Well, you all know that I have been considering selling this 749R because of the discomfort I am experiencing and I had been offered an 05 Repsol Blade + £3000 cash for it.
I had the chance of a 30 mile try on a Repsol balde yesterday and here are my thoughts.
The bike looks nice with great build quality and when sitting on it stationary it feels comfortable with a soft seat and reasonably high bars.
Once on the move I immediately was aware that it feels 'big', my knees were pushed apart by the very wide tank and I felt that I was sitting on top of the bike rather than 'In' the bike like the Ducati.
Accelerating away it was very smooth and pulled away at warp speed but to be honest I much prefer being able to use all the power of the Ducati rather than the blades surge higher up especially when exiting corners, on the Ducati I can power on about 3/4 round the corner while on the blade it felt twitchy until it was up straight then it easily spun the wheel which was a bit scary, especially when it is not your bike !
Coming into corners I personally felt as though the front was a bit vague and I felt nowhere near as confident as I do on the Ducati, maybe this is why I can virtually go underneath this bike in corners when I am on my Ducati.
Also every time I braked I slid forward and felt as though I was going to end up on top of the tank which again felt strange.
As for comfort I found my arms were a lot more comfortable but the footrests were very high and as I said my legs felt pushed apart and were constantly up against the sides of the tank.
Overall the Blade felt nice and rode quite well but it was not in the same league as my 749R.
Maybe like all new bikes it would only take a short while to get used to it but I do not want to do a deal and think later "What the f**k have I done "
My wife saw the Blade and my Ducati next to each other and she said that in her opinion the Ducati looked 10 times the bike that the Blade was and that if I was that sure of what I was doing I would not be hesitating which should tell me something.
When I look at the figures, the guy wants £8000 for the blade and says that he will give me £3000 cash so £11000 for my bike sounds quite good ( well as good as losing nearly £6000 in 12 months can be ! ) but what I have been trying to figure out is what would my bike be worth next year ?, would I ever get the chance of £11,000 again ?, then again what would a Blade be worth next year especially so a race rep which seems to be unwanted once the colours etc change and is it worth the £8000 asking price now ?
I am very drawn to keeping my bike and hoping that the market for the 749R picks up as it really is a very special bike and probably something I might never be able to afford again with this spec, but I will have to buy some bar risers or I am in the same position as before so these will cost around £200, plus the bike is due its 1st year service so that will probably be another £200 to £300, so If I look at it this way it might work out at near enough £11,500 for my bike if I done a deal.
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749R [Edited on 6-9-2005 by iang]