999S First Impressions.
 

I picked up my new '05 999S yesterday.It gave me the perfect opportunity to compare the bike against my old '03 standard mono 999.I have to say my old bike looked pretty damn fine as I wheeled it out of the garage.A good blast across some back roads had me wondering why I was swapping this great bike.
I got to Italia and remembered why,.......the new s stood there and looked absolutely awesome.With the two bikes side by side the obvious differance was the front fairing.The new bike's fairing is a lot wider across the top.The screen is higher.I think it may be even higher than the double bubble I fitted to my old bike.The screens are not interchangable,the fixing spacings are differant.Other obvious changes are the rear swinger and frame colour.Wheel spokes are differant too.
After the paperwork was sorted,it was off to start the running in proceedure.
The engine spins up very quickly and is very difficult to keep to the 6k rpm running in limit.The engine is very strong and pulls top gear easily.(110 mph@6,000rpm :devil: )So strong,I did try to hook up "seventh" a few times.The boys at Italia had set up the bike perfectly,no coughing,sputtering or wooly feel at the throttle.Nice one lads.
With all that power you need to be able to stop the thing.The brakes on the old bike were lovely,plenty of feel and loads of stopping power.The radials on the new bike take some getting used to.They lack the initial bite of the old brakes,in fact as you first stoke the lever nothing appears to be happening.Squeeze a bit harder then......****,did someone put a broomhandle in my spokes??!!Man those brakes are vicious,gonna have to be carefull with those in the wet!
Handling felt a bit nervous at first,but that was mostly down to me and the new bike/tyres/brakes syndrome.By the time I got home tho,I was chucking it about like the old bike.Italia is just over 40 miles from my house but the return journey took me 130 miles.;):D
RedSeb was riding shotgun,so we took in some of our favourite routes,Roman Cafe,rollercoaster,Colsterworth-Melton and then down to Marko's for a bit of banter and a couple of Stellas.Cheers mate,hope the missus was'nt too mad!;)
After a bite to eat,it was into the garage and fit some bling.
First up was the rear hugger.What a pig of a thing to fit,that was.You really need to drop the wheel out to fit it properly.Mine is a Casoli item and uses one of the brake pipe bolts as a fixing.I got at it with a cut down Allen key.but there is not a lot of room between it and the tyre.A bit of pushing and shoveing to get the other holes to line up,being carefull not to get the bolts crossthreaded.All the other stuff went on with no dramas.You can get the front mudguard off without removing the wheel.It looks painfull but the guard is pretty flexible and will pop out.
I'll try and post some pics later.:D

Superb. Can't wait to see it.

Sounds great mate.... enjoy :)

sorted:D

Nice write-up - pics please....

nice write up mate, especially as most posts about the 749/999 have all been doom and gloom of late, good to see someone thats getting the smiles that only a Duke can deliver ..... take it easy mate and enjoy ....

Great.
Congrats..........:D

Yeeeeaaaaah baby , have to say im going out on the supermoto today :lol:

fancy a break from breaking down :lol:

Well done Keefy. Enjoy the bike. Sounds like first service is only a few days away at that rate:roll:

You lucky bugger :P

KeefyB, so you have gone and sold my bro,s old bike eh, it seems to have been very reliable and at least it got put to good use.

Enjoy the new one

Yes mate,that bike was as good as gold.Only real problem it had was a duff battery,replaced under warranty.7k happy miles on that one.:D
Here's a pic of the new bike.

Looks real nice(bling already:o ),did Italia do you a good deal mate,and was that picture taken in the town centre;)

[Edited on 10-4-2005 by sparkin]

Yeah I'm happy with the deal I got.
The pic was taken at the world famous gravelly corner not far from harry the hedge corner!!;):D
I tried to take a decent pic on Lincoln village green but the livestock kept getting in the way!:lol:
Here's the happy owner;

[Edited on 10-4-2005 by KeefyB]