I care about good.

Oftentimes, more authentic food is good, but sometimes bastardized types can be even better. When I lived in Germany, I lived very close to a guy who had immigrated from Italy and ran a gasthaus in the local village. He was generally pretty traditional, but would mix things up a bit here and there. Let me tell you, I would commit crimes to have his food here.

On the subject of motorcycles, I wouldn't ride in Rome if you paid me. Driving in Germany is great. But Italy is an entirely different matter.

[Kev M]

Is this a Harley/RnineT/Duc thread or a pizza thread?

Yes


DM - absolutely!

[ducpainter]

Yes


DM - absolutely!

This could possibly become a locked thread.

[DucHead]

OP - have you at least sat on each bike yet?  How did the bike sizes compare?

This could possibly become a locked thread.

There are some folks here who are stuffed full of so much knowledge they long ago forgot how to shut the make the beast with two backs up.

[DM426]

OP - have you at least sat on each bike yet?  How did the bike sizes compare?

I have sat on both. As for how they compare, that's hard to say as this is a very new seating position for me. The BMW felt smaller, lower to the ground, and the bars put your wrists at a slightly different angle. The Monster definitely felt "bigger," if that makes any sense. Not having ridden it, the seat on the Moster 1200 felt more comfortable. I have forward controls on my Fat Bob, so having my knees tucked up under me feels very strange, to say the least.

Some other things I noticed right off the bat are the thin grips on these bikes. I'm used to big, fat ISO-style grips, so I'm not sure how that will affect my hands. I understand there's a bit of a adjustment in learning to use your core to hold yourself up rather than putting all your weight on your hands when riding a bike with this seating position. Not sure how I will adjust to that over the long term, and even a demo ride is unlikely to answer that question completely. Another thing I noticed is the extreme light weight of these bikes. When I first grabbed the Ducati to sit on it I thought I was going to drop it just for a split second. I'm used to 770 lbs. of bike, and the Ducati almost felt like a toy when I grabbed it. I have to believe that translates into a BIG difference in feel on the road, as a Harley just feels like it's planted on the ground. In theory, a lighter weight should be a good thing, but I have no doubt that's going to take some getting used to.

Right off the bat I like the instruments on the BMW better. I've heard a lot of people complain the screen on the Ducati is almost useless in sunlight, and we have a lot of sunlight here in Texas! But in truth, I was a little surprised and disappointed by the instruments on both of these bikes. Incredibly, my old Breakout had a better display than either of these bikes, especially after I upgraded it with the one from the Harley catalog. That simple digital display showed everything these bikes do, plus it had a very nice fuel gauge and gear position indicator. Why in the holy hell anyone is still producing motorcycles in 2014 without a functioning fuel gauge is completely beyond me. The machine runs on fuel for gods sake!!! By what insane rationale would one NOT want to know how much fuel is left? Bizzare. And while a gear indicator isn't something you use often, there can be times where it's very handy. I was just shocked to learn that my bare-bones, old school Harley-Davidson was ahead of BMW or Ducati compared to these two modern bikes as far as instrumentation goes. I can't lie and say those things don't irritate me because they do. And since both of these bikes sport advanced digital readouts, it's completely bizarre that they show all kinds of completely irrelevant fluff and yet fail to display basic operator information to the rider. Would you buy a car that didn't have a fuel gauge? Would you fly in a plane where the pilot told you the plane wasn't equipped with a fuel gauge, but not to worry because he could get a pretty good estimate with a trip indicator? Wake up Ducati.

I like the look of the R Nine T, but not sure I'm crazy about spoked wheels with tube tires. I know they were going for a vintage look and all, but that was probably a poor choice and a lot of R Nine T owners are already changing those out. Needless to say, that's NOT cheap.

BTW, the local Ducati dealer said I could take any of the Monsters out for a test ride, but no way for the R Nine T. That's great, but I hate riding downtown in really big cities, and this particular dealer is located right off a five lane highway and there are hordes of morons here. I asked, and they said for demo rides they send people right out onto that highway because it's the only road they have access to. Hmmm. Not sure it's a wise policy to send people who have never ridden a sporty bike right out onto a busy downtown highway like that, but I guess it is what it is. On a side note, I found it interesting that a couple of the guys that work there don't ride on the street any longer as they were in bad accidents and now only ride on dirt. Not reading anything into that, but I thought it was interesting.

[Kev M]

Cars are built for the lowest common denominator, bikes are not. Plus bikes didn't NEED a fuel gauge for most of their history because a petcock told you when you were low.

Riders were expected to just use the gray matter between their ears and the odometer to track their mileage and therefore always know how much fuel is left.

There's really no need to complicate things further by adding a gauge.

[DM426]

Cars are built for the lowest common denominator, bikes are not. Plus bikes didn't NEED a fuel gauge for most of their history because a petcock told you when you were low.

Riders were expected to just use the gray matter between their ears and the odometer to track their mileage and therefore always know how much fuel is left.

There's really no need to complicate things further by adding a gauge.

You seem to want to have it both ways, Kev. First you argue that motorcyclists are smart enough that adding extra complication by forcing the rider to do some math isn't a problem. Then you turn around argue a fuel gauge actually makes things more complicated.

Wat?

The way I see it it's pretty simple, folks. The machine runs on fuel. I want to know how much fuel is in it. Call me old fashioned. It is 2014, and at this point even my 100 dollar push lawnmower has a better fuel gauge than a Ducati. Seriously. The new Monster has a ridiculously large digital readout, and a simple fuel indicator up in the corner would be a hell of a lot more useful than some of the other crap on there.

Sure, I can live without it. But when a lawn mower or a stripped down Dyna has better instrumentation than a $15,000 modern bike, something is wrong.

[ducpainter]

Based on the prices of Harleys vs the Duc, or BMW...

I'd rather do a little math than have to carry an anchor to stop.

Wait...that's right...unless you modify the engine it barely goes...

no need for brakes then eh?

Seriously...if a fuel gauge is that important to you, you should buy a bike that has one.

[Kev M]

You seem to want to have it both ways, Kev. First you argue that motorcyclists are smart enough that adding extra complication by forcing the rider to do some math isn't a problem. Then you turn around argue a fuel gauge actually makes things more complicated.

Wat?

The way I see it it's pretty simple, folks. The machine runs on fuel. I want to know how much fuel is in it. Call me old fashioned. It is 2014, and at this point even my 100 dollar push lawnmower has a better fuel gauge than a Ducati. Seriously. The new Monster has a ridiculously large digital readout, and a simple fuel indicator up in the corner would be a hell of a lot more useful than some of the other crap on there.

Sure, I can live without it. But when a lawn mower or a stripped down Dyna has better instrumentation than a $15,000 modern bike, something is wrong.

Nope, one is user interface, other is cost and complexity of both manufacturing and repair.

You want a fuel gauge, get a bike that's dumbed down for the masses (and yes, that includes most/many Harleys).

Old fashioned would be to forgo the gauge like most bikes for the last 100+ years.

Have you ever owned a carbureted bike?

Awe hell, do you reset your tripmeter each fill up?

As for your lawn mower it's a horrible example as it doesn't have an odometer to track mileage.

[Curmudgeon]

The OP may not be aware that the Ducatis start counting the miles when they hit reserve, so you KNOW you've got 30 - 40 miles before you risk running dry. The last bike I had with an accurate gauge was my 1991 BMW K100RS 16/ABS. If they are leaving them off BMW's there days, it's probably not over the cost.  In general I know I have ~ 125 - 130 miles before I hit reserve and the countdown begins.

Maybe the OP is more concerned because the next town in TX is 400 miles?  The more touring-oriened BMW's have a range of ~ 250 miles due to their larger tanks.

As for Harley's being "planted", planted like an aircraft carrier? I've observed they have "same day" steering. The newer Ducatis go where you "think" them, RIGHT NOW. 

As for the fat grips, neither Ducatis nor most BMW's have major "vibes". Thin grips are probably a lot better for fine-tuning throttle inputs, because twisting that thing will also make things happen FAST. BHP per ton numbers might be interesting to compare...

Seems like comparing apples to kumquats...