Members Bike Review - 2001, 996S.

[orange]

Dave Hicks asks everyone who joins to do one of these and I swore that after a few months of owning her I would, so here goes....

Picture the scene......

.....The year is 1993......I'm 18 and own an MZ251........Ducati have just released pictures of it's next bike to assault the World Superbike Championship......I have to see one in the flesh, ride one, own one....!!!

.....Move forward 15 years and about 25 various bikes (none of which were ever a Duke)and I'm stood in a car dealership in Hook in Hampshire with five grand in my pocket from the sale of my GSXR1000K5 and the dealer is thumbing the starter of a pristine, totally standard, 2001 996S........I go in thinking that I need to have my business head on and check it over thoroughly.........Boom!!!!! The bike fires up and the five grand is as good as his....!!!

After the agonising 1 week wait between paying for the bike and waiting for the belts to be done, I'm back (went up on the train!!!) and getting a run around the bike and sorting paperwork......suddenly I'm sat on the bike about to start her up and ride the 50 or so miles home......GULP...!!!

15 years of wanting to just ride one of these and now I'm sat on her and I own her outright........!! I gingerly pull away from the car park and head towards Alton, my head full of the warnings of previous owners....."watch out for the engine braking!", "it will take ages to get used to!", etc, etc..... she sounds great, if a little muted through the standard Termi's. As I get to the twisties, I up the pace. WOW, she handles superbly for an 8 year old bike, like she's on rails. The bike makes sense immediatly to me, I even shout through my lid at her "I get you...!!!!".

A 15 year dream finally realised, and I'm not disappointed....!

4 months on and I have had a few niggles:

1. side stand bracket came loose (tightened up now)
2. side stand stops incorrectly positioned so the stand goes too far forward (need to sort next)
3. fogging up main beam glass (fixed by cleaning out with a rag after advise from this forum)
4. twin injector fuelling issue at 4500 - 6000 rpm (made better by the next fix, but will have to get the FIM chip and set-up)
5. nightmare to ride in town (renthal carrier, 1 tooth less on front, 4 teeth more on rear....WOW!!). This should have been the standard gearing IMHO, it's ace.
6. intermittent fault on dipped beam (didn't work last night in the dark.....worked this morning on the commute into work in the daylight....????
7. LH nose cone bracket came loose (tightened)
8. LH mirror bolt sheared (roofing bolt fits perfectly..!)
9. Number plate dropped off on the motorway somewhere....(new sail board fitted...must order a slightly smaller one and put rubber o-rings on the bolts).
10. The Ducati sound ain't quite there (fixed with a set of Arrow titanium race cans and a chip....Nice!!)
11. Clutch rattle too quiet (must get an open cover next......but that means I'll need red anodised bits.....awwww crap, must buy a slipper clutch soon.....!)

More snags in 4 months than any of my other bikes have had, however, she starts every time - first time, she's a hoot to ride, gets lots of attention at bike meets (was at Portsmouth bike night last night and loads of people came over to have a look) and more importantly......I have a bit of a 'girly giggle' when I catch sight of her in the garage when putting the wet washing into the drying machine......



"Hee Hee".........



"I've got a Duke....!"


orange

[bdarcy]

Sounds very familiar, see my first post from June last year -

I've been on bikes for years, mainly sportbikes and their predecessors (read LC 350 x 3 etc.). Currently I have a heavily modified zx10r and a 996s. The Ten has Ohlin’s, Brembo, Full System, Power Commander (best mod), powershifter, some head work, carbon everwhere, etc.

The 996s is an ex clubrace bike and there is some obvious evidence of this in the form of drilled bolts, different bars, new (too new) bodywork, slipper clutch, missing bits (side stand and mount, clock,etc).

But regardless of the spec of the Ten I am mad about the Duke and have put on close to 8k through the winter doing a 50 mile round trip to work and some serious spins. Definitely more smiles per miles on the Duke. When I got it first I went around shouting “believe the hype” “Forza Ducati” at every dog in the street!

I feel much quicker (road and track) on the Duke despite giving away probably 50 to 60 bhp to the Ten. Not sure why but no doubt something to do with the handling, power delivery…whatever it all adds up to much quicker corner entry speed and confidence.

.....and its just got better and better. The Ten has been relegated to utility bike for commute to work. Like yourself the snag list has grown (sidestand, LH headlight lens and tail light issues, crash damage bleedin dogs, etc) few goodies thrown at it as well (number boards, rearsets,new shock,etc).

Just love it....enjoy yours and great choice by the way!

[Hostile Duty]

Hi Orange,

I just picked up a 2000 996 Biposto, so I am very familiar with what EVERYTHING you said. I will try to do my version of a bike review soon as well. I think this is a good idea as it puts everything, all the quirks, etc. out in the open and we can develop solutions for the problems.

You said:

"5. nightmare to ride in town (renthal carrier, 1 tooth less on front, 4 teeth more on rear....WOW!!). This should have been the standard gearing IMHO, it's ace."

Agreed! The OEM gearing is way too high. I will admit that I enjoy it out on the open road when I can work it up past 100 mph, but in town or in stop and go traffic it is a real pain in the ass. I also enjoy the fact that I am not bouncing off of my rev limiter like I did with my S4R...

With that said, I have a 14 tooth front that I am going to fit sometime this week and I will explore this to see how it rides. If I want more, I will try the large rear (39 or 40?).

You said:

"10. The Ducati sound ain't quite there (fixed with a set of Arrow titanium race cans and a chip....Nice!!)"

I currently have a set of Marving slip on's that sound great but I am not happy with them. I need to get rid of the mid-pipe silencers.

I am currently considering the Termignoni 45/50 and the Arrow 45/50 half systems. The Arrow is considerably more inexpensive and easier to acquire for me here in the states. The new Termi systems are getting more difficult to find since they mainly want to support the newer models. How well do you like the Arrow? Can you really tell much difference with the power delivery? I may also fit a Power Commander with the new exhaust and of course add low restriction air filters.

You also said:

"11. Clutch rattle too quiet (must get an open cover next......but that means I'll need red anodised bits.....awwww crap, must buy a slipper clutch soon.....!)"

There is a local company here in Washington State called Speedy-Moto and they make a lot of open billet clutch covers that are very affordable. They come with springs and caps in different colors.

I love cruising through the "yuppie" part of downtown in 1st gear at 4K letting my exhaust pipes sing their song and the clutch sounding like hell and seeing the looks on the faces of the in line 4 Starbuck's warriors crowd as I cruise by... priceless.