I’ve seen a couple of ride reports from people who know what they’re supposed to be looking for in a bike, but I figured I’d throw my opinion on the pile, being that I’m a complete newb.

I picked up my 696 on Monday, and brought it home in the back of my brother’s truck.  I’ve ridden dirt three times in my life, taken the MSF course, and gotten my M1, but have never been on a street with a bike, and I wasn’t about to take my baby out for the first time into LA traffic. 

Arriving at my place, we unloaded and I thanked my brother and sent him on his way.  Parked the bike and headed in with all my gear, with the idea of throwing it on and taking her for a spin.  I walked in the door, unloaded my gear, and it struck me that I hadn’t had dinner yet.  Making a quick snack I reached in the fridge for something to drink, and the only liquid in there was two beers.  I asked my roommate if he wanted one, he did, so we cracked them open.

Sitting there with a beer in one hand and a hot dog in the other, I realized I wasn’t going to be riding my baby that night afterall.  I’ll need to re-focus where my line is on drinking.  I’ll have a beer, and after a while, I may drive (I usually wait an hour per drink ingested). But I’m not doing that on two wheels.

The next day, I got very ill at work, sick to my stomach and with a huge headache.  All I wanted to do is go home and sleep… and maybe puke.  But I couldn’t because my boss would figure I was going home to play with my new toy, and I want to play that card when I can actually go home and play with my toy.  When I finally got home, I fell asleep on the couch.  Ugh… was sick puppy.  Night two with Isabella (my Italian beauty) and still no action.

Day three, get out of work, get home. Nothing is going to stop me.  Gear up, head out, hop on, and go…

Well, I did let her warm up.  I’ve learned from actual girls that they like a warm-up before being ridden.

I live in a large gated community, with roundabouts aplenty, and corners, a 15pmh speed limit, and stop signs that can be ignored at will, with plenty of visibility.  Perfect stomping grounds for a first ride.

First off, let me say, I’ve read lots of “Ducati doesn’t have an entry level bike anymore”  and that’s untrue.  I was afraid the bike would take of out from under me, ripping my arms out of their sockets wheelieing down the asphalt in a ball of fire.  Or on the less bad side, I’d stall out a half dozen times before finding the feel for the clutch and throttle.

Neither of those things happened.  The bike lets you know if you’re not giving it enough throttle for the amount of clutch you’re letting out.  You adjust accordingly.  Easy peasy.

I do find the clutch to have a very small friction zone, at the far reach of the pull.  Luckily I have large mitts.  So it’ll take a little finesse, but ultimately won’t matter a whole bunch to me.

The brakes work great.  Though I had a little bit of an issue first remembering to use the back brake, and second finding it… it sits a little lower than I constantly expected it to.

I’m glad the engine dies when you leave the kickstand down and put it in gear, saved my butt once. Though it did confuse me, as I thought I had stalled with the clutch completely in. (internal monologue “how did I stall? I didn’t even let the clutch out.  What’s going on here? Why won’t it start?  The clutch is in. Why would…. Oh, yeah, kickstand, yup.”)

Speaking of butts.  There’s a little slippage going on here… but I try to remember to grab the tank with my knees, and not once did my boys get mashed into the tank.  Which isn’t to say they didn’t get squished… but only because my jeans got very tight in that area, bunched up… I don’t know what I can do about that, but I wonder if that may be the source of all the complaints about tank meets balls.  The seat isn’t actually curved like it looks in the photos, it’s actually pretty flat. 

I didn’t push the bike really hard, kept inside of 5k RPM, trying to keep myself a little pad on the 5.5-6k break in limit.  Only used first and second gear… probably didn’t go above 25-30mph and at that only in short bursts. 

That being said, I think it ran a little hotter than I’d expect… I hit 5 bars.  Now I know I was going pretty stop and go… but even when I tried keeping the air moving the temp really didn’t go down.  Ambient was probably in the 70s.

I think that tonight I may take her out into the actual city streets, into actual traffic, but not until well after rush hour.

I’m very happy with my first bike, and can’t wait to get to know her better.  Me and Isabella will get along just fine.


z

Congrats! 
Nice and long read  you still forgot to tell us the color of your 696..

oops, Red.

This thread is useless without pictures.   


Also, post up some nice high quality videos!   

Nice little love story you got there brother.... congrats on the ride and do ride safe.

Nice writeup, congrats on the bike, you sound really sensible, keep the rubber side down


BTW have you met the RON

About the levers - MotoWheels (?) did the lever mod, adjustable, and were VERY happy with the result on this bike.

Quote from: big bear on July 04, 2008, 02:40:37 AM

..................

