| I had a DS wrote it off then bought an ex demo S for about the same £500 more than a new DS. wanted Ohlins but TBH am not that impressed with them. the Showa stuff worked just as good. However, the lower number of S's help make it easier to sell so its worth it, there's a lot of DS around going cheaply whereas the S does seem to hold its value a bit better. one thing to look for was a promotion on DS up to 31 August where you could get 2 years servicing for £99, Ducati Leeds had that running last time I was in.
Comfort wise I find it quite a small bike ( and I'm only 5'8"), the S does have flatter bars but they are raised so don't actually change your riding position, fit a gel seat and you can move around more but are limited by the raised up pillion area so can't stretch out. I can do 500 mile plus days easily and like you suffer from lower back problems but the multi doesn't seem any worse than other bikes for it.
The new 1100 will be full retail price when it lands in a few weeks, can't see anyone offering deals if they still have 06 DS to clear.  | 
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