FTRRCv2
Member
The bike I sold to buy this was a well sorted and tuned 2015 Ducati Diavel Carbon that I put over 10k miles on. I did not ride it this season before selling, but that is what I have to compare it to. I'm about 215lbs, just shy of 6'.
So I picked up the bike Thursday night, took the long way home and did 50 miles. Nice and easy to get the feel for it and to get used to the switches. The grunt from 4k in any gear is eye opening!
Took off work yesterday and did a favorite route on a very familiar road. The flick-abilty is very good, even at higher speeds it's willing to transition or change lanes quickly. The gear case is smooth and very easy. Low speeds in town reasonable and manageable for a performance oriented engine. You can't expect 1500rpm idling through traffic on bikes like these, nature of the beast. Much better than my Ducati was, even with the tune which helped and Urban mode which deadened the throttle response on it. Putting gas in the bike was not the difficult exercise I had been reading about, maybe there are new parts here as well? 130 miles of partial throttle runs, but still getting well into it's speed capabilities and getting up on the sidewalls some. Tires seem very good, better than I had hoped? Never used Metzler's. Bike seems comfortable, suspension good, doesn't hurt me or jar me excessively in any way. 130 miles today
Today was the true test. Re-road yesterday's trip, continuing down into Zanesville Oh on some other favorite roads to get there, then doing the Triple Nickel(Route 555). For anyone not familiar, it's about 60 miles of country 2 lane that for a few small town intersections, has posted 55mph speed limit. If you can ride that road and average anywhere near that as an average, you are doing really well! Its constant turn after turn, elevation changes, blind corners, corners with the apex at the top of a hill, apex at bottom, off camber turns, etc. NOT for new riders, inexperienced riders, anyone not wide awake and on their game. About the only thing it doesn't have is long decreasing radius turns. It also has road surface irregularities that constantly change, can have some gravel in bends, random wildlife or farm animals to watch for. Today there were 2 occasions of wild turkeys crossing in front of me, but I digress.... The bike handled it wonderfully! Even though I'm down 50hp or so from the Ducati, I really think I'm faster with this bike. On paper they are about the same weight, but the FTR feels lighter in every way. I pushed the tires hard and they performed flawlessly. The gearbox and clutch didn't change feel as the oil heated up from hard use like the Ducati did, and I was changing gears much more as the ratios are much shorter than I am used to. I did have to immediately turn off traction control as the front wheel is off the ground quite a lot on this road, coming over the crest of a hill I often give the throttle a jab just to float the front wheel for a second coming down the other side, and the computer cuts everything off for a few seconds after that happens! I was amazed at how effortlessly fast I could wind through the country side. The brakes are strong, but I personally would like a stiffer lever feel and a tad more initial bite, but I will get used to it. I can't say I grabbed enough to trip the abs into coming on, maybe I should try that just to see where that threshold is at, but the brakes are still bedding in as well so that could still improve. I didn't scrape anything on the bike, I did scrape my boot twice! I had no issues with feet slipping off the pegs or levers like I had read about the previous generation. Sitting in town traffic, the rear cylinder shut off 2 or 3 times, worked perfectly. I never once felt excessive heat, which I did on the Ducati. The suspension is very good, but I will mess with it after I get it back from it's 500 mile service. I want to soften it some as the roads in Ohio can have quite a few potholes. So after arriving home at over 350 miles today, my butt is only slightly sore, but nowhere near unbearable. The seat doesn't hurt my crotch area like the Ducati did. My shoulders are slightly sore, but that is from the workout that road gives you. The tires showed no perceivable wear. You may think that's normal but every time I rode this same route on the Ducati, you could see a difference. It would eat a set of Pirelli Diablo tires every 3000 miles. I'm not sure how much different the new bikes are vs the old as I've only had a few small test rides on the older ones, but I feel Indian has knocked it out of the park with this bike. I wanted an American sport bike when I bought the Ducati but nobody made one yet (unless you count Motus, I rode one but it just didn't speak to me, and they are gone now), but now we have a legitimate sport bike from an American company, and I'm proud to wave it's flag. I consider this a direct comparison to a Ducati Monster, which are great bikes.
What could make it better? Reid Wilson are you listening? (come ride OH, real roads better for testing than perfectly flat smooth roads in CA or the Tail of the Dragon speed trap.)
1. adjustability of sensitivity of abs and traction control. I would like to tweak it slightly, and different for each mode. Maybe an off for wheelie control? Not for me, but I bet others would like that. This should all be software, not too hard to implement in Ride Command?
2. how about lighted switches? aka Ducati Diavel X ( I haven't ridden in the dark yet but it doesn't look like they are back lit, sorry if I am wrong)
3. the kickstand seems kinda long? wish the bike leaned over a little more, did they shorten it with the shorter seat height?
4. how about an optional real rear fender for the US market that doesn't need the hideous rear license plate/turn signal/fender thingy? I think that's just to meet Euro specs, right? That way when we all move our plate and turn signals to the higher, more visible and safer position under the seat we can keep the rain from soaking our backs. Let the Euro riders suffer, not all of us.
Thats about it for now. After the service, I look to add some cosmetic stuff, tail tidy, rear cowl, rear peg removal and high mount kit for the exhaust. So far though I'm very pleased with the bike.
So I picked up the bike Thursday night, took the long way home and did 50 miles. Nice and easy to get the feel for it and to get used to the switches. The grunt from 4k in any gear is eye opening!
Took off work yesterday and did a favorite route on a very familiar road. The flick-abilty is very good, even at higher speeds it's willing to transition or change lanes quickly. The gear case is smooth and very easy. Low speeds in town reasonable and manageable for a performance oriented engine. You can't expect 1500rpm idling through traffic on bikes like these, nature of the beast. Much better than my Ducati was, even with the tune which helped and Urban mode which deadened the throttle response on it. Putting gas in the bike was not the difficult exercise I had been reading about, maybe there are new parts here as well? 130 miles of partial throttle runs, but still getting well into it's speed capabilities and getting up on the sidewalls some. Tires seem very good, better than I had hoped? Never used Metzler's. Bike seems comfortable, suspension good, doesn't hurt me or jar me excessively in any way. 130 miles today
Today was the true test. Re-road yesterday's trip, continuing down into Zanesville Oh on some other favorite roads to get there, then doing the Triple Nickel(Route 555). For anyone not familiar, it's about 60 miles of country 2 lane that for a few small town intersections, has posted 55mph speed limit. If you can ride that road and average anywhere near that as an average, you are doing really well! Its constant turn after turn, elevation changes, blind corners, corners with the apex at the top of a hill, apex at bottom, off camber turns, etc. NOT for new riders, inexperienced riders, anyone not wide awake and on their game. About the only thing it doesn't have is long decreasing radius turns. It also has road surface irregularities that constantly change, can have some gravel in bends, random wildlife or farm animals to watch for. Today there were 2 occasions of wild turkeys crossing in front of me, but I digress.... The bike handled it wonderfully! Even though I'm down 50hp or so from the Ducati, I really think I'm faster with this bike. On paper they are about the same weight, but the FTR feels lighter in every way. I pushed the tires hard and they performed flawlessly. The gearbox and clutch didn't change feel as the oil heated up from hard use like the Ducati did, and I was changing gears much more as the ratios are much shorter than I am used to. I did have to immediately turn off traction control as the front wheel is off the ground quite a lot on this road, coming over the crest of a hill I often give the throttle a jab just to float the front wheel for a second coming down the other side, and the computer cuts everything off for a few seconds after that happens! I was amazed at how effortlessly fast I could wind through the country side. The brakes are strong, but I personally would like a stiffer lever feel and a tad more initial bite, but I will get used to it. I can't say I grabbed enough to trip the abs into coming on, maybe I should try that just to see where that threshold is at, but the brakes are still bedding in as well so that could still improve. I didn't scrape anything on the bike, I did scrape my boot twice! I had no issues with feet slipping off the pegs or levers like I had read about the previous generation. Sitting in town traffic, the rear cylinder shut off 2 or 3 times, worked perfectly. I never once felt excessive heat, which I did on the Ducati. The suspension is very good, but I will mess with it after I get it back from it's 500 mile service. I want to soften it some as the roads in Ohio can have quite a few potholes. So after arriving home at over 350 miles today, my butt is only slightly sore, but nowhere near unbearable. The seat doesn't hurt my crotch area like the Ducati did. My shoulders are slightly sore, but that is from the workout that road gives you. The tires showed no perceivable wear. You may think that's normal but every time I rode this same route on the Ducati, you could see a difference. It would eat a set of Pirelli Diablo tires every 3000 miles. I'm not sure how much different the new bikes are vs the old as I've only had a few small test rides on the older ones, but I feel Indian has knocked it out of the park with this bike. I wanted an American sport bike when I bought the Ducati but nobody made one yet (unless you count Motus, I rode one but it just didn't speak to me, and they are gone now), but now we have a legitimate sport bike from an American company, and I'm proud to wave it's flag. I consider this a direct comparison to a Ducati Monster, which are great bikes.
What could make it better? Reid Wilson are you listening? (come ride OH, real roads better for testing than perfectly flat smooth roads in CA or the Tail of the Dragon speed trap.)
1. adjustability of sensitivity of abs and traction control. I would like to tweak it slightly, and different for each mode. Maybe an off for wheelie control? Not for me, but I bet others would like that. This should all be software, not too hard to implement in Ride Command?
2. how about lighted switches? aka Ducati Diavel X ( I haven't ridden in the dark yet but it doesn't look like they are back lit, sorry if I am wrong)
3. the kickstand seems kinda long? wish the bike leaned over a little more, did they shorten it with the shorter seat height?
4. how about an optional real rear fender for the US market that doesn't need the hideous rear license plate/turn signal/fender thingy? I think that's just to meet Euro specs, right? That way when we all move our plate and turn signals to the higher, more visible and safer position under the seat we can keep the rain from soaking our backs. Let the Euro riders suffer, not all of us.
Thats about it for now. After the service, I look to add some cosmetic stuff, tail tidy, rear cowl, rear peg removal and high mount kit for the exhaust. So far though I'm very pleased with the bike.
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