GSX1400 Owners .org

Took my Ducati Monster in to have the disc replaced under warranty and blagged a ride out on a Ducati Scrambler Desert Sled.  I have been thinking about my next bike and considered a smaller lighter bike so this seemed to be an option to consider.  The desert sled is a basic back to basics bike with no electrikery apart from ABS and injection.  Although taller than the other scramblers it's still quite low so is very easy to move around and is quite light weight.  I set off towards Minehead but the road was fairly busy and passing other vehicles not helped by double white lines everywhere but when gaps opened up I found I had to drop a gear to get past which is something I'm not used to.  Once I adapted my riding style the bike proved to be quite fun, it's very nimble with wide high bars and quite a hard seat but it is flat so moving around wasn't a problem.  On a couple of occasions I found large gaps in traffic and was able to open it up a bit and it moved along quite well with good handling but the semi knobbly tyres do let you know they aint sports tyres.  After about 40 mins in the saddle I turned around and headed back but now I was on empty roads so the pace was a bit quicker (everyone goes to Minehead but nobody leaves).  Bike was very nippy and would make an ideal town bike with its upright riding position, wide bars and light weight but out on country lanes I found it a bit lacking in grunt, having to use lower gears than I would normally (I could get used to it I suppose).  I had to use the brakes quite firmly on one occasion when a farm vehicle thought about doing something stupid but saw me in time but not before I saw him, for a single disc the bike pulled up very well so there would be no problem stopping.  I love the looks of the bike (Think XT 500) but with an 800 L twin engine.  It's not the bike for me, I like low revving bikes with shit loads of grunt but I really enjoyed my hour with the little desert sled.

When I got back to the dealership the salesman had a surprise for me, he had arranged for me to take out a 1260 mutley and knowing my dislike of screens had removed the screen and fitted a pikes peak screen (which is a carbon fibre cut down screen).  He said he felt that the little un wouldn't satisfy my urge for torque but this might.  So I took a different route along the A372 towards Westonzoyland, this is a great open road where you can open up any bike and have a bit of fun.  This bike has plenty of power, torque.  It is stuffed with electotrickery, suspension, active cornering ABS, traction control, cruise control, rider modes and a big colour TFT to keep track of everything.  I had a good ride out but even with the pikes peak screen on it still produced too much noise and buffeting.  I tried sitting up, down, bent over but nothing worked for me, still didn't stop me having fun but I don't think I would want to own this bike.  I think that the fairing comes up high to meet the clocks which is where the screen is so I think I need a bike with nothing higher than the handlebars to get some clean noise free air.  Handling braking and the ride was bloody fantastic with everything working smoothly, especially the quick shifter which worked very well, much better than my 1200 monster.  The only downside I found was the seat was a bit too low which is a very common problem for me and the throttle was a bit jittery in sport mode this was only evident when feathering the throttle, it didn't seem to know what to do, add fuel or not which made it very uncomfortable as it seemed to hunt around for a good fuel condition.  After an hour of (mostly illegal) hooning around I took the bike back and let the salesman know my thoughts and he said well that's at least eliminated two bikes from your search.  I have to give a big thumbs up to Riders of Bridgewater for a dam good couple of hours riding bikes and letting my try a couple of options out.  I then picked up my Monster and headed back home and the best bike I rode yesterday was my M1200s Monster, it's just a lovely bike to ride and sounds fantastic (which always adds to the fun).

Interesting to hear a starightforward opinion, thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts.

I don't think either bike would have drawn me into the showroom, but we are all looking for different things.

The thought of chopping in my entire collection for a Kwak H2 SX SE has briefly flicked though my mind (but only briefly), but there is not much else out there that I drool over at the moment.