I've just got home after taking my SP4 for its MOT. I took the long way home too, despite the cold, just to savour the ride.
Now for the last couple of months I've been riding my 888 Strada - a bike not lacking in character/charisma by any means - but this bike is just something else! Comparisons with the Strada, or anything else I've ridden, are completely meaningless. Character just oooozes from this bike! So much so that it feels almost alive.
To me, character is measured entirely by the senses. It's not measurable by reason - or by the stopwatch. How a bike stirs the emotions, and stimulates the senses of sight, sound and feel is everything - and this bike prods all of the senses with a bl**dy great stick! It's like nothing else. Every ride just leaves me buzzing. Boy, what else can I say? Priceless.

[Edited on 20-11-2004 by weeveetwin]

It seems to me that the Japanese have evolved their bikes to such a degree that any imperfections/character have been ironed out - but aren't these the very things that give a bike soul & sensuality also?
If you look at performance figures for Japanese sports cars (whilst not wanting to upset owners) alongside Ferrari's/Lamborghini's etc I'm sure on paper they compare favourably but the excitement & character is probably very different (not speaking from experience, of course)..
My 996 vibrates like mad,makes mechanical noises and would never have got past a Kwak/Hon/Suz/Yam drawing board & I'm very,very thankful for that!

[Edited on 22-11-2004 by ils]

The guy in the saddle??? Xaus vs Hodgson for instance. Try this on a a few of your favorites, see where it takes you? Is Chris V giving the Fireplace more character than Rutter, I think so.

what give a bike character......SOUL.

this can come from plenty of things, all in abundance on ducati's...........

style
sound
racing pedigree
rareity
desirability
kudo's

japanese bikes dont have it and never will. sure they produce great bikes that perform a function extremely well but they is nothing to touch a bike with character.

Anything that's capable of making someone wax lyrical like that has something more fatally attractive than 'character'.
As DickieD says, it's SOUL - but if we all went for the same thing, there wouldn't be enough to go round. Other bikes have their place and their devotees - we shouldn't damn the non-Ducati lovers just because they can't see what we see.
(Obviously, I don't want anything to do with a club that isn't all about Ducati's, though) :devil::D:devil:

Bags of character. Thats what my bike has. Went out in damp this morning up to tescos. Could have taken Zafira in a jiffy. I didnt want to .I wanted to ride there all 3 miles. Takes twenty minutes to get the damn thing out of shed. Goes up there everbody just looks and kids woww!!. Its great that a simple monster makes an impact like this. Mind you its noisey with sils and open clutch. But very satisfying.:lol::D:)

Just like to say I agree with everything said so far, but if you guy`s really want to hear a distinctive sound you should know the sound of a DBD 34 GS. Thats a Goldie for the non old gits on hear, the exhaust has a "twitter" on the over run caused by the valve overlap.

I got asked this question when i work for Ferrari .......My anwser was
If you have to ask you will never know !