BTW have you met the RON

Keep it quiet BTW I think he changed after his vacation

Quote from: zedsaid on July 03, 2008, 06:54:00 PM

The brakes work great.  Though I had a little bit of an issue first remembering to use the back brake, and second finding it… it sits a little lower than I constantly expected it to.

Both rear break and shifter are adjustable...they show you how in the manual.  Give it a try.

don't feel bad about the kick stand thing... i've been riding a while and did that at the bank the other day and tried to start it twice before figuring out what was happening.... even turned the engine cut switch on and off a few times and briefly thought about fuses.

mainly because i've never had a bike with that feature, but also because i'm used to bikes mysteriously cutting out on me.

enjoy... you can lean more than you think

Night two with Isabella (my Italian beauty) and still no action.

Congrats!  Love the name you picked for her!   

You picked a tough town to learn to ride in.

Easy to tell you are enjoying your new ride.

Enjoy and Good luck - it's a jungle out there.

LA

Congrats on your M696 and thanks for sharing your story. 
I completely agree, the M696 is ideal for a newbie and a experienced rider. It’s a phenomenal ride.

Quote from: LA on July 07, 2008, 05:46:44 AM
You picked a tough town to learn to ride in.

Easy to tell you are enjoying your new ride.

Enjoy and Good luck - it's a jungle out there.

LA

Yeah, at this point i just want to learn well enough to make it to work safely, and well enough to make it out of town to somewhere i can learn with fewer, um consequences ready to run me over. (i.e. twisties out of town)


I took her out Sunday morning, on some main roads in the 'hood... i survived, with light traffic.  It really was amazing (it was the first daylight ride i've made)  My visor was so clear i had to check that i actually had it down (that's pretty good ventilation, no?) 

My cage is a 280ZX which has a pretty long nose, so i really felt like i was flying... the z is like pointing at somewhere i want to go... on Isabella, it's more like "i want to be there" and then you are.

I'm curious about shifting points... I'm shifting at the break in rev count, which is a short shift (right?).  Once broken in, i'm going to want to rev it higher before shifting?

The reason i ask, is that i'm not really launching off the line like i always see bikes doing... getting ahead of the pack of cars.  I had an SUV pace me off the line.  Now, i wasn't exactly gunning it, i was trying to keep a smooth roll on.  But i was trying to get to my rev ceiling and shift in pretty quick order.  Any pointers here?


Also... it's been a couple of years since i took the MSF ( i was waiting to find the right bike)  but i remember that in 1st gear a lot of the "throttle control" is actually done with the clutch... i'm assuming this doesn't apply to second at low speeds.  I was trying it around a corner when i thought i'd gone down to 1st... but it was really choppy and i was perplexed with the tiny friction zone... and then afterward concluded that i had been in second (but was a little IZ_ on that by that point).  Sound right to you?

All in all, it was a good little jaunt.  I can't wait untill i have an entire afternoon to commit to riding her. Though i can tell you that my little half hour jaunts are giving my legs and abs a run for their money.  (Which i'll take for a good thing because that means i'm using them, instead of my arms, to hold on.)

And the videos are on their way.

Quote from: zedsaid on July 07, 2008, 12:03:37 PM
I'm curious about shifting points... I'm shifting at the break in rev count, which is a short shift (right?).  Once broken in, i'm going to want to rev it higher before shifting?

The reason i ask, is that i'm not really launching off the line like i always see bikes doing... getting ahead of the pack of cars.  I had an SUV pace me off the line.

yes, after break in you'll be able to rev it higher, and you could replace the sprocket if you really want more off the line, but a lot of this will come down to time and muscle memory.  do you drive stick?  same thing.  you get to the point where you know the good balance between bogging down on launch and point up.  you'll find that you're willing to spin the engine up much more quickly regardless of when you actually shift; i.e., i've been following the breakin procedure and have no problem getting the engine to spin up quickly and launch off the line.

Quote from: zedsaid on July 07, 2008, 12:03:37 PM

The reason i ask, is that i'm not really launching off the line like i always see bikes doing... getting ahead of the pack of cars.  I had an SUV pace me off the line.  Now, i wasn't exactly gunning it, i was trying to keep a smooth roll on.  But i was trying to get to my rev ceiling and shift in pretty quick order.  Any pointers here?

in traffic, I question the idea of gunning away from the light to beat all the cars. I try and use the car next to me to run interference, even letting them get ahead of me some times, in case some jackass decides to blow the light. Then after I'm threw the intersection I speed up and get distance from the cars.

congrats on the bike.. They've started to grow on me after I saw one in person.