| My first 200 miles
Collected the MS on a dull rainy day, - 7 mile ride home, - wipe her down in the garage for the next day then. That day about a 40 mile bimble around Sussex. It was dry, but the roads were wet in places. A week later it is the Surrey and South meeting for ride down to Winchester and 150 mile round trip.
My thoughts after the first 200 miles.
Well where do I begin, and what do I type that might be of value to other prospective MS owners? Perhaps I should qualify my Ducati experience. Rode a few about 12 years ago, - 900SS Darmah, 600 Pantah, then 5 years ago got myself a Superlight and then about 18 months ago a 1998 916. So all in all pretty Ducati adjusted.
I bought the MS as I really wanted a bike that could do a bit of everything, - a couple of times last summer I took the option of not going on a journeys on the bike but in the car instead, - as either it involved some town work or it was too many miles on a motorway both of which in my opinion are not 916 friendly routes, - also to add my wife whilst never ever complaining about the 916 clearly was not that comfortable.
So initial thoughts:
This bike is cold to ride, - it is not only cold for your hands, but a bit colder on your body than a fully faired bike, - logical I know but not something I gave a thought to before hand. Answer, just bought a new pair of gloves, and put a jumper on over a tee shirt for last weekends ride. Sorted. I think the comfort screen that is on order might help a bit.
The MS gets dirty easy, - and is not so easy to clean, - hugger on order.
The bike handles really well, - on a motorway you have so much visibility, and are really aware of everything that is around you, - in Ducati terms the mirrors are fine, you may have to move your elbow in a bit, but how hard is that? The rider input required to turn the bike of line is so small compared to my 916, - and the suspension works, - well it works on our shite roads, - on the 916 I would tense up if I saw a wet patch or a drain cover on the road ahead, - the MS just seems to deal with the normal conditions much better. I on a couple of occasions have even overtaken a bit later than I would of, not being so concerned about what the road surface might be like as I was on the wrong side of the road out- braking a car before a bend.
The engine feels a lot lighter to spin up that the 900Ss it is derived from, - internals must be lighter. It is too early to say much more than that as I have the 5000rpm restriction still, - interestingly the engine felt really tight for about the first 80 miles, loosened off after that.
Riding position and riding it, - it seems that if you want to push it a bit you need to sit forward on the seat at the back of the tank, - supermoto style, don’t know why but cornering seems to flow a bit better. It has the normal Ducati smile factor of coming on song as you hit the apex of a bend; - I think this bike will be fun when she is run in. The seat is absolutely fine for me, I guess being used to Ducati firmness 150 miles was not a problem for me, - I think it is like a bicycle saddle you may have to give it time to get adjusted to it. The clutch a few people have said is heavy, - again being used to Ducati clutch’s I would say not, - but I do think that Ducati have again placed the levers a fraction too high. I ride with 2 fingers on clutch and brake lever, - and with the levers as flat as they are it causes a tension in your forearm that makes it tough to pull in the clutch after an hour. I am going to see if I can drop the levers down a cm. I suspect the clamps with have the usual pin in them to stop you misaligning them so I may have to find my file.
Wow factor? Not sure. I really smile when I am riding her, but parked up with all the DSC bikes on Saturday I did miss the curves and lines of my 916. One thing is odd, - I now get nods and waves from Goldwing owners, BMW owners, and big tralie owners, - ‘still get ignored by R1’s etc, but that is just Ducati envy!
All in all I am happy after this short time, It does require a different mindset, sure it’s a Ducati, - but it is not a Ducati to be taken seriously, somehow it is just a funny happy bike. I am really looking forward to this summer. My wife is coming with me to BSB/ WSBK and we are looking forward to popping up to The Kings Road on a Saturday afternoon just for fun. Anybody want to babysit for us?  | 
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