| Although not having a 999 I do ride the same roads as RM and have experienced the same problem on many bikes. Every R1 I ever had in the past was absolutley battered to hell underneath ie lower fairing exhaust etc. and my 996 at one time looked as if someone had taken a sledgehammer to the underside of the exhaust!
Although a good bit heavier than RM I do see it as a problem, the first time I saw a picture of the deep sump engine I thought that it would be a problem for the kind of riding and the type of roads I spend my time on. I know fully well how easy it is too find yourself blatting along at high speed one minute and the next find yourself airborne for quite a while when you least expect it! There are severe humps and jumps in all sort of unexpected places in the Yorkshire dales and they do catch a lot of people out.
I dont really think its fair to dismiss in any way what has happened to him just because it has not happened to others. I know perhaps the bikes were not exactly designed to be jumping over great big humps in the road. But nevertheless they are sold as road bikes in Yorkshire to be used in Yorkshire!?
RM is probably the same as me in that he rides the same roads a lot and knows where the dodgy bits are and rides them accordingly. However sometimes I find myself on roads I do not know that well and even though I may be following a rider that knows that road you will find yourself taking unexpected jumps or compressions in the road a lot faster than you would like. I understand the comments about the roads up north being different to the roads down south.
I'm not saying its Ducatis fault but it is a problem that is quite dangerous.  |