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I know a guy that just got a Ducati 899 panigale for a first bike....

25K views 49 replies 31 participants last post by  GNice4U  
#1 ·
Has not taken msf yet(plan of taking it in a few months).........your thoughts?
 
#3 ·
The reality of it is that anyone can start on any bike. B***** bikes take more skill to handle, or more self control to stay out of trouble. Smaller bikes just give a better learning curve. My buddy started on an F4i (the one I currently have) and he dumped it twice within the first year. I started on a 500, and rode it for 16k miles, until I got hit by a car, without any hiccups.

Will this guy dump it? it's likely. Will it scare the shit out of him the first time he accidentally grabs too much throttle? Probably. Is that my problem? Not really. He wants to be a tool with a status symbol. I'm betting he rides it for less than 600 miles and either sells it or it sits in the garage collecting dust.
 
#5 ·
well, let him take the cost depreciation and the rest of us will get a smoking deal. doesn't really matter to me what bike is a person's first bike. If they are related to me, a really good friend, or actually want my input (and actually use it), then I try to steer them in the right direction.
 
#8 ·
Yeah, seems like a pretty poor decision. Especially with the Panigale; they are great bikes, but my understanding is that the frameless design does not crash well.

PhilB
 
#9 ·
by "does not crash well", we mean that there is a chance your footpeg, is gonna go through your crankcase.
 
#15 ·
I'm scared every time I walk up to my bike. That is why I do it. Adele weighs between 430 and 440 pounds. I weighed 177 this morning. Adele has over 100 hp at the crank, puts around 95 on the ground. I at best can muster about .25 HP. Adele is rumored to be able to exceed 150 mph. I might hit 2, if I filled my pockets with rocks and rolled down a hill. That motorcycle is b*****, stronger and faster then me. Anyone rational WOULD be scared. Fear is never a good reason to not do something.
So I climb on anyway. Just to prove to myself that I control my fear, it doesn't control me.
 
#23 ·
^...and they don't have potholes or ruts in the road that simulate throttle roll on in Philly? Because they sure as shit do have these things in Shittsburgh and let me tell you, I've lurched forward a few times due to fucked up/interesting defects in the roads. A quick jerk of throttle on a 600/1000 is a BIT different than a quick jerk of throttle on a 250/500.

Granted, I'm not saying you'll spontaneously combust when throwing a newbie leg over a supersport. If anything, I like seeing slow asses on race reps. Those guys that are scared shitless of their bikes are quite entertaining. It makes me feel like I can actually ride just by riding behind them...in first gear. Of course, this isn't all people that start off on 600s/1000s, but it's pretty fucking obvious when you run across one. 160mph in a straight line and then 30mph around a 40mph curve in the road is another neat trick...
 
#31 ·
Um a pothole on 95 ate 10 cars' tires last week and I vaguely remember a news story about one totalling a man's BMW. Undercarriage damage and airbag deployment. Sooo yeah the roads are about normal :p

I remember starting with my old F3. The nervousness and heart racing whenever I climbed on. My neighbor still has fun retelling the very wobbly first ride out the driveway and down the street. Remember a guy pulling up to me at a light and asking if it was my first time riding. I also remember how the members on another forum spent time encouraging me, giving life saving tips and advice. If they had spent their time telling me about how big a mistake I made, scaring me about how sensitive and twitchy the 600 was, I'd not be here today. I'd either be a cage you guys complain about. Or I'd be dead cause I'd have gone it on my own, without any help from them, cause why bother to listen to ppl insisting I can't do something or I'm going to die trying? I get those comments enough from the suicycle crowd today.

A 600 is not the beast people are making it out to be, period. Depending of the person, it MAY be the wrong bike to start with. But that depends on the person, their attitude, their mental makeup and their physical capacity. Regardless of what the rider starts with THEY DO NOT NEED PEOPLE SCARING THEY ABOUT THEIR RIDE. That can fuck with them as much as a throttle twitch.
 
#24 ·
I also agree that it doesn't so much matter what bike a person starts out on, it's that they have the self control, intelligence, and discipline to do so.

After 14yrs of not riding, I went out and bought a brand new Ducati 848. With ~800 miles it went down at a dead stop in my friends gravel driveway and I went down with it keeping my left leg under it the whole time to save the fairing. Live and learn. It never happened again and my 899 hasn't yet suffered the same fate in the same driveway 5yrs later thank god lol.

At least this newb that got the 899 can ride it in wet mode with only 100HP while get gets his confidence up.