Cycle World 600 shootout?

If I remember correctly the 749 got its ass kicked last year too. As we all know the Ducati line is way overpriced and undeerachivers compared to the Japanese offerrings. Why would Cycle World test a 749R against 600cc bikes ? The displacement is different and then the price disparity of $8500 vs $22000. Like testing a Miata against a Boxster. Ridculous and embarassing for Ducati, they should have never given Cycle World a test bike.
The reality is that the Japanese 600s, 1000s, etc are some of the finest performing bikes that money can buy, they are extremely reliable, and sold at a fantastic price. Thank the Japanese for advance the state of the art. I didn't buy two Ducatis for the reason that thry went around race tracks faster or slower than the competition. I bought them for the same reason that Harley guys buy their bikes, IT DID SOMETHING FOR ME THAT THE OTHERS DIDN'T.

Re: (mr.duc)

Excerpt from the editors notes on testing requirements;

Due to the thousands of e-mail from the loyal Ducati owners demanding an equal comparison regarding the Japanese 600 class bikes and the 23 thousand dollar Ducat 749 it was determined that a sack of one dollar bills totaling the nearly $12,000 difference in cost shall be strapped to the tail of every Japanese 600 during the test.

Once the "Equalizer" was installed the lap times plummeted thus propelling the Ducati back in front where it so deservingly belongs.

The test was canceled however when one of the test riders crashed in front of the pits distributing the contents of the "equalizer"in front of the pit wall. The spectators consisting mostly of young zit-faced teenagers there to see the latest Japanese bikes swarmed the track thus ending the session.

Re: (galaxy)

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by galaxy »</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I still get amused at the response you get from the majority of people when you tell them you own a Ducati. I paid $8000 OTD for my SS and it's by no means awesome, BUT, it's a Duc and that's why I bought it. But it's funny the response from even other sport bike riders when they see it. The reputation of the bike is there. Wether or not I can back it up is another story (with the bikes out there these days) but still, the reputation alone takes care of most of it. I personally think it's pretty cool.</TD></TR></TABLE>

No offense, but I think the only riders who are going to be intimidated by the ducati badge are the squids who don't know jack-chit about sportbikes. Any real sportbike enthusiast is going to be abreast of what's going on in the industry as far as power and performance go. These guys may like the design or the uniqueness of a Duc, but they're not going to be intimidated by the power discrepancy, because that power discrepancy is on our end these days.