We can relate to Jason's craving for the high-end, sometimes lower performance, luxury bikes like the Ducati 999. Although it fared better than last place in our 2005 Superbike Smackdown Track test (it finished a strong 3rd), the high price tag just made some of us want it more.
While meandering through my stack of monthly motorcycle magazines, I stumbled upon a 1000cc shootout that stopped me in my proverbial tracks. Among the entrants compared were the usual lot of Japanese masterpieces, the Honda CBR1000RR, Suzuki GSX-R1000, the Yamaha YFZ-R1, and the Kawasaki ZX-10R. It was the remaining two entrants that prevented me, momentarily, from wandering over to the cupboard for a fistful of Cheez-Its. The Ducati 999S and the MV Agusta F4 1000 S had made the grade of being worthy opponents of the Big Four in this particular shootout, but it's their results that I found a bit disturbing.
Riders with even so much as a hint of racing heritage in their veins can't help but get a little googly eyed over the blood red paint scheme and flowing lines of the Ducati. I mean, after all this is an Italian bike that oozes with the same kind of romantic appeal that has made Ferrari so desirable throughout the ages. Comparatively, the price tag of the Ducati is nearly double that of the R1, which would lead one to believe that perhaps the performance, too then, would be double. Hardly.
While the Yamaha was quoted as putting out 149.9 horsepower and hitting a top speed of 181, the Duc rated 130.8 horses and a top speed of 165. Of course, the Ducati is a V-Twin rather than an inline-Four of its Japanese rivals, and likewise one would expect the bike to be lighter as a result. Wrong again, the R1 weighed in at 423 pounds while the 999 tipped the scales at 434 pounds.
The hard data didn't exactly paint a pretty picture for the Ducati, at least not nearly as well as the photograph of the bike leaning impossibly inward around a tight switch-back did. The report, whether intentional or not, got me thinking about exactly how much (or how little) emphasis we place on hard numbers and performance data in selecting a new model to purchase (or even just to fantasize about).
If everyone bought a bike solely on the advice of magazine shootout rankings, we would all be riding the latest Gixxers. But where's the fun in that?
Personally, I've found the Triumph Daytona 955i irresistibly tasty for some time despite it's uncanny ability to come in last place whenever shot out against just about any other bike. I've also been fond of many other off-the-wall creations from the likes of MZ, BMW, MV, ATK, KTM and several other companies who happen to have names based on acronyms.
The point is all of them happened to post terrible performance numbers, embarrassing hard data spread sheets, and "came in dead last place" shootout awards. Perhaps that is because style is a very relative factor to a bike's overall appeal. Of all the performance models sold, what percentage of them is actually taken to track days? Even more staggering, how many are tapped to their fullest performance potential? I, like many sportbike aficionados out there, tend to be attracted to the fastest, meanest, most impressive stat model the world has to offer, yet spend a majority of my time in 4th gear coasting along the scenic back roads in search of a nice stretch of twisties, embarrassingly shy of what the vehicle is capable of.
A former marketing major, I am a big believer in the theory that the emotional satisfaction that can be derived by simply looking at a finely designed machine can go as far as raw performance numbers. Back to the Ducati 999, not only does the bike present the proper dosage of visual appeal, but it combines them with a racing heritage, a great deal of un-obtainability, a status symbol, and a departure from the norm.
Can the satisfaction of gazing at the machine you really want in your driveway make up for horsepower disadvantages and sub-par reviews from the press? Our Ramblings correspondent thinks so.
These factors are difficult to accurately portray in spread sheets or tech readouts. Fortunately, as sales numbers indicate, there are others, like myself, listening to their heart when plunking down their hard-earned cash rather than by simply studying the hard data. After all, the entire cruiser segment is one based very seriously on tradition, heritage, and style over top-speed figures or acceleration numbers. Motorcycling is a romantic endeavor that reaches beyond simply being the fastest or reaching the next stop sign first.
I suppose such reasoning counteracts the technological gains made by the competition of racing, and that is certainly not my intention here. Racing is a wonderful means of advancing technology for gains in performance. I would participate myself, except that I would surely lose, what with my 4th-gear antics aboard a model that came in last place in all of the shootouts and all.
But, hey, if there is anything this article teaches us, it's that at least I would think I looked good doing it.
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