My Multi was in for service today so i asked last week if i could test ride the 1299 whilst it was being done as they said i could wait for the Multi, its a two hour service. No problem was what i was told.
Anyway turned up this morning to find the sales guy was on holiday but the bike was ready to roll anyway. Got a quick run through the controls, particularly the mode changes but much is similar to my Multi in that respect. So started her up and was greeted to a cacophony of noise. I still cant believe this is was a standard bike, quite what you would want from an aftermarket exhaust I'm not sure. You don't need more noise nor more power.
As i pulled off onto the main road the fuel light came on so i stopped at the nearest station to put a gallon in so I didn't have to worry about running out of fuel. Test rides are limited to an hour by the insurers at JHP.
I had already decided to go out on the roads towards Mallory park, there are some cracking roads that way and quiet too.
First thing i noticed is that the 1299 seems to run cooler than the 1199, the heat from the curled length of exhaust on the 1199 becomes unbearable at times but not so on the 1299.
Took it steady for the first few miles but once i got to the open roads i was able to twist the throttle a bit.......
this thing has unbelievable amounts of power from low down too. I had started off in wet mode but once fuelled up changed to sport mode. The fuelling is far better than the 1199 too, no jerky throttle, and the bike picks up and goes instantly. This was when i remembered it had an autoblipper...these things are the future. It works much better than the up shifts on the quickshifter, just a touch of the pedal and it changes down, no clutch and just a slight blip of the throttle from the electronics and a very useful tool for slowing the bike a little when barreling into corners. I think for road bikes it has far use than the quickshifter. The quickshifter is good but i think i need more oractice at using one as sometimes i seemed to manage a very clean, seamless quick shift and other times the bike seemed to lurch a bit. Personally i''m not sure i would want to use one much on a bike i owned myself, they must have a detrimental effect of gearbox longevity.I took the bike out towards Mallory and across to Market Bosworth, its turns very easily but still retains that Ducati stability and is just so much easier to use than the 1199 and much more like the 899.
I got a bit lost for a while just riding the lovely roads round there, they were for the most part deserted, and it would be a good place for a ride out one day. I eventually had to get a map out to work out the quickest way back as i also lost sight of the time.
Enjoyed the 1299 far more than the 1199 and for the last bit i put the bike in Race mode. Again very useable and there are other things to bring up on the dash - laptimer and the lean angle indicator but when i found the lean angle indicator i pulled up behind a plod van. I did stop for a few minutes so i could play without him about but unfortunately i still caught him up too quickly.
In summary, its a huge step up from the 1199. All the little niggles that bike had, seem to have been put right by Ducati and the 1299 works so much better on the road.
I'm not in a position to buy a new bike this year and have a few other things to think about currently but when new bike time arrives, its definitely on the list.
In my experience there is always some one desperate, its just a case of finding them and then hammering them on price 
