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Ducati Streetfighter - coming to a hedge near you, July 29, 2009
By gliddofglood

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"I have just been riding the new Ducati Streetfighter and sad to say, I think it is the most pointless motorcycle I have ridden in a long time. Don’t misunderstand me. I love Ducatis. I have been riding them for 24 years and in that time I have had 8. I have also ridden a few others I have never owned. So we can’t forget the pro-Japanese bias.

Picking up my 999 from a service today, my friendly dealer suggested I might like to go for a scoot on his demonstrator Streetfighter – just for the hell of it. Hard to refuse really. The thing had just come off the track so had no mirrors, but apart from that, was bog-standard; somewhere in the region of £11k’s worth of motorcycle.

The first thing you notice is the riding position. This seems pretty natural, and I can’t say that I noticed the supposed problem with the right-hand footrest being weirdly positioned that Two Wheels Only indicated. The strange thing was that with my full-face Shark helmet on, I couldn’t actually see any of it at all when I was riding it. You have to lower your head to see the clocks, though this is no great loss. They are dull and digital and the tacho is hard to read, not that that makes a great deal of difference, as we shall see. But the feeling is of being on a giant scooter.

Ducatis always feel super stable. That is the Ducati feel. Even the Multistrada 620 I tried once, also lent by the garage, could be thrown into corners with abandon with that great “on rails” feeling that gives you supreme confidence. Not so the Streetfighter. You feel like you are sitting on the invisible front wheel, which makes for quick steering perhaps, but does nothing for giving you blind confidence in the handling, no matter how capable it really is. I also found my private parts squashed several times on the tank, which is more to do with the riding position than any strange physical attributes I may have. It feels very light, which is pleasant, but if it’s going to be at the expense of stability…

The motor is awesome, as in it truly inspires respect. Right from the off, it has an urgency about it that I can’t remember feeling on any other bike. My 999 is supposed to have about 145 bhp which I consider more than enough for road use. In fact, the only place it might make any sense is on the track. The Streetfighter, seemingly, has even more. What this bike does best is accelerate – increasing its rate of velocity is where it is happiest. That would be fine if it was happy doing other things, but it isn’t really. Forget trickling along behind slow moving traffic or in town. It hates it. The motor seems unhappy below 4’000 revs, or really at any constant speeds. Ducatis are never good in town, but this one makes the 999 seem highly flexible. Which it normally isn’t.

Once again, if the thing were docile, it wouldn’t really be a problem, but it is anything but docile. It feels like riding a barely broken horse. It’s got a mind of its own, so although I couldn’t see it when riding it, I could never forget it was there. It demands your constant attention. Some testers have mentioned the quite chilled out and natural riding position but this is irrelevant if you are never allowed to chill out. Forget looking at the scenery. It’s like taking a rabid pit-bull for a walk.

The suspension contributes to this feeling. Frankly, it’s not very good. Ducatis tend to be firmly sprung, but this one is like the aforementioned pit-bull on a pogo stick. It bounces about on road irregularities and then this is transmitted to your throttle hand which has the Streetfighter suddenly deciding that it wants to take off like a bat out of hell. Not great when you are just trying to negotiate a hairpin (which I frequently was).

So you have a very twitchy motorcycle on your hands, one which bounces about, feels somewhat nervous in corners, and seeks to scream off into the blue yonder at the slightest provocation. All this seems like a recipe for visiting hedges as far as I can see. The last time I rode what seemed to be hedge-bound motorcycle was when I rode a Honda Big One. That was a lot more docile, but a lot heavier and I would clearly have stacked it sooner or later if I had ever been foolish enough to own one. Well, I reckon with the Streetfighter it would only be a matter of time too.

I should mention the brakes, though. Absolutely amazing. Definitely the best brakes I have ever used. Hugely powerful but with astonishing feel, which is just as well as you will be doing a lot of heavy braking if you ever get one of these.

So then you have to consider what exactly it is for. You can’t commute on it; it is far too rabid and would bite you in the bum while you were still digesting your Cornflakes. You can’t tour on it, as there is nowhere much to put your luggage, a pillion would desert you at the first service station and you wouldn’t be left in peace to admire the scenery. If you wanted to go balls-out on the track, you’d be better off with an 1198 or something of that ilk with a riding position and a fairing to suit. So as far as I can see, the only point of having a ludicrously powerful, naked and barely controllable bike is to hoon around on for no particular reason at all. Fair enough, if all you want to do is see how fast you can lose your licence, but 11 grand is quite a lot to pay for the privilege. Also, this would tend to suggest that going bonkers and trying desperately to tame the thing was great fun, but I found that it was a novelty that wore off quite quickly. There is also a lot of choice in this department. After all, Ducati can already offer you various Monsters, which probably make more sense, or the Hypermotard, if you want something also ludicrously impractical, but even lighter.

I have been getting the impression for some time that motorcycles have evolved to a point where they might disappear up their own exhaust pipes. I can see that the 1198, 848 etc are even more beautiful than my 999, but I can’t think that they are better road-going bikes. What are they supposed to be giving me more of? Handling? I can’t even use what I have. Motor? Without behaving like a total moron with a death wish, I can’t begin the exploit the possibilities of the motor I have. So what use am I going to have for a massively powerful naked bike which feels untrustworthy in corners and has a mind of its own? If it looked stunningly beautiful, I might start to try to convince myself how useful it was, but it’s not really that gorgeous, is it?

Listening to MCN’s Michael Neeves ( ) you would think that I am just some wimpish old git who should be only allowed on a Deauville. He will tell you you can commute on it, tour on it, do trackdays on it, and obviously go everywhere on the back wheel. But the thing is, I am not a massively skilled trackday fiend (just an average one) and professional motorcycle rider, and nor, probably are you. So who do you want to believe?

I was happy to get back on the 999, tip it into the corners leading downhill from the garage, feeling I could have gone far faster, and enjoying the way the suspension actually worked. Wouldn’t mind having those brakes though."

